Drought Threatens Houston Home Foundations

Posted by OfficeManager on Sep 18, 2018 in General Interest | 0 comments

Hot, dry weather causes the clay soils in Texas to shrink in volume which results in home foundations settling at lower elevations.

The majority of home damage is caused by settlement – the hot weather evaporates the moisture and the clay soils shrink in volume. With no support, the slab foundation will crack and settle (fall) to the elevation of the shrunken soil. Since the house rests upon the slab, some of it will also settle, creating cracks and other damage.

Click here to read more information about the Engineering Aspects of Foundation Repair Methods

Pier And Beam Home Foundations Continue To Suffer After Hurricane Harvey

Posted by OfficeManager on Sep 16, 2018 in General Interest | 0 comments

This press release describes some of the foundation problems being experienced by home owners – the fact that pier and beam home foundations continue to suffer after Hurricane Harvey. Some homes rest on a pier and beam foundation rather than a concrete slab foundation. These pier and beam foundations sit on clay soils. When Hurricane Harvey flooded approximately 260,000 homes in August of 2017 it saturated the clay soils for days and weeks. The result was a dramatic expansion of the clay soils, which creates upheaval. During the hot summer of 2018 these clay soils lost this moisture and shrank dramatically. The resulting movement – horizontal, vertical, and horizontal – damaged many homes and created an increased demand for pier and beam foundation repair.

Pier and Beam Foundations are revealing the damage that was done by the flood waters of Hurricane Harvey.

Notice the crack in the large wooden beam. The movement of the clay soils is responsible for this damage.

Visit our page about Pier and Beam Foundation Repair

Failed Home Foundations Are The Norm

Posted by OfficeManager on Sep 14, 2018 in General Interest | 0 comments

Our press release of March 29, 2017, repeated our mantra that home builders in Texas build concrete slab foundations that are “minimally functional.” And in many cases they don’t even qualify for that low standard. Failed Home Foundations Are The Norm in Texas. At Dawson Foundation Repair we receive calls daily from people that own relatively new homes – homes less than 10 years old – with major foundation issues. The reason is simple – home builders use a minimal amount of concrete and steel rebar. “Saving” a few thousand dollars with less materials improves their profits. But it leaves a majority of Houston homeowners with large foundation repair and leveling costs over the long term life of the house.

Home Builders simply fail to build concrete slab foundations with enough concrete and steel rebar to last a lifetime.