# What a Typical Slab Foundation Repair Looks Like, Start to Finish | Foundation Repair Baton Rouge

> An illustrative walkthrough of a typical Baton Rouge slab repair with pressed concrete pilings — from the first call and laser survey to the final readings.

URL: https://foundationrepairbatonrougelouisiana.com/blog/what-a-typical-slab-repair-looks-like/

# What a Typical Slab Foundation Repair Looks Like, Start to Finish

By Foundation Repair Baton Rouge · 2026-09-22

![What a Typical Slab Foundation Repair Looks Like, Start to Finish](https://foundationrepairbatonrougelouisiana.com/images/hero-slab-repair-excavation-along-brick-home-beam-baton-rouge.webp)

_This is an illustrative walkthrough of a typical job, not a record of a specific customer’s project._

[Foundation Repair Baton Rouge](https://foundationrepairbatonrougelouisiana.com/) is often asked what actually happens during a foundation repair. Here’s a typical slab job on a one-story brick ranch in Baton Rouge, step by step.

## The call

The homeowner has noticed the back bedroom door won’t latch, a diagonal crack over the hallway door, and a stair-step crack in the brick at the back corner. A person answers, asks where the symptoms are, and books a free evaluation for later in the week.

## The evaluation (about an hour)

A laser level goes up in the living room, and a floor reading is taken in every room. The readings show the back-left corner about 1.5 inches lower than the front of the house, tapering across the back half. Cracks are measured: the brick crack is about 3/16 inch, the drywall crack hairline to 1/8 inch. Outside, the downspout at the back-left corner empties straight onto the slab edge, and a flower bed is mounded against the brick.

## The written plan

The plan shows 11 exterior pressed concrete pilings along the back and left side, spaced about 7 feet apart, with the unit price for each; no interior pilings; a buried solid downspout line from the back-left corner to the street; and a recommendation to pull the bed back from the slab. It also recommends a plumbing test before and after lifting, because the house has original cast-iron drains.

## The repair (two days)

**Day 1:** Pits are dug at each piling location along the beam. Precast concrete segments are pressed one at a time with a hydraulic jack using the house’s weight until each piling reaches refusal. Depths are logged.

**Day 2:** Caps and steel shims go on, and the corner is lifted gradually while the laser readings are watched. The target isn’t perfectly flat — just back within a reasonable tolerance without stressing plaster and plumbing. Pits are backfilled and tamped, the downspout line is trenched and installed, and every point is re-measured.

## The paperwork

The homeowner receives the before-and-after elevation readings, the piling map with each depth, the plumbing test results and the invoice. The back bedroom door latches again; the drywall crack gets patched a few weeks later once the house has settled into its new position.

See [slab foundation repair](https://foundationrepairbatonrougelouisiana.com/slab-foundation-repair/) and [foundation repair cost in Baton Rouge](https://foundationrepairbatonrougelouisiana.com/guide/foundation-repair-cost-baton-rouge/) for prices.

[Foundation Repair Baton Rouge Want your house measured? Free laser survey and a written per-piling price. (225) 635-8757](tel:+12256358757)