A foundation anchors your building to the earth, holding it up and, just as importantly, holding it down. But foundations do more than just hold a building: they must resist water, ice, fungus, insects, and soil gases, and they have to stand up to soil pressures that can exert far more force than the weight of the building itself.

When they are working well, foundations escape notice, quietly doing their thing below grade. But when they begin to fail, they can be the source of trouble and expense. Even a quarter inch of uneven settling can crack stucco or tile, separate brick joints, cause windows and doors to stick, or cause floors to sag and slope. And these are the small problems! Buildings on sites with unstable soils or incorrectly placed fill can have big problems — heaved slabs, buckled walls, and foundation movement that can threaten the whole building. So, A. Ricci & Sons anticipate and prevent all but the slightest foundation movement, because fixing foundation problems always costs more than doing the job right in the first place.