Morgan County's older stock, by the numbers
The ACS 2024 5-year estimate counts 57,361 people in Decatur, the Morgan County seat on Wheeler Lake. The Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 estimate shows growth of only 1.3 percent since 2020. Its median home was built in 1977, the earliest of the places we cover. By year structure built (ACS 2024 5-year, B25034), 49.2 percent of units date from 1970 to 1999, 26.9 percent from 1950 to 1969 and 8.3 percent from before 1950. Of 23,722 occupied homes, 63.3 percent are owner-occupied.
ZIP 35601, north Decatur with Old Decatur and Albany, has a 1968 median and 13.2 percent of homes built before 1950. ZIP 35603 to the southwest has a 1992 median, with 57.0 percent of homes from the 1970s through the 1990s.
Three housing eras, three kinds of foundation work
1860s to 1940s: Old Decatur and Albany
The Bank Street-Old Decatur Historic District holds about 340 structures dating primarily from the 1860s to the 1940s and was listed on the National Register in 1980; Albany was laid out in 1887. Brick-pier, stone and early block foundations call for crawl space repair, sill and pier work. Decatur has its own Historic Preservation Commission; its rules were not researched, so the contractor should ask before exterior changes.
1950s to 1970s: brick ranches
This is the crack and wall repair market: stair-step cracks in brick veneer, cracked or leaning block, and settled slabs that may need piers or leveling. Crack repair runs $250 to $800 per crack and bowing wall reinforcement $4,000 to $12,000 in typical national ranges from This Old House (2026), Bob Vila (2024), HomeGuide (2026) and Angi (2026), estimates rather than quotes.
1980s to today: the southwest side
Newer subdivisions bring the region's builder-slab complaints: settlement at a corner, drainage against the slab edge, a wet crawl space in a 5.87-inch December (NOAA 1991-2020 normals).
The clay under Morgan County
NRCS SSURGO tallies put about 18.7 percent of Morgan County's acreage in soils with a high or very-high shrink-swell rating, the largest share of the three counties here (Madison County about 17.5 percent, Limestone County about 1.3 percent). The county's Colbert series, a smectitic clay over shaly limestone, rates very high in its subsoil, and Barfield, a shallow clay over limestone, covers about 20,278 acres. The Geological Survey of Alabama names the Newsome Sinks area in Morgan County among the state's karst areas. No source maps these soils to neighborhoods. Drought is part of the picture: the National Weather Service in Huntsville reported D4 drought in eastern Morgan County in November 2023.
Who does the work and who signs off
Permits vary by city; your contractor confirms with the building department. In Decatur that is the Building Department at 402 Lee Street NE, Fourth Floor, (256) 341-4570, building@decatur-al.gov, which reviews residential work to the currently adopted IRC. Alabama requires a Home Builders Licensure Board (HBLB) residential home builder license when a home repair costs more than $10,000 (Ala. Code §34-14A-2(16)); ask for the company's HBLB license number and check it on the HBLB lookup before signing.
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