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We’ve been fixing stone basements and doing stone foundation repair projects throughout the state of Michigan for almost two decades. I’m going to share the typical costs of stone basement repair projects that we’ve completed over the years. If your here looking for a stone basement repair contractor and want to set up an assessment and stone basement repair quote visit Here. We work exclusively on stone basements and stone crawl spaces, many of our projects are pre-1900 farm houses. Several companies offer solutions nowadays for stone basements which range from problematic to downright unnecessary. I’ll talk about some of those as well and share why you might want to avoid those.
Stone Basement Tuckpointing Costs
Much of the work we do on stone foundations is tuck-pointing. A lot of our customers have stone basements and crawl spaces where the mortar joints between the stones have deteriorated, are crumbling and creating a mess on floor below, or are missing altogether. Basement that are older than around 1910 tend to run less than 400 sq’ to 500 sq’. Often times they are around 18’x25′, so they are small compared to today’s standards. These older home almost always have several additions and usually those are crawl spaces.
Projects over the last 20 years or so that fall in this 1910 or older category have a cost range of $4300-$6500 dollars for spot repairs and extensive tuck-pointing. This range reflects foundation repair projects where the walls are basically where they need to be, there isn’t any bowing or areas of collapse. Tuckpointing and small spot repairs are all that are needed. These projects typcally take 2-3 days depending on the size of the crew.
Cost Summary for Tuckpointing Stone Basement Repairs
Pre 1910 Projects typically take 2-3 days
Spot repairs and extensive tuck-pointing are needed
Walls are intact and where they are supposed to be (no collapse)
Stones are basketball size or smaller
Cost range is $4500-$6500
Larger Stone Basement Repair Project Costs
We do a lot repair on stone basements that are much larger than a few hundred square foot. It seems like the foundations that were built between 1910-1930 were much larger. Sometimes these approach 2000 sq’ and have several different rooms. Tuckpointing isn’t rocket science, but it’s pretty tedious and it takes longer when the basement is larger. The size of the stones in the wall make a huge difference in the cost because smaller stone take about twice as long tuck-point compared to stone that are larger than a basketball. One thing we’ve noticed is that these larger basements often use larger stones and helps to offset the costs that come with a larger basement with more wall area.
These larger stone basements (800-2000 sq’) that require spot repairs and tuck-pointing have a cost range of $5800 to $8500 typically. Keep in mind this doesn’t take into account any extensive repairs or re laying stone, fixing collapsed walls, adding glass block windows, or difficult to enter areas.
How to not Waste Money Fixing Your Stone Basement
Over the last few years we have been seeing a few companies offering different services on stone foundations that are probably a really bad idea. One that comes to mind is applying spray foam over the wall surface to “hold it all together”… This is a horrible idea and I strongly recommend against it. When you go to see your home or get a loan against it, your inspection report will be unable to address the structural integrity of the foundation and that will be a big problem.
Another thing we’ve seen recently is companies offering shotcrete. They basically put some rebar agains the wall and shot Crete the surface. This works in some situations. We sometimes use it on basements that have an earthen berm around the perimeter. Using it on the entire wall surface of a stone basement where the walls are where they need to be and it is structurally sound is complete waste of money. It’s just not needed. And it’s pretty expensive. Stone doesn’t rot and simply maintaining the mortar joints with proper tuck-pointing methods is a much better choice and it costs a fraction of the money.
Stone Foundation Repair of Michigan is kicking off the 2025/2026 season. I wanted to share a new post with some updates and invite you guys to reach out and get your stone basement repair project rolling. We’ve been booked with site visits, assessments and stone foundation repair quotes the last couple weeks. We also kicked off our season with an exterior stone foundation tuck pointing project on a barn up in the Leelanau Peninsula just north of Traverse City, Michigan. I’m Sharing a before and after photo below of this stone barn basement repair project with did for the Carey’s.
We are a full service, state wide, concrete contractor as well and we had one of our busiest seasons ever. We also did some really neat stone work the last 9 months or so along with some awesome decorative concrete projects. If you like that sort of thing you can find some photos of our concrete season by visiting our Facebook page: Michigan Concrete Contractor
We actually did the interior stone repairs on this barn a couple years ago, we also installed a couple sheer supporting walls to help stabilize a bowing wall in the barn. This exterior portion of the project was a complete Tuckpointing over all the exterior walls, which will keep the walls and barn structurally sound for decades to come.
Stone Foundation Repair Contractor
If you think you need a stone foundation repair contractor, you can call us directly or, better yet, fill out the form right here on the website and we will get you an assessment and accurate quote to fix your stone basement or stone foundation issue. We are still available state wide and, for certain projects, will travel further. We appreciate the opportunity to help you with your stone repair project. Our company has done hundreds of stone foundation repairs and preservation project across the state for going on two decades.
Stone Foundation Repair Cost
A lot of people have no idea what the cost is to repair a stone basement. Obviously all projects are different, but after 18 years or so, an average starts to develop. Most of the stone foundation repair projects we do involve tuck pointing. Often times most of the wall area needs some attention, some of time 80% or more of the joints between the stone need re- tuckpointing. Often times there are smaller areas that need spot repairs. Maybe there are a few loose stones or an opening that was busted out needs stabilized. If we were to add up all the projects we’ve done on residential stone basements and stone crawl spaces, I would say the average cost of stone basement repair projects would be between $4,600 to $8,500.
Stone Foundation Repair of Michigan is about well into the Winter of 2025 and we’ve been steadily working on our stone foundation projects across the state. We started January with a stone crawl space project up in Boyne City, Michigan. A home right in town across from the lumber, I think it was built in the 1860’s. Our customer was totally remodeling the small home and it’s going to be a perfect summer getaway.
Stone Foundation Repair Projects
After Boyne City we ended up south of Grand Rapids for a stone basement repair project. This project also had a small crawl space area with an access so small we had to temporarily make it bigger in order to access the area. This house was very old, in fact the floor boards were original and were also the flooring. So no subfloor. The door thresholds were logs that were worn by foot traffic over the years.
I’ll share some photos below of these projects. We got a new app called “company cam” to help us with communicating the repairs that needed done on each specific project. It’s pretty cool actually! It’s great way to organize photos for each stone foundation repair project and the guys can do phot updates which is really nice.
Another project we worked on this month was an old stone basement over in Stanton, Mi. Our customer, Wyman, had an original as it gets, old farmhouse from the late 1800’s which was mostly original. It was pretty cool. He needed a retainer wall build out of cement block to protect his hot water heater and help to keep the foundation where it was and he found us during his search for a reputable stone foundation repair contractor.
Our next project was a one day spot repair project on a stone basement for our customer, Christine. This basement had been painted white, but the mortar joints weren’t fixed before it was painted, so it was a quote a mess. Just one day was spent here but it made a huge impact on her old stone foundation and she was happy.
