Pier, Pad and I-Beam Support Repair in North Fort Myers

When a pier sinks, cracks or leans, the steel I-beam above it loses support and the floor over it starts to sag. We go under the home, check every pier and pad along both main beams, and then reshim the piers that only lost contact and rebuild the ones that failed. Our typical range is $75 to $150 per pier to reset and $150 to $400 per pier to rebuild. You get a written quote after we have seen the home.

What holds a mobile home up

A manufactured home rides on two or more long steel I-beams. Under those beams sit rows of piers: a concrete pad on the ground, a stack of blocks, a cap, and shims driven tight between the cap and the beam. A doublewide adds piers along the marriage line where the two halves meet. Every pier shares the load with its neighbours, so when one stops carrying its share, the ones next to it take more.

What we look for under your home

Pads that sank or tipped. A pad that settled unevenly tilts the whole stack.
Cracked or crushed blocks and caps. A cracked block does not get reshimmed. It gets replaced.
Loose or missing shims. Wood shims dry out, split or rot, and the beam starts to float above the pier.
Piers out of plumb. A leaning stack pushes sideways on the beam instead of straight up.
Gaps at the beam. Any daylight between the cap and the I-beam means that pier is doing nothing.
Rust or damage on the I-beams. We note it, show you, and talk through the options before anything is lifted.

The rule for pads

Florida Rule 15C-1 sets the floor for how a pier sits on the ground. The pier foundation must be at least a 4 by 16 by 16 inch solid concrete pad. When nobody knows how much load the soil can carry, the rule says to assume 1,000 pounds per square foot or check with the local building authority. The same rule asks for the ground under and around the home to be graded and sloped so water does not collect under it.

Why North Fort Myers ground matters

The soils under most of North Fort Myers are poorly drained flatwood sands. The big ones are Pineda, Oldsmar and Wabasso. The USDA soil descriptions put the water table within about 10 inches of the surface for one to six months of the year in Pineda, and at 10 to 40 inches the rest of the time. Oldsmar holds water in the top foot for part of most years, and Wabasso keeps it 10 to 40 inches down for more than six months.

Sand that stays wet carries a pad less firmly than dry ground. That is why we look at where water goes before we reset anything. If a low spot under the home fills after every summer storm, new blocks on the old pad will sink the same way. Fixing the grade under the home is sometimes part of the job, and we will say so when it is.

Rebuild or reshim

What we find	What we do	Typical range
Pier sound, shims loose or dried out	Reset and reshim	$75 to $150 per pier
Cracked blocks, sunk or tipped pad	Rebuild with new pad, blocks and cap	$150 to $400 per pier
Several failed piers along one beam	Rebuild that run and bring the frame back up	$500 to $2,500 all in

If enough piers have moved that the whole frame is out of line, pier work alone will not fix it. In that case we quote a full relevel with the pier rebuilds included. A dropped pier can leave the straps slack, so we check the tie-downs and anchors on the way out.

Before work starts

Florida requires an FLHSMV mobile home installer licence for installation work. Ask anyone who works on your piers for their licence number, and look it up. Full ranges for every part of the job are on our pricing page. We work across North Fort Myers and nearby Suncoast Estates, Cape Coral and Fort Myers.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does pier repair typically cost?

Our typical ranges are $75 to $150 to reset or reshim a pier during a relevel and $150 to $400 to rebuild one with new blocks, cap and pad. A multi-pier job typically runs $500 to $2,500 all in. We write the quote after we have been under your home and counted the piers that need work.

How big does a pier pad have to be in Florida?

Florida Rule 15C-1 calls for a pier foundation of at least a 4 by 16 by 16 inch solid concrete pad. Some homes need more than the minimum, depending on the soil and the home's own setup instructions, so we check both.

Why do my piers keep sinking in the same spot?

Usually water. Most of North Fort Myers sits on poorly drained sand where the water table is often 10 to 40 inches down for much of the year. If rain collects under one end of the home, the ground under those pads stays soft. Rule 15C-1 asks for the ground to be graded so water does not collect under the home, and that is often the real repair.

Can you fix piers without releveling the whole home?

Sometimes. If one or two piers lost contact and the frame has not moved much, we can rebuild them and bring that section back up. If the frame has drifted out of level along its length, the honest fix is a full relevel, and we will tell you which one your home needs before any work starts.