Newer homes, walkout basements and the same old clay in Lee's Summit
Lee's Summit, about 20 miles southeast of downtown and home to roughly 103,000 people, is one of the metro's fastest-built suburbs. Newer houses don't mean newer soil.
Much of Lee's Summit was built in the last few decades on rolling ground, and a lot of homes take advantage of the slope with a walkout basement: full-height foundation walls on the uphill side, a short wall and big doors on the downhill side. Those tall uphill walls hold back the most soil and the most water, and they're where we find most of the cracks and the bowing. The southern suburbs, Lee's Summit among them, were built on the same expansive clay as the older city, and the backfill against a newer wall settles and channels water just like an old one.
About three in four homes in Lee's Summit are owner-occupied, and many owners call us in their first few years in a house, often after a spring when a crack in a poured wall started to seep. That's usually good timing. A seeping shrinkage crack is a quick injection; a wall that has started to move is caught early; and fixing the grading and downspouts before the backfill settles further saves a lot later.
What we see most in Lee's Summit
Tall uphill walls
Walkout basements' high walls checked for cracks and bowing, braced where needed.
Settling backfill
Soil that sank along the foundation regraded so water runs away, not down the wall.
Seeping poured cracks
Shrinkage cracks injected before they become a habit every spring.
Builder sump pits
Pumps checked, replaced and backed up; discharge lines extended away from the house.
Neighborhoods and parts of town
- Downtown Lee's Summit
- Lakewood
- Longview
- Around Lake Jacomo
- Along Douglas Street
- Off M-291
- Near Raintree Lake
- South toward Raymore
Services in Lee's Summit
Crack repair · piers · bowing walls · waterproofing · French drains · sump pumps · crawl spaces · slab lifting · free inspection
Questions from Lee's Summit homeowners
My house is only 15 years old. Why is it cracking?
Newer poured walls commonly develop shrinkage cracks, and backfill settles in the first years after building. On expansive clay, a few wet springs are enough to show it. Most of these are minor fixes when caught early.
Is a crack on the uphill wall of a walkout more serious?
It deserves a closer look, because that wall carries the most soil pressure. We measure it for bowing and check the drainage on that side.
Will a repair affect my builder warranty?
Check your warranty paperwork before work starts. We can document the condition before and after, which helps either way.
Nearby: Blue Springs · Raytown · Belton · the whole metro