Local Guide
Thirty Inches of Difference: Rainfall and Clay
The Murfreesboro station recorded 40 inches of rain in 2007 and 71 in 2020. What that swing does to clay with real shrink-swell in it, and to the houses on top.
Notebook
Foundation notes for Rutherford County
Shorter pieces on the questions that keep coming up here: what the county soil survey says about your address, which office issues the permit, what the rainfall record does to clay, and how to tell a crack that matters from one that does not.
How It Works
Fifteen Years Old and Cracking: Not Unusual Here
Census figures put the median Murfreesboro home at 2005. On a housing stock this young the common story is fill settlement on a graded pad, not old-house decay.
Local Guide
City or County: Two Offices, Two Code Editions
Murfreesboro enforces the 2018 residential code and Rutherford County the 2024 series. Which office issues your foundation permit depends on the city limits.
How To
Sticking Doors: Seasonal Cycle or Real Movement?
Doors that bind in February and swing freely in August are usually the soil breathing. Doors that get worse every year are not. How to tell which yours is doing.
Local Guide
Karst Under Murfreesboro, in Plain English
The city describes what lies beneath it as caves, fissures and moving water working like a plumbing system. Here is what that means for a house on top of it.
Local Guide
Foundations in the East Main and Maney Districts
Two National Register districts in Murfreesboro, one locally zoned with a review process. What that changes about foundation work on a genuinely old house.
How To
The First Three Things to Do About a Crack
None of them cost money, all take under an hour, and together they answer more diagnostic questions than most inspections. Do these before you call anybody.
How It Works
What a Floor-Level Survey Tells You
An hour with a laser turns an argument about whether a house is moving into a set of numbers. What the readings mean, and why the second survey is worth more.
Want a real number for the work your house needs?
Ring (615) 410-4690, or send the quote form and somebody will ring you. Free either way.