Concrete footings in Liberal KS - sized for the ground and the load they carry
Adding a garage, porch or addition? We dig, form and pour footings sized for your soil and the weight they'll carry.
- Licensed and fully insured.
- Free estimates at your property.
- Replies within 1 business day.
What does it take to build a concrete footing that holds?
A concrete footing is the buried strip of concrete that spreads the weight of a wall, garage or addition across the soil, and building concrete footings in Liberal, KS means digging the trench, setting forms where they're needed, adding rebar, the steel that strengthens it, and placing and finishing the concrete. A wider footing puts less pressure on each square foot of ground, which is why its size has to match your soil.
Most people call us when they're adding a garage, a room or a covered porch, and the footing is the part nobody sees once the walls go up. The price moves with how wide and deep your soil and the load call for, how long the trench runs and how hard the ground is to dig, and the schedule turns mostly on the weather and on what the city needs before we pour. My written estimate lays out the size we'd build and why, so you understand what you're paying for before any concrete arrives.
How do you know your project needs new or bigger footings?
Stair-step cracks in block
If a block garage or foundation wall shows a crack that climbs in steps along the mortar, the footing under it has usually moved or was too small for the load. Water gets into an open crack, so the longer it goes, the bigger the repair tends to grow.
A porch or shed leaning
A porch, shed or carport that tips a little more each year is usually sitting on blocks or a thin pad with no real footing under it. Each wet season pushes it further, and once the framing racks, the fix takes carpentry as well as concrete.
Plans for a new build
If you're drawing up an addition, garage or masonry wall and nobody has looked at the ground yet, this is the right time to call. Concrete is hard to undo, so a footing sized by guesswork costs far more to correct than it does to plan.
How we build concrete footings, start to finish
I start by asking what the footing will hold and by looking at the ground it will sit on, because we size each footing for both the soil and the load. If your lot needs an engineer's plan, I'll tell you so plainly instead of guessing. Our crew marks the layout, digs the trench to the planned depth and firms the bottom, sets forms where the ground won't hold a clean edge, and ties in the rebar. We pour in the cooler part of the day, finish the top flat so the wall above sits true, and let it cure, the slow hardening that gives concrete its strength, before anything is built on it. The footing is the first place people want to trim the budget because nobody sees it once the walls are up, and I'd rather you save somewhere else, since a footing is very hard to fix with a building sitting on it.
If part of your house has already settled, foundation raising brings it back up before we tie anything new to it. When a new footing has to run through an old slab or driveway, we use concrete cutting to saw a straight, clean opening instead of breaking out more than we need.
Footings for additions and garages
These suit a homeowner adding living space or a garage, because the walls and roof put steady weight on one line of concrete. We plan the width and depth around that load and your soil, not around a habit.
Footings for walls, porches and decks
These suit a porch roof, a deck post line or a garden wall, where the weight is lighter but the ground still moves. A smaller footing built to the right depth helps keep the structure from leaning as the seasons change.
Get a written estimate for your footing
We reply within one business day and set a time for me to come out and look at your lot. The estimate is free, done at your property, and there's no obligation to go ahead. Thank you for considering us.
(620) 482-9704Building concrete footings in Liberal
Footing work in Liberal answers to the city's Building and Code Enforcement Department, which regulates all buildings and structures in the city and offers both Concrete Permit and Building Permit applications. Whether your particular footing needs its own permit isn't something I'll guess at, so we check with the department about your project, take care of the permit when one is required, and tell you what we learn before we dig.
On jobs around Liberal and the cities around it, the ground can change from one lot to the next, with firm, sandy soil in one yard and clay that swells after a rain in another. I look at what comes out of the trench before we settle the width, and our crew doesn't leave the trench open to dry out in the wind.
What happens when you call about a footing in Liberal?
Call or send the form
Reach us at (620) 482-9704 or through the form, and we'll set a time for me to come out. It helps to have your address and a description of what you plan to build.
I visit and write the estimate
I ask how you'll use the structure, check the ground and the load, and send a written estimate that explains the footing size we'd build and why. You'll see what moves your price before anything is ordered.
We plan, pour and clean up
Once you decide to go ahead, we look into the city paperwork and plan the dig and the pour around the weather. I'm on site with our crew from setup through cleanup.
Frequently asked questions
How much do concrete footings cost in Liberal, KS?
Installed concrete footings across the US usually cost about $5 to $20 per linear foot, meaning each foot of trench length, for the dig, forms, rebar and concrete. That's a national figure rather than our price, and because cost follows the concrete, labor and digging, a wider, deeper footing on weak soil can run several times what a shallow one does. Your own figure comes from the written estimate after I've seen the lot.
How big does a concrete footing have to be in Liberal?
The city's code amendments say no footing may be less than 18 inches deep or 10 inches wide, and they list the local frost depth as 30 inches. We plan footings in the city at that size or larger. Because rules get updated, the city's building department is the place to confirm the current one.
How does swelling clay soil affect concrete footings?
Swelling clay can lift and crack light strip footings as it takes on water, and the best protection is setting the footing below the zone where the soil's moisture changes. About 25% of Seward County's soil area is high shrink-swell clay, below the Kansas average of 45%, so plenty of lots here don't have it. When yours does, depth is the first thing we settle.
Does the city of Liberal or Seward County handle my footing project?
Projects in Liberal or its extraterritorial area, the land just outside city limits, go to the city's building department, while in unincorporated Seward County or Kismet contractors must be licensed and get building permits under the county's rules. Seward County's planning and zoning page covers the county side. We're based in Liberal and work in Liberal and the cities around it, so we check which side of the line your lot sits on before we plan anything.
How do I keep water from damaging my house's footings?
Keep water moving away from the house, which one soil data site for Seward County calls the biggest thing an owner controls. Its advice covers gutters and downspouts that carry roof water clear, ground graded away from the house, and steady soil moisture through drought. We look at where the water runs on your lot before we lay out a new footing.
What is the best way to size a footing for an addition or garage?
Size it by the soil and the load, because a wider footing has more bearing area, the bottom surface pressing on the ground, and so puts less pressure on each square foot of soil. Weak soil calls for a wider footing, and on some lots an engineer's plan replaces the standard details. I'd much rather learn that before we dig than after.
Liberal, KS
Get your footing planned before the pour
Have your address, what you're building and any plans at hand when you call, since the city's permit portal asks for plans and they help me size your footing.