Some homeowners want a place that’s move-in ready. Others, like this one in Heber, Utah, are ready to roll up their sleeves and make a home their own—repairs, remodels, and all. This new homeowner was determined to fix whatever needed fixing and start remodeling right away. He invited us to take a look—starting with the crawl space. That’s where things got interesting.
We found a makeshift retaining wall built from horizontal 2x8s held back by vertical metal pipes. Neither material is designed to resist soil pressure, and the wood was in direct contact with soil—a major red flag for moisture damage and future failure. From a structural standpoint, the crawl space needed serious attention before anything else.
Inside the home, the owner wanted to remove the front-room stairway and open up the walls between the kitchen and living area. We designed a beam that would allow sections of those walls to come down safely while still carrying the load from above.
Outside, the problems continued: no gutters, no flashing, no lawn slope—nothing to keep water from entering the crawl space. From below the home, you could even see daylight through a gap beneath the exterior wall.
We gave the homeowner a list of recommended improvements, prioritized by urgency. With that list in hand, he’s now on the path to turning this fixer-upper into a home built to last just the way he wants it.
