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Gadget crew member pulling rotted sheathing off a wall to expose the framing behind it

Get Rid of Sagging Floors and Rotted Framing Once and For All

When settling, rot, or termites reach the footings, joists, beams, and sill plates holding your house up, patching the surface only hides the problem. We shore it, cut out what failed, and rebuild the load path — permitted and inspected.

Or call (628) 233-3589
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The Floor Isn't Supposed to Roll Like That

You feel it before you see it. The hallway dips toward the middle. A marble rolls to one corner of the kitchen. A door that closed fine five years ago now drags on the floor. Or the pest inspector on your sale came back with a Section 1 list — rotted sill plate, termite-eaten joists, a girder split along its length — and your escrow has a deadline.

Most Bay Area homes were framed long before anyone wrote a modern seismic code. Victorians and Edwardians in SF, Craftsman bungalows in Berkeley and Oakland, Doelgers stacked over garages in the Sunset and Daly City, post-and-beam Eichlers and 1950s ranches down the Peninsula and into the South Bay. Decades of fog, slow plumbing leaks, subterranean termites, and a few serious earthquakes have worked on that wood. The damage sits where you don't look: in the crawlspace, behind the drywall, under the subfloor.

Structural repair isn't a patch job. We shore the house, cut out the wood that stopped carrying its load, and rebuild the load path — underpinned footings, sistered joists, new girders and posts, pressure-treated sill plates, engineered beams — built to a licensed structural engineer's stamped design whenever the work calls for one. We pull the permit, pass the inspections, and back it with a 5-year workmanship warranty in writing. 12+ years, 500+ projects, 31 cities across 6 counties.

Our Structural Repair Services

Every job starts under the house or behind the wall. We find what's actually carrying the load — and what stopped carrying it — before we price anything.

Foundation Underpinning

When a footing has settled, we carry it down to soil that won't move — helical or push piers, or new concrete poured beneath the old footing — then stabilize or lift the house above it.

Sagging Floor & Joist Repair

Sister cracked or over-spanned joists, add a mid-span girder, and set new posts and piers in the crawlspace so the floor comes back toward level and stays there.

Beam, Girder & Post Replacement

Rotted, split, or undersized beams replaced under temporary shoring — sized for the loads your house carries today, not the ones it carried in 1925.

Sill Plates & Termite-Damaged Framing

Rot and termites go for the wood sitting on your foundation first — mudsills, rim joists, subfloor. We shore the wall, rebuild in pressure-treated lumber, re-anchor it to the concrete, and clear the Section 1 items on your pest report.

Load-Bearing Wall Removal

Open the kitchen to the living room without losing what held the second floor up. Engineered beam, posts carried down to footings that can take the load, fully permitted.

House-Over-Garage Strengthening

Living space over a wide garage opening is the weak story in an earthquake. Steel moment frames and plywood shear walls, installed to the engineer's design.

Structural Repair Costs in the Bay Area

Crawlspace Post & Pier (per post)

Replace rotted or sunken posts, new pier block or footing

$500–$1,500

Sagging Floor / Joist Sistering

Sistered joists, mid-span girder where needed

$3,000–$12,000

Beam or Girder Replacement

Includes temporary shoring

$4,000–$15,000

Sill Plate Replacement (per linear ft)

Pressure-treated mudsill, re-anchored to the foundation

$100–$300

Termite / Water-Damaged Framing

Studs, rim joists, subfloor — scoped from your pest report

$2,500–$15,000

Load-Bearing Wall Removal

Engineering, permit, beam, posts, and finish patch

$10,000–$35,000

House-Over-Garage Moment Frame

Engineered steel frame at the garage opening

$25,000–$75,000

Foundation Underpinning (per pier)

Push or helical piers; most homes need 4–16

$2,000–$4,500

Typical Underpinning Project

Piers, engineering, and permit

$15,000–$50,000+

Prices reflect typical San Francisco market rates. Your exact cost depends on scope, site conditions, materials, and permits. We provide detailed, itemized estimates — no ballpark guesses.

Get Your Exact Price — Free Estimate

Our Process

Our Structural Repair Process

1

Crawlspace & Framing Inspection

We get under the house, into the attic, and behind finishes where we need to. You get photos of what we found — not a guess from the driveway.

2

Engineering Where It's Needed

Beam replacements, bearing-wall removal, and moment frames need calculations. We coordinate a licensed structural engineer and build to their stamped plans. Like-for-like repairs often don't need one.

3

Fixed-Price Estimate & Permit

A line-item written estimate, then we pull the permit through your building department — SF DBI, Oakland, Berkeley, Marin CDA, or wherever your house is.

4

Shore, Cut Out, Rebuild

Temporary shoring goes in first so nothing moves while the failed wood comes out. Then we rebuild the load path, with daily cleanup and one point of contact throughout.

5

Inspection & Written Warranty

City framing inspection, a final walkthrough with you, and a 5-year workmanship warranty in writing — plus a permit sign-off you can hand to a buyer or an insurer.

Why Choose Gadget Construction

We Find the Cause, Not Just the Crack

A sagging floor can be a failed girder, a rotted post, or a settling footing. We trace it to the source so you pay for one repair, not three.

