Does a $75k quote for foundation piers and a new floor sound right for a sub-slab void?

You need to hire an independent **geotechnical or structural engineer** before you sign anything with that waterproofing company. In a 1968 Chicago split-level, your basement floor is almost certainly a non-structural floating slab, not a monolithic pour. The foundation walls sit on thier own footings deeper down, and the slab just sits on the dirt inside those walls. The fact that your doors aren't sticking and you have no wall cracks suggests your footings are likely still stable, but a salesman is always going to jump to the most expensive 'stabilization' package they have.

The 'floating walls' comment from the contractor is likely a scare tactic. Foundation walls are built to transfer loads to the footings, not the basement floor. If the void is strictly under the slab and hasn't undermined the footings, you don't need ten piers. You might just need to fill the void and fix the water source. Since your ejector pit is cycling during rain and has no bottom, you probably have a **hydrostatic pressure** issue where water is being forced up thru the ground, washing away your subgrade and creating that cavity. $75,000 is an insane quote for a 500-square-foot space without even knowing the source of the washout. If the engineer confirms the footings are solid, you coud potentially have the void filled with **polyurethane foam injection** or mudjacking for a fraction of that cost. But you have to stop the water first. If that ejector pit is acting like a secondary sump beacuse the bottom is gone, it's literally pulling fines out from under your floor every time it kicks on.

Get a camera down your sewer line and have the ejector pit properly sealed. Once the water is controlled, the engineer can tell you if the slab needs a full rip-out or just a fill. Don't let a guy whose commission depends on a $75k sale dictate your structural needs.

Whoa, so glad to hear the doors are still swinging smooth! 1968 split-levels usally have those amazing heavy solid wood doors or the cool mid-century louvered styles. Are yours the original dark walnut finish? I'm totally new here and just started restoring my own interior doors, so I'm super obsessed with the hardware right now. If they end up doing all that heavy drilling for the piers, do you think the vibration coud actualy knock the door hinges out of alignment? I'd be so worried about the frames warping!

If your doors are still clearing the frame with a perfect 1/8" gap on the strike side, your foundation isn't moving. In those 1960s builds, you're likely looking at 1-3/8" thick solid cores. Those things are heavy; if the house was settling enought to justify ten piers, you'd be fighting the latch on every Schlage F-Series handle in the place. I've seen guys try to push a full pier system when all you relly need is to stop the erosion. If the slab isn't cracked, why rip it? If it does sink, you can just trim the door bottoms or adjust the hinges before you drop $75k on a problem that hasn't manifested yet.

Spot on about the framing. Everyone looks at the latch, but you shoud also check the miter joints on your door casings. In those late-60s Chicago builds, if the structure were truly subsiding, those trim corners woud be the first to pull apart. If the miters are still tight and the reveal between the door and the head jamb is perfectly level, your walls haven't moved. Also, check the floor clearance—a sinking floating slab might leave an uneven gap under the door, but it won't pull the frame out of square. If the casing is flush, that contractor is dreaming.