Foundation repair.....

[Dubai B]

Well it looks like the drought has caused the ground to dry out and start settling causing cracks in mortar joints. They are slowly getting bigger.

I have watered the area as much as I could just nit able to make a noticeable difference.

Has anyone had some foundation work done in the Katy area? What did it cost? Good or bad experiences with companies? What should I be watching out for in a repair supplier?

Brian

[deer_hoyter]

I am going through the same problems with my house right now. Be sure the contractor that gives you a estimate uses a water level to shoot elevations and not a 4' level. There is no way to take elevations with a 4' level. The guy that used a water level found a 2" drop on one side and corner of the house and recommended putting piers only on that side. The other contractor recommended putting piers around the whole house and was $11,000 more on the estimate. I had 2 engineer's look at the estimates and 1 said to go with the guy that actually took a correct elevation survey and the other said don't do anything. The second engineer said with our soils, houses are going to move with the soil and to leave it alone unless my house was actually falling apart. I am torn on what to do, but will probably look at repairing the portion of the house with piers. Both engineers couldn't believe that the contractor took elevations with a 4' level. I called another company for an estimate and asked what they used to take elevations with and told him not to bother coming when he told me "a 4" level."

[Charles]

I had an independent structural engineer come out the other day for an evaluation. He recommended 14 steel piers driven 12' deep. Told me to budget $400 to $500 per pier. He also suggested I get my pipes check for leaks before and after the repair (this is an additional charge). These prices do not include any damages that might happen when raising the foundation (broken windows, pipes, sheet rock, bricks .... )

I'm going to start calling a few companies today so I can get written estimates.

[Bill M]

Well it looks like the drought has caused the ground to dry out and start settling causing cracks in mortar joints. They are slowly getting bigger.

I have watered the area as much as I could just nit able to make a noticeable difference.

Has anyone had some foundation work done in the Katy area? What did it cost? Good or bad experiences with companies? What should I be watching out for in a repair supplier?

Brian

Would you have a pictures of the what you are seeing? Cracking mortar is not uncommon with moving slabs and they all move. These drought conditions are causing more movement than normal obviously.

I would place soaker hoses around the slab and water everyday for a while, the earlier the better. I know it's tough keeping consistent moisture content right now but if you can get it wet and stay at it you should be able to maintain it.

I would do as Charles has done and hire an independent structural engineer to advise you if the problem is that bad. They would have no interest in selling you piers/repair where a foundation repair company does.

[pazthru]

Bill M said what I was getting ready to post....especially after I read " I have watered THE AREA as much..........."

The entire perimeter needs to have even consistant moisture levels. Just watering one area will make things worse,the wet soils expand while the rest of the perimeter shrinks.

[arrowdynamic]

My cousin runs a foundation repair company in Richardson but he also travels around the state. He uses a water level to determine high/low spots. His preferred method is reinforced concrete piers. BS from SMU, MS from ? and PhD from UTA. He's authored a book published by the industry and has been in articles in the Star-Telegram and the NY Times. PM me if you want his number.

[Charles]

Pm Arrowdynamic.

[keep's keeper]

Questions about watering the foundation. My back porch looks like a seperate slab of concrete so do I run the soaker hose up on the porch next to the slab or around the edge of the porch? The porch covers the length of the house.

How long should you let the soaker hose run to be effective? I have heard everything from a few hours to all night.

[jerp]

I have a soaker hose that runs around my house except for the front porch and the garage. (back porch is part of the slab, front is not) I put it about 18-24" from the slab and pinned the hose to the ground with those long staples used for securing landscape fabric and the grass has grown over it. This time of year I let it just trickle overnight - probably 8 hours - twice a month. Don't know if that is too much or not enough - just trying to keep a somewhat consistent level of moisture in the soil. What makes it more difficult is one end of our house is built on clay. The other end, because of the slope is built on several feet of fill of some kind so they absorb/hold water at different rates. I've had a few small cracks and sticking doors - I'm hoping it's just normal shifting/settling and not something worse.

[mlmtx01]

I live in a mobile home and am running into this. I am going to install a soaker hose around my entire trailer. I want to try and get the ground a constant moisture, then I am going to relevel my house. This was some great information.

[kaizen]

One thing to consider before planning a foundation leveling is the age of the home. A home will move initially in the first say five years due to consolidation of the foundation material. I would caution against leveling "young" house.

Movement after that is usually related to clay soils, drought and depth of seasonal moisture change. A 4' thickness of fat clay can move a couple inches going from a dry to wet condition. A 8' thickness of moderate clay could do the same. This year the depth to seasonal moisture change could be extreme maybe 20'?? All the clay above that depth is going to experience volume change. I'm not sure I would level at the height of the drought. What happens when the clay swells again? Especially if you only level one side? Without knowing exactly what the soil strata is, and a foundation repair company is not going to know unless they take borings, it's just a best guess. Will it help? Probably. Will it solve the problem? Unknown.

As a structural engineer that is often asked for an independent recommendation, I've seen houses that just needed to live with a little movement, houses that could be fixed by leveling, houses that were worse off after leveling and houses that could not be fixed no matter what was done. So, I would caution that sometimes living with the problem is not a bad solution.

[k9trainer]

Would you have a pictures of the what you are seeing? Cracking mortar is not uncommon with moving slabs and they all move. These drought conditions are causing more movement than normal obviously.

I would place soaker hoses around the slab and water everyday for a while, the earlier the better. I know it's tough keeping consistent moisture content right now but if you can get it wet and stay at it you should be able to maintain it.
I would do as Charles has done and hire an independent structural engineer to advise you if the problem is that bad. They would have no interest in selling you piers/repair where a foundation repair company does.

I have a buddy that does contracting and foundations and he told me the other day that when it gets this hot and dry for this long, no amount of soaker hose is going to help or fix it. You're just making for a higher water bill

[Change Up]

I have a buddy that does contracting and foundations and he told me the other day that when it gets this hot and dry for this long, no amount of soaker hose is going to help or fix it. You're just making for a higher water bill

Yea he wants to make money off of you and the ones that believe that.

[Bill M]

Originally Posted by k9trainer
I have a buddy that does contracting and foundations and he told me the other day that when it gets this hot and dry for this long, no amount of soaker hose is going to help or fix it. You're just making for a higher water bill

I'll continue to heed my own advise on this. You definitely will increase your water bill but it beats the alternative.

[k9trainer]

Yea he wants to make money off of you and the ones that believe that.

Yea cause he's out to make money off me. Think about the little water a soaker hose puts out and think about the square footage of your foundation. There's no way you are going to keep moisture in the soil when it's 107 outside.