Postwar ranches over block basements, eight miles north of downtown
Gladstone, a city of about 27,000 roughly 8 miles north of downtown, filled in mostly after the war with single-story brick ranches, many of them over concrete block basements.
Gladstone's streets are full of the house type we know best: the 1950s and 60s brick ranch with a picture window, a low roof and a concrete block basement. Block walls are strong when they're kept dry. After sixty or seventy springs of wet clay pressing on them, many have a horizontal crack along a mortar joint partway up, with white efflorescence below it, and some have started to bow inward. Houses from this era were also often built on fill that wasn't well compacted, so corners settle.
Our usual Gladstone visit starts with a long level against the basement walls and a laser across the floors. Walls that have moved a little get carbon fiber straps; walls that have moved more get anchors or steel braces. Settling corners get piers. And almost every job here includes something outside: downspouts extended past the backfill and soil regraded so it falls away from the house.
What we see most in Gladstone
Block walls bowing
Straps, anchors or braces, chosen by how far the wall has moved.
Settled corners
Piers where postwar fill soil let a corner drop.
Efflorescence and seepage
Interior drainage along block walls that weep in spring.
Downspouts and grading
Water moved away from the backfill on nearly every job.
Neighborhoods and parts of town
- Along North Oak Trafficway
- Off Antioch Road
- Near NE 72nd Street
- Around Oak Grove Park
- Toward Linden
- Neighborhoods off North Broadway
- Near Happy Rock Park
- East toward Pleasant Valley Road
Services in Gladstone
Crack repair · piers · bowing walls · waterproofing · French drains · sump pumps · crawl spaces · slab lifting · free inspection
Questions from Gladstone homeowners
Is a horizontal crack in my block wall serious?
It means soil pressure is pushing the wall in. It isn't usually an emergency, but it will keep moving with each wet season, so it should be braced and the drainage fixed.
Why does white powder appear on my basement wall?
That's efflorescence: minerals left behind as water moves through the block and evaporates. It means water is getting into the wall.
Can you paint over the cracks?
Paint and surface sealers don't hold back water under pressure. Bracing and drainage are what fix the cause.
Nearby: Liberty · Raytown · Kansas City · the whole metro