King County. Free foundation inspection.

The crack you keep looking at. Find out what it means.

A crack in the foundation. Cracks above a door or window. One end of the house sitting lower than the rest. It's been getting worse for months and you still don't know how bad it is. PNW Foundations arranges a free inspection that measures how far the house has moved and tells you straight, including when nothing needs doing.

No cost. No obligation. King County.
A Pacific Northwest family home
Free, no-obligation inspection
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King County.

Measured corner to corner

An inspector puts tools on the house and comes back with a number for how far it has moved.

No cost, no obligation

The inspection is free. You're not signed up for anything by having it.

Told straight, even when it's nothing

If the house doesn't need anything, that's the answer you get, in the same plain words.

Sound familiar

What people are seeing when they ask

A crack in the foundation itself, and it wasn't there last year.

Cracks in the drywall above a door or window that come back after patching.

One end of the house sitting lower than the rest.

A floor with a high spot in one room and a soft spot in another.

A door that sticks, got sanded, and sticks again.

Any one of these is reason enough to ask.

The ground, not the crack

Why patching the crack didn't hold

The crack is not the problem. The ground is.

A house rests on its foundation, and the foundation rests on soil. When a crack keeps opening or a door keeps sticking, the usual reason is that the soil under that part of the house shifted or washed out. That part drops, and the concrete above it cracks under the weight it's carrying. The crack in the drywall upstairs is the same movement showing up in a softer material.

That's why the patch opened back up. That's why the door started sticking again after it was sanded. The crack got filled, and the house kept moving underneath it.

How far it has moved isn't something anyone can tell from the crack. It gets measured on site. That measurement is what the inspection is for.

A drywall crack above an interior door frame, reopened through an old patch
The visit

What the inspection is

An inspector comes out and looks at the whole house, inside and out. The foundation, the floors, the doors and windows, the ground around it.

Then the tools come out. The inspector measures corner to corner and comes back with a number for how far each part of the house has moved, with photos of what was found.

You get that finding in plain words: which parts moved, how far, and whether anything needs doing. Sometimes the answer is no. You hear that one just as plainly.

If something does need doing and you want to know what and what it costs, a plan with costs can be put together. Only if you ask for one.

An inspector in a living room reading a zip level, the yellow reel on the carpet and the tube running to the readout on the measuring pole
No cost, no obligation

Why the inspection is free, and what that doesn't mean

"Free inspection" is what every foundation company in the area says. A lot of homeowners have learned to read it as "a salesperson is coming." Fair enough.

PNW Foundations is not a contractor. It does not do repair work. It arranges the inspection. If there turns out to be work worth doing, the inspector sits down with you and walks through why it's happening, what's been tried on houses like yours over the years, and what it takes to fix the cause instead of the crack. Who may contact you, and how, is spelled out on the How this works page, linked under the form.

The inspection costs you nothing either way. Some inspections end with "nothing needs doing." That's still an answer, and it's still free.

King County King County homes. No cost, no obligation, a straight answer. Request my free inspection
How it works

What happens after you send the form

STEP 01

Send the form

Name, where the house is, and how to reach you. What you're seeing is optional, and it helps.

STEP 02

A call to set a time

PNW Foundations calls or texts the number you gave to find a time that works for you.

STEP 03

The visit, then the answer

The whole house, with tools and photos. Then what it means, in plain words.

Questions

The questions people ask before they send the form

How do I know I'm not being oversold?
The inspection ends with what was measured and what it means. If the house is fine, that's what you hear. Nobody writes up a plan or a price unless you ask for one, and you can take what you're told to anyone you like and have them check it.
What does it cost?
The inspection costs nothing, and you don't owe anyone anything for having it. If work turns out to be needed, the cost depends on what the house needs, and you only get a number if you ask for one. No price is quoted before anyone has seen the house. If a repair plan ends up needing an engineer, the engineer's fee is separate, and it is not part of the inspection.
Who comes to the house?
An inspector arranged by PNW Foundations. The inspection is the whole visit. If there's work to do, you hear why it's happening, what's been tried before, and what fixing the cause looks like, and you decide what happens next. The How this works page says who may contact you.
We already have a bid. Should we still do this?
Yes, and keep the bid. A homeowner on Houzz posted two quotes for the same house. One company said it needed 13 supports under the foundation. The other said 37. When two answers are that far apart, a measurement of how far the house actually moved is what settles it. The inspection is a second look by design.
What if it turns out to be nothing?
Then that's what you're told. It happens. A crack over a part of the house that has barely moved is a different thing from a crack over a part that has dropped, and the measurement is how you tell them apart.
Request an inspection

Get a straight answer about your house.

A short form. A call to set a time. One visit.

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Request your free inspection

Four short fields, then a call to set a time.

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Step 1 of 2

Thank you. Your request is in.

The next thing that happens is a call or text from PNW Foundations to set a time.

No obligation Free foundation inspection, King County
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