Cost to repair a cracked slab on a ranch house?

[Adam Sporinsky]

Good morning BP,

I'm currently considering a deal for a ranch house in the south suburbs of Chicago, and when I went to look at it with my agent, we noticed two cracks in the slab (no basement) of the property, pretty much right down the middle of the building.  The cracks show on both sides of the house, and once inside we could see some sinkage in the middle of the house, the floors were sloped in towards it, and all in all, it needs to be repaired if I do this deal.

What type of cost have others seen for this type of work?  Since there is no basement, I imagine the repair involves cutting through and replacing parts of the floor to be able to access the cracked part, but I don't have any experience with this type of foundation work.  Is it worth doing? How much does it Cost?  Other than this issue the building is in pretty solid shape, and the taxes are low enough that it would work both as a flip and as a rental property.  I am trying to get a decent estimate so I can see what price I would need to pay for this house to get a deal done.

Any help would be really appreciated, I am sure someone out there has dealt with this type of thing before.  Maybe you know someone who has and can mention them into the post?

[Cave Johnson]

Try to get a bid from a foundation repair company. It is hard to estimate what might need to be done. It involves adding piers in the middle of the house and jacking up the old foundation to make it level. This can get expensive. Good Luck!