I am new to the Dallas area and see all the ads in the paper about repairing foundation damage. Does anyone know a good source of information about the causes and prevention of foundation damage in the Dallas area. I would hate to have damage to my house due to my failure to take the required actions to prevent it.
North Texas has a gumbo like soil of sand/clay/organics that can expand in volume up to 30%! So most people strive to keep the soil around their homes at a constant moisture level. That may involve soaker hoses (don’t over do it!) and lots of shrubs or ground cover w/ mulch. If you have lots of concrete areas like patios/driveways, it is often advised to use permeable joints instead of tar at the seams closest to the house.
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What Ken @Lampy says!
Here’s a quick article from the Dallas Morning News that should give you most of what you need.
This assumes you have an existing house. It doesn’t address suitable precautions if you’re building new.
There are some things people have tried, like soaker houses, root barriers, proper ground cover and shrubs, but the truth is with these expansive soils, it’s a matter of when you’ll need foundation repair not if.
All these things that people try is about moisture management in the soils around your foundation. That can mean too much or too little. It’s difficult to manage.
It also seems to be an aging issue. The older the home the more likely you’ll need foundation repair. If buying an older home, it’s best to find out if it has had repair yet or not and look for evidence. Any good property inspector worth their salt, will be an expert. (Side note: always find your own inspector and never take a referral from a real estate agent, to many chances for conflict of interests)
The real solution in preventing foundation issues is prior to building the home and spec’ing the scope of the foundation plan to have helical piers placed prior to the pour. (In these soils, it should be code, but the big builders, who wrote the codes, did not want it to required). But if building your own home, you can have that in the plan.
I did speak to someone that put in a drip irrigation system around the perimeter of their foundation and he put in a bunch of sensors to monitor moisture levels and adjust accordingly. It’s high maintenance, expensive, technical and can be a pita, but at the time he told me it was working great, but it had only been in about a year. I would say at the 5 to 10 Year point, if seeing no issues, this might be called a success.
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It is due to the clay-gumbo soil as mentioned. Personally, I now in a house that has the problem, after 50 years, (built 1968, bought in 1989, problems started in 2000 or so) I’d suggest not buying a home in an area that has it or if they are already using things like soaker hoses, if it can be avoided.
There are some maps I’ve seen, don’t recall where, that show the areas in DFW that have the problem.
Another thing to consider, do you have slab or pier & beam? Crawl space ventilation can be pretty important.
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I’m aligned with “it’s a matter of when” on this topic and it’s best practice to plan for some repairs at some point. I’m in a 1979 home and it’s in an area prone to it I think (Coppell). I’m now seeing signs of an issue that has me thinking I’ll be hiring a structural engineer to do an evaluation in the next year or so. Several homes on my street have undergone repairs in the last 10 years as well. Common thing really.
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Concrete slab foundations under houses - the worst foundation for this type of soil.
Pier and beam - way better, if the piers are set on rock.
If you have a concrete slab - it is only a matter of “when” the problems with it will arise - not “if”
Developers want faster returns and concrete slabs are the fastest way to put a foundation down, couple that with poor if any quality control and top it off with city inspectors that care even less and you get a phone book with more foundation repair companies than ambulance chasing law firms.
P.S. Du West is a great foundation and plumbing company
I’m a realtor have some info that can be really helpful to you on what to look for how to Mitigate it