Sinking Garage Foundation Repair

Question

My garage is attached to my home which is a single level ranch on a slab foundation. The garage has concrete blocks as footing along one wall. The garage floor is its own slab. Both the garage floor and footing on one side have sunk (maybe still sinking - house is quite old so maybe not) by about 1-2 inches. The corner of the footing is cracked away from the rest (crack about 1 inch wide). The prior owner shimmed this gap in a few places and hid it with baseboard. It wasn't picked up by my inspector. I'm a first time homebuyer and hoping for some guidance on how and when to hire a professional to address this problem. My first step was to use Angi's list where I found a basement solution company to take a look and provide a quote. They suggested push piers for the footing and poly level for the floor (none of which was guaranteed to work). This is very expensive and not sure I can afford, especially given the uncertainty and my lack of understanding. Questions:

1. What is an overview of steps for having this level of construction work done? Do I need to consult an engineer or anything first or do I just reach out to the contractor company, check their licenses, check with the town whether a permit is needed and make sure they have it, then hire them?
2. Will push piers work on concrete bricks that have holes in them (see photo)? From what I can see online, footing has to be "trimmed" and prepared to fit a support bracket before installing the piers. Not sure these bricks will allow for that?
3. What other solutions should I be considering?
4. I'm in CT. Any other suggestions on finding a contractor outside of Angi's list?
5. Should I be concerned about the temporary shim fix, or should I wait for a few years and leave it as is? When is it essential to get it fixed?

Bottom plate in below pic was from when I pulled away the baseboard to take a look. The wall is about 1.5 inches higher than the concrete blocks. It is shimmed in 2-3 places per the diagram above.

Answer 1

I don't see a problem except for minor defects.

• The garage floor is properly sloped from the house side towards the backside to divert water, if any, away from the house. the slope is usually at least 1% of the length, so for a 16' long slab, the elevation turns out to be 1.92".

• It is unusual, but the cinder block at the edge of the slab is part of the drainage system to collect the water from the garage and transfer the water through the ground (or gravel trench) to somewhere else.

• The gaps and cracked blocks are the natural wear and tear after the car moves in and out of the garage throughout the years. You can simply shim, grout, or replace the broken block.

Please invite at least one more reputable contractor to inspect and offer suggestions on the necessary actions and show you how they going to do it. Do not tell them forthright on what you thought about the problems and tell them what to do. Otherwise, it is going to cost you a fortune for things that can be done at a much lower cost.

If you feel you need a referral on a good engineer, go visit your local building department, they might be able to offer a few good names. Or from BBB.org.