Every hillside moves a little. We evaluate the slope and the home on it, then match the repair to how the slope was built: retaining wall systems, soldier piles or soil nailing.
A local specialist will evaluate your foundation, walk you through the findings, and send a clear estimate. No cost, no pressure.
Hillside repair stabilizes the slope a home sits on, so the ground stops carrying the house, the yard and the concrete around them downhill. Building on the side of a hill can bring great views and added value. Building there without a proper foundation, or on a slip plane in the slope (the layer a slope tends to slide along), can bring the opposite. One thing is true of every hillside: it is always moving a little, and how much depends on how the slope was built and what it is made of.
Four things decide how much a slope moves. First is how well it was built: man made slopes need compaction testing as the fill soil goes in, and fill that was not compacted properly makes an unstable slope. Second is what the slope is made of. Clay soil expands and contracts, and it turns slippery when it gets wet, which is how a slope starts to slide. Third is plant cover, because roots weave the soil together and cut down on runoff in heavy rain. Fourth, and critical to how long a slope lasts, is drainage. That is why you see catch basins and V shaped ditches on slopes: they break up the water before it can wash the slope out. When a slope does move, leaning trees, tilting fences and walls, and gaps in the concrete around the house are the common signs of slope movement. Each one is explained with its causes among the hillside warning signs we diagnose.
We have worked with engineering firms for many years on cost effective slope repair methods, and the fix depends on the slope. Stabilizing a moving slope often means retaining wall systems tied to piers, helical piles and anchors. Where a slope calls for it, drilled soldier piles are set tightly in a line through the fill and into dense native soil. Another option is soil nailing with grouted bars, tied together behind a concrete or shotcrete wall. Every slope is built differently, and a higher price does not make one method better than another. If the house itself is moving too, tiebacks can be installed on its foundation to anchor it into native soil, which is foundation repair under the home. Every project starts with a free evaluation.
Photos from our own crews and projects. Swipe or use the arrows to see more.
Pick the symptom that best fits. We'll tell you what it likely means and where to go next.
Most hillside repair problems start as small symptoms. Catching them early is the difference between a small, planned fix and a major reconstruction. These are the warning signs we see most often.
Dalinghaus installed the helical pile foundation and erected the structure for a solar canopy over a staff parking lot in Southern California, working in four phases so the lot stayed open.
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The back of an Irvine home had settled about 3 inches over roughly ten years. Ten helical piers went in over two days, and a 30 minute lift brought the back half of the home up 3 inches.
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A hillside home in Rancho Palos Verdes split in half as the ground slid toward the slope. Dalinghaus installed helical piers about 30 feet down to competent strata or bedrock beneath it.
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A beachside home in Rancho Palos Verdes settled 16 inches in a couple of months. Steel piers were driven to load bearing soil or bedrock at each excavated location, with a lift planned once they were in.
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A San Clemente hillside home had settled about 2 inches and was moving toward the slope behind it. Vertical helical piers and helical tieback anchors stabilized the home and recovered part of the drop.
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Two helical deck piers let a San Clemente hillside deck grow by about 12 feet, at a home Dalinghaus had lifted about 16 inches earlier.
Show projectDalinghaus Foundation Repair is locally owned and operated, with crews dedicated exclusively to foundation, concrete, and crawl space work across California, Arizona, and Nevada.
Foundation repair, concrete leveling, and crawl space repair are our entire focus. Not a sideline.
More than 2,000 projects on the clay and desert soils of California, Arizona, and Nevada since 2011.
CSLB License #983851 in California, ROC #330307 in Arizona, and License #0089738 in Nevada. Look us up with the state before we ever set foot on your property.
Warranty terms come in writing with every proposal, and the terms that apply to your job are stated in that job's paperwork. Ask your project specialist during the free evaluation.
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Hillside repair is the work of slowing down and stopping a moving slope so it stops carrying a home, its yard and the concrete around it downhill. On a residential hillside it usually means retaining wall systems tied to piers, helical piles and anchors, soldier piles drilled into dense native soil, or soil nailing. The method is chosen to fit how the slope was built.
Every step, from the free evaluation to the final elevation check.
A specialist looks at the slope, the walls and fences on it, the concrete around the house and the house itself for signs of movement.
The repair is matched to how the slope was built and how far it has moved: retaining wall systems, soldier piles or soil nailing.
You get the scope and the price in writing before any work starts.
Our crew installs the system, from drilling piles or nails to tying piers and anchors into the wall.
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