Call and describe what you are seeing

What happens when you call

You describe the problem: what you are seeing, roughly when it started, the age and type of the house, and the city. We route you to an independent licensed foundation contractor who covers your area.

That contractor contacts you to arrange an evaluation. From that point the relationship is between you and them — they set the scope, the pricing and the schedule, and they carry the warranty on whatever they do. We are not party to the contract and we do not take a view on their quote.

We cannot promise a response time, because the contractor's availability is theirs rather than ours. What we can tell you plainly on the call is whether anyone covers your address at all.

What to have ready

• The house. Approximate year built, number of storeys, and whether it is slab-on-grade or pier and beam. If you are not sure, a crawl space hatch usually settles it.
• The timeline. When you first noticed it and whether it has worsened. Seasonal symptoms point somewhere different from steady deterioration.
• The evidence. Dated photographs with something for scale, plus any previous engineer's report or repair paperwork including warranties.
• The water. Where it stands after rain, where downspouts discharge, and whether your water bill has risen unexpectedly.

If you have none of that, call anyway. It is a starting point, not a requirement.

What we cannot tell you on the phone

We cannot tell you what your repair will cost. Nobody can, without measuring the house, and any number offered over the phone before an evaluation is a sales device rather than an estimate. The factors that actually drive the figure are set out in our overview of foundation repair across Texas.

We cannot tell you whether your house needs piers. That is what an elevation survey and inspection establishes, and it is worth knowing that a meaningful share of houses with visible cracking turn out to need drainage correction rather than structural work.

We also cannot promise when a contractor will reach you. Their schedule is theirs. What we can do on the call is tell you honestly whether anyone covers your address, and point you at the right reading in the meantime.

If it is urgent

A wall bulging or leaning, a floor that has dropped suddenly, a visibly rotated beam, or a new crack wide enough to pass a coin through are not things to monitor. Leave the structure and get a professional opinion the same day. The same goes for any horizontal crack running across a foundation wall, which suggests lateral pressure rather than settlement.

Everything else is better served by measurement than by speed, and reading the crack properly will tell you which category you are in.

Details