Stamped Plans, Pulled Permits

When a repair needs engineering, it gets engineering. Every structural job is permitted and inspected — no unpermitted work waiting to surface at your next sale.

Foundation to Framing, One Crew

If the problem started at the foundation, we fix that too. No passing you between a foundation company and a framer who each blame the other.

5-Year Workmanship Warranty

Every joist, beam, post, and sill plate we install — backed in writing for five years.

Our Structural Repair Projects

Same sliding door opening with a new engineered header and fresh framing installed by Gadget Construction
Rotted, shredded wood header exposed above a sliding glass door before structural repair by Gadget Construction
BeforeAfter

Door Header Replacement — Rotted header and framing cut out, new engineered header installed

Sliding Door Header Replacement — Rotted Framing Rebuilt — Structural Repair project in Bay Area by Gadget Construction

Sliding Door Header Replacement — Rotted Framing Rebuilt

Bay Area

See More of Our Work

Before you open a wall

Structural Repair Guides

Foundation Underpinning Cost in SF: Helical Piers vs Push Piers vs Slabjacking
14 min read

Foundation Underpinning Cost in SF: Helical Piers vs Push Piers vs Slabjacking

How Long Does Foundation Underpinning Take in San Francisco? A Real Timeline
14 min read

How Long Does Foundation Underpinning Take in San Francisco? A Real Timeline

Dry Rot in Bay Area Homes: How to Spot It Before It Eats Your Framing (and What Repair Actually Costs)
19 min read

Dry Rot in Bay Area Homes: How to Spot It Before It Eats Your Framing (and What Repair Actually Costs)

5 Signs Your San Francisco Home Needs Foundation Repair
12 min read

5 Signs Your San Francisco Home Needs Foundation Repair

Frequently Asked Questions

It depends on what failed and how much of it. Replacing a single crawlspace post runs $500–$1,500. Sistering joists under a sagging floor typically costs $3,000–$12,000. A beam or girder replacement, including temporary shoring, runs $4,000–$15,000. Removing a load-bearing wall with an engineered beam is $10,000–$35,000 with engineering and permit. A steel moment frame at a garage opening runs $25,000–$75,000. We give you a fixed, line-item price after we've been under the house — not a ballpark over the phone.
It can be either, and guessing wrong is expensive. If the floor dips in the middle of a room while the edges stay level, it's usually framing — an over-spanned joist, a failed girder, or a post that's rotted or sunk. If a whole side of the house has dropped, with diagonal cracks at the corners of doors and windows and cracked concrete below, the foundation is the more likely cause. We check both on the same visit, and we repair both, so there's no reason for us to sell you the wrong one.
It depends on what's moving. New posts and piers fix a floor that sags between its supports while the perimeter foundation stays put. Underpinning is for when the footing itself has settled — a whole corner or side has dropped, cracks run diagonally from the corners of doors and windows, and the concrete below is cracked or out of level. We carry the footing down to stable soil with helical or push piers ($2,000–$4,500 per pier; most homes need 4–16) or new concrete poured beneath it. A typical project runs $15,000–$50,000+ with engineering and permit, and takes 1–3 weeks on site once the permit is issued.
Yes. Section 1 items on a California termite report are active infestation or existing damage — often a rotted sill plate, termite-eaten joists, or decayed framing under a leaking bathroom. Buyers and lenders commonly want them repaired before close. We work straight from the report, give you a written price quickly, and schedule around your closing date. Treatment for live termites is done by a licensed pest control company; we handle the structural repair.
Usually a permit, sometimes an engineer. Replacing a beam, removing a load-bearing wall, or adding a moment frame needs a building permit and, in most Bay Area cities, stamped structural calculations. Like-for-like replacement of a rotted joist or post is simpler, but many cities still want it permitted. SF DBI, Oakland, Berkeley, and every Marin, Peninsula, and South Bay department draws its own line. We tell you what your city requires before you sign anything.
Almost always — it's a question of engineering and cost, not possibility. The load that wall carried has to go somewhere: into a new beam (flush in the ceiling or dropped below it), down through posts, and onto footings that can take it. Expect $10,000–$35,000 in the Bay Area depending on the span and what's above it. It's often done as part of a kitchen or whole-home remodel, which saves you opening the same ceiling twice.
Possibly. Living space over a wide garage opening is the classic weak story: there isn't enough wall at ground level to resist an earthquake's sideways shaking. The 1989 Loma Prieta quake showed what that looks like, most visibly in SF's Marina District. SF, Oakland, and Berkeley have mandatory soft-story programs for multi-unit wood buildings. Single-family homes aren't covered, but the physics is the same. A steel moment frame or new shear walls at the garage typically runs $25,000–$75,000, designed by a structural engineer.
Replacing a few posts or sistering a handful of joists takes 1–3 days on site. A sill plate run or a beam replacement usually takes 1–2 weeks. Load-bearing wall removal and garage moment frames take 2–4 weeks of construction, plus permit review time, which varies by city. We give you a written schedule before we start, and 94% of our projects finish on or ahead of it.

Floors Sagging? Pest Report Came Back Bad?

We'll get under the house, find what's actually carrying the load, and give you a fixed-price written estimate. We respond in minutes, not days.

Or call (628) 233-3589 — talk to a real person, not a call center.
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