Foundation issue

[haydad]

I have a two story brick house with a single story family room on one end, location Augusta, Ga., that has been sinking and all caused by my not cleaning the gutters, in several years, allowing a lot of water around the foundation of the house. The house has been pretty stable until the gutter issue. A bug inspector, inspecting the crawl space, notified me that one of my pillars was leaning over. When I went under to check and found water all around the crawl space foundation of the home. The center of the house seems to be stable. The questions are:

1. is there a way to eliminate the gutters, on the two story portion of the house, and keep water away from the foundation?

2. Once the crawl space is dry again, is it possible to use the existing pillers to support the house by putting metal spacers on top or them due to them being so stable for so long. With the exception of the leaning pilled which needs to be replaced. Or, can it be reset upright and used again once the area is dry?

3. If #2 is not an option, how do I proceed, doing the work myself?

4. Is there anything else that should be done to avoid this issue in the future?

5. How can the correct height the affected joist should be raised, be determined?

6. Watching videos on the subject, it was mentioned in several videos not to raise the flooring more than 1/8 inch per day. A neighbor just had their single story house done, about 15 spiral pilings under the joist and 6 placed under the foundation and the house was raise a least 1 inch or more right away. Is either way acceptable?

7. Is there a way of drying out the crawl space faster.

All coaching will be appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

[Marc]

I had my answers all typed out then I realized you have brick veneer as exterior cladding. That complicates everything.

I've seen many pier-supported homes with an open crawlspace and a secondary foundation system along the perimeter for just the brickwork and in almost every case, my recommendation for leveling the house included an initial removal of all brickwork. But post some photos first in case your situation is different than what I've visualized.

Marc