Sherwood Forest, in east Baton Rouge around Sherwood Forest Boulevard, is made up of established subdivisions, and many homes here are older slab-on-grade houses. That age is the useful starting point: a house this old has had time to collect cracks, and only some of them mean anything.
Old cracks and new movement are different things
Concrete shrinks as it cures, and drywall tape lets go at seams. Fine, even cracks that have looked the same for years are common in houses of this era and are usually cosmetic. A crack becomes a foundation question when it changes — gets longer, gets wider, opens at one end more than the other, or develops an edge where one side sits higher.
The other tell is company. A crack that shows up together with a door that stopped latching, a floor that feels like it runs downhill, or brick separating from a window frame is more likely to be part of a pattern. The foundation crack repair page walks through which cracks are worth watching and which are worth a call.
Where to look in a slab house of this age
- Drywall above interior door frames and at the corners of windows.
- Exterior brick, especially near the corners of the house.
- Tile floors, where a crack can run in a straight line across a room.
- The garage slab, where shrinkage cracks are normal but offset edges are not.
- Joints where a later addition or enclosed garage meets the original house.
Document before you decide
You can learn a lot about a crack in a few weeks with a pencil and a phone. Mark both ends lightly with the date, and photograph it with a ruler or coin beside it for scale. Check it again after a long dry stretch and after a heavy rain. If it moves past your marks, that is movement, and it is the most useful thing you can show whoever evaluates the house.
Hold off on sealing anything that is new or growing. Filling a crack erases the evidence of how wide it was and which way it moved — and if the slab is still moving, the patch usually cracks again right beside the repair.
Why sealing comes last
On older slabs, the order of work matters. First, find out whether the slab has moved and why — often water along one side. Then decide whether it needs structural support. Crack repair and cosmetic patching come at the end. A quote that follows that order shows it in separate lines:
- 1Evaluation findingsWhat was measured and found — elevation readings, crack locations, construction type, likely cause.
- 2Drainage / moisture correctionGutters, grading, downspouts, or crawlspace moisture work that addresses why the soil is moving.
- 3Structural repairPiers, shims, or sill and beam replacement — with counts, locations, and depths stated.
- 4Finish / cosmeticDrywall, brick, trim, and door adjustments after the house moves — priced on its own line.
If a quote offers crack injection alone for a house with sloping floors and sticking doors, ask what is being done about the movement. The slab foundation repair page covers how a settled slab is supported and lifted.
Published ranges
Louisiana foundation companies publish crack repair at roughly $400 to $1,500 and slab repair at roughly $3,500 to $12,000. Those are published ranges, not quotes; the Baton Rouge foundation repair cost guide explains what drives a job up or down.
Permits
Baton Rouge is in East Baton Rouge Parish. Before work starts, check with the parish or city permit office — the City-Parish Department of Development (Permits & Inspections) — and ask the specialist who handles any permit.
Next step
For the difference between leveling a slab and leveling a raised house, see house leveling in Baton Rouge, or browse foundation repair and house leveling across Baton Rouge. When you are ready, call (225) 535-8057 or request an evaluation.
Other Baton Rouge neighborhoods: Broadmoor and Goodwood. See every service area by parish.