Foundation Repair in Pleasant Hill

Pleasant Hill at a glance

Pleasant Hill is a city of 10,147 people (2020) in Polk County on the east side of Des Moines, incorporated in 1956.

What that means for your foundation

Most homes here date from the 1960s onward and sit over full basements, many of them block. Block walls of that age are where bowing and stair-step cracks tend to show up; see bowing wall repair. Split-level and raised-ranch homes have partial basements where the wall that faces uphill carries more soil and water.

Rolling ground

Neighborhoods built on rolling land east of the city send runoff toward whichever wall faces uphill. Mature yards may have downspouts buried in old lines that have collapsed and now spill against the wall.

A young city

Pleasant Hill incorporated as a city on May 12, 1956, and only received its own ZIP code, 50327, in 2005. In November 1983 an explosion at an explosives storage bunker south of town was felt 45 miles away; at least 25 homes within a mile were damaged, some shifted on their foundations and one basement wall cracked across its whole width. Most foundation work here is far less dramatic, but an inspection settles questions about older cracks; see foundation inspections. Owners of homes along the eastern edge of town often find that the original builder's grading has worn down over the decades, so a fresh look at how water leaves the lot is worthwhile before any structural work.