Two basement columns failed with loud bangs in a 1950s house: what to do in the first 24 hours

A column that gives way drops its load onto the beam and the posts next to it, and anything the beam carries can shift, including gas piping. Spire, a natural gas utility serving central and northern Alabama, tells anyone who smells gas to leave the building first, touch no light switches or electronics on the way out, and call Spire or 911 only from a safe distance.

Temporary posts buy time; they are not the repair. Tiger Brand, a maker of adjustable steel jack posts, sells them for temporary or additional support and says they are not meant to be permanent primary support. Its load figures come from failure tests, and it tells buyers to get safe loads from a licensed engineer. A repair guide in For Construction Pros by a New England foundation contractor warns that a screw jack set on a thin slab or bare dirt can punch through under load. The guide's method: build cribbing or a footing pad first, raise the jack in small steps, and back off if plaster cracks, doors stop latching or gaps open at the trim.

The permanent fix has a code minimum. Section R407.3 of the International Residential Code calls for steel columns of at least 3-inch Schedule 40 pipe or an approved equivalent, wood columns of at least 4x4, and restraint at the bottom against sliding. The same guide says a new column needs a poured footing sized for the load and the soil, and that the crew should first check whether the footing itself dropped. If it did, the job is underpinning.

In Alabama, the repair falls to the landlord. State law requires landlords to meet building codes that affect health and safety and to keep the home habitable (Ala. Code § 35-9A-204). A tenant can give written notice describing the problem and ending the lease in no less than 14 days unless it is fixed, and can sue for actual damages (§ 35-9A-401). Rent cannot be withheld while the tenant stays in the unit (§ 35-9A-164).