Farragut sits at the western edge of Knox County, and most of what stands there today
went up from the 1980s onward as the town grew out along Kingston Pike and Campbell
Station Road. That makes it a younger housing stock than much of Knoxville, which
changes the kind of foundation problems we get called about.
What the ground is doing in Farragut
The terrain through Farragut rolls, and a good deal of the newer development sits on
ground that was cut and filled to make level building pads. Fill soil compacts at a
different rate than the undisturbed ground beside it, and when one part of a footing
sits on fill and another on original grade, the two settle by different amounts. That
is a common story in subdivisions built on graded lots.
The homes we see here
Farragut homes tend to be larger, often two stories with brick veneer, on basements or
crawl spaces. Brick veneer is useful for diagnosis because it shows movement clearly.
Stair-step cracking through the mortar joints is far easier to spot on brick than on
siding, which means Farragut homeowners often catch settlement earlier than they would
on a clad house.
What to watch for
The early signs are the same wherever you live in East Tennessee. Doors and windows that
stick or will not latch the way they used to. Cracks above door frames. Floors that feel
uneven underfoot. Gaps opening where the trim meets the wall. Stair-step cracks outside
that climb through the mortar joints of brick or block. A crawl space that smells musty in
July. Any one of those alone may be nothing. Two or three together usually mean the house
has moved.
What we do in Farragut
The full range: foundation repair with push piers and under footing bracket systems,
basement wall repair with carbon fiber, i-beams and tie-back anchors, interior and exterior
waterproofing, crawl space repair, drainage and encapsulation, and water management with
french drains, grate drains, downspout leaders and re-grading.
We are based at 1058 Lovell Road in Knoxville, so Farragut is a short drive rather than a
road trip. We are open Monday through Friday, 8:30 in the morning to 5:30 in the evening,
and available for emergency service after hours. The inspection and the written estimate
are both free, with no obligation.
Common Questions
Do newer homes get foundation problems?
They do, and the cause is often different from an older home. In an older house the trouble is usually decades of soil movement and drainage that has gone wrong slowly. In a newer house on a graded lot it is more often differential settlement, where fill soil under one part of the footing compacts more than the undisturbed ground under another part.
Is my home too new for this to be settling?
Settlement can show up within a few years of construction on a graded lot, and it can also appear twenty years in. Age alone does not tell you much. What the cracks look like, whether they are still moving, and where the water goes tell you a great deal more.
How far is Farragut from your shop?
We are on Lovell Road in Knoxville, which is close to Farragut. It is a short drive, and we schedule the free inspection at a time that suits you.
Call us at (865) 675-4177 and we will talk through what you are seeing. The inspection and the estimate are both free.