foundation repair companies

The Number One Cause of Slab Foundation Problems

Photo of cracked dry earth that causes foundation problemsIf it’s not the number one problem then it’s a very close second.

It’s the soil.

If your slab-on-ground concrete foundation sits on heavy clay soils that dry out , then swell up when heavy rains come, the foundation  is in danger of movement.

It’s exactly this kind of expanding then shrinking that causes most of the common signs of foundation stress and damage.

A lot of foundation repair companies will tell you that the sticking doors,  windows that are hard to open and close, diagonal cracks in the drywall and brick, and sloping floors are signs that you might need foundation leveling.

And the main culprit is the clay soil that swells and shrinks.

We had a classic case of the soils reacting to the weather this past summer in North Texas.  Weeks of little or no rain, depending on whether you were lucky enough to be under a stray pop-up thunderstorm or not.  (Shrink)

Then along came Tropical Storm Hermine.  (more…)

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Foundation Repair Companies-One Reason To Run with the Big Dogs

My next door neighbor Don had his concrete slab-on-ground foundation repaired three years ago. He paid close to $7,000 and the job came with a lifetime warranty.

Don wasn’t satisfied with the results of the first job. His foundation was moving more than he thought it should and not as level so he called them back out. The company did another half day’s work adjusting the shims between the slab and the piers.

Don called them a third time. After all, he had a lifetime warranty. (more…)

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Concret Slab Foundation Gets Drilled Piers

You can tell when a guy sells the house, packs up and moves away. You can also tell when a guy just leaves. Bobby, the guy who lived behind me, has up and disappeared.

Bobby was having no luck selling his house because it needed foundation repair. He deducted the cost of fixing the slab from his asking price but didn’t realize the financing problems a new buyer would encounter. Mortgage companies are not real anxious to lend money for a house with known unresolved foundation problems. (more…)

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Clay Soil – Living In The Swell Times of Shrink-Swell

This little blog is written from the Dallas, Texas part of the globe which happens to be in one of the busiest areas for foundation repair companies. Why?

Most of the residential neighborhoods are built on what used to be black prairie farmland.  Where once they grew cotton they now grow housing developments planted in the same heavy clay soils.

These soils swell when wet and shrink when it’s dry. The result is rising, falling and twisting of the average slab-on-ground concrete foundation. The use of soaker hoses to keep the soil around the foundation moist is a must. (more…)

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Austin Foundation Repair

It’s weird, but I never thought that Austin foundation repair would really need much of a mention because of the way I think about the geography there. Hill Country, lots of bluffs and cliffs, rocky outcroppings everywhere.

When I think of Austin I picture lot’s of limestone and chalk, not foundation bending shrink-swell clay soils. But that’s what I get for thinkin’.

A few minutes with the Travis County soil survey map from the USDA website proves I have a lot to learn. There are more diverse soil types around Austin than you can shake a BBQ’d rib at.

A homeowner with an Austin foundation on clay soils has the same problems as a lot of other places in Texas.

The soil types that homes are built on in the Austin area change dramatically as you move west to east. It’s the shrink-swell clays in the mid and eastern areas of Travis County that provide Austin foundation repair companies their livelihood. Read more about it here.

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