Pier and Beam foundation in a "new" home (Austin: real estate, how much)

[mazoocat]

My husband and I are looking to buy a home in East Austin. We've finally found a 2003 home on a pier and beam foundation that we really like. The problem is that is has vertical cracks along the doors and three of the bedroom doors are out of square. It seemed like they were worse after the big rain we had last week.

The inspector found that the foundation was sagging 5/8ths of an inch right along the hallway where all the problems are. He didn't seem to think the foundation needed to be repaired but we would be happy to do so in order to fix the doors. Our only concern is that this will just happen over and over again every time we have a drought and heavy rain.

I've been told that a pier and beam foundation needs to be maintained every 5 to 7 years. Does this mean we'll have constant cracking?

[eastof35]

Hello mazoocat,

My girlfriend and I bought a house (built in the 30's) on the east side in 2006, and the first thing we did was fix the pier and beam foundation. We had the contractor come in and remove the old pier's (some of which were cedar trunks with the bark and everything lol). He and his crew hand dug several feet below grade and poured 2'x2' pads and placed new concrete piers. They placed a lot more piers than were there originally too.

We have had no movement since, and we have been through drought and deluge, so I think we are OK. The important part is to either did down far enough to hit something solid or down far enough that the moisture content no longer fluctuates with the dry/wet conditions. You also want to make sure you route drainage away from the house as much as possible.

Pier and beam sure makes plumbing and electrical work so much easier

[doctorjef]

I once looked at a house with pier and beam construction just east of I-35 and thought it was very weird for Austin back then. I guess there are quite a few of them in that part of town. I now live in a house with pier and beam foundation, built in 1951, and I can tell you that there isn't a straight, plumb line in the place. Among other things, every repair or improvement involving a door has required special cutting to size or special orders. I guess this is what happens in pier and beam construction after 50+ years.

[TexasHorseLady]

eastof35, mind if I ask how much that cost you (ballpark range)?

[capcat]

We lived in a pier and beam house in Allandale for 25 years. So, we'd seen lots of weather. We replaced a support beam when we moved in, but after that, no problems. The house had only one minor crack in the whole place, which is not bad for a house built in the mid-50s. We didn't have a problem with the doors that I recall, but that may depend upon how well its built and the soil. My husband liked the easy access to plumbing, etc., as another poster mentioned.

[centralaustinite]

I love my pier and beam foundation!

New in 2001, drilled piers sunk at least 20 feet down, poured concrete and structural steel!

And yes, there are tons of homes build on cedar stump piers all over central austin!! That's how they did it from 1900-1940s.

Since it is a newer house, ask to see the construction specifications, how deep the piers are, how many, etc. Ask who the concrete contractor was and what grade of concrete that was used (does it match the specs). Ask also to see the geo-technical report on the soil. If the seller doesn't have them, try to contact the builder.

If you can't interpret these, hire an engineer who can. Carefully inspect the soil under the home, it is dry? Piers can hit buried arteisan springs and the moisture can cause problems if not handled properly. You could also have piers on expansive clay soil. Usually a pier and beam foundation can handle this better than a slab foundation because each pier can be adjusted individually.

At least ask for a separate foundation inspection. Most Austin real estate agents should be well-versed in dealing with foundation issues.

doctorjef, you should get a foundation inspection too and have those piers adjusted!

I much prefer a well designed pier and beam foundation to a slab!

good luck

edited to add: drought and heavy rain are hard on all kinds of foundations!

[CptnRn]

There is a newer type of foundation system that some people refer to as "pier and beam" that is not what I normally think of as the traditional "pier and beam" foundation system.

See this discussion thread: //www.city-data.com/forum/austi...questions.html

A "pier and beam" foundation that uses deep piers should be fairly stable if they are deep enough. Deep foundation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

However, what most of us think of in regard to "pier and beam" foundations is a shallow pier system, where each shallow pier sits on a small spread footing and can float and move with the soil. This was extremely common in many of the older houses around Austin and frequently results in the kinds of building component movement the OP describes. When placed on highly expansive clay soils the independent movements of a shallow "pier and beam" foundation movement can be highly destructive of the building components it supports.

Shallow "pier and beam" foundations are very inexpensive and can be fine for houses built on stable soils. But there are a lot of highly expansive clay soils around Austin where this type of foundation would be a very bad choice.

Any "pier and beam" foundations system should probably be inspected periodically to make sure it is performing or is adjusted as needed.

[doctorjef]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

eastof35, mind if I ask how much that cost you (ballpark range)?

I don't know if you were addressing me. I didn't buy a house in east Austin and can't recall now how much this house was that I was looking at. It would have been back in 1997, I think.

I purchased my current pier and beam foundation house in Delaware in 2007. It's an oddity, too, because almost all houses around here have basements.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by doctorjef

I don't know if you were addressing me. I didn't buy a house in east Austin and can't recall now how much this house was that I was looking at. It would have been back in 1997, I think.

I purchased my current pier and beam foundation house in Delaware in 2007. It's an oddity, too, because almost all houses around here have basements.

No, as I said, I was addressing eastof35 who said they'd had foundation repair on pier and beam idone recently on a 1930's house in East Austin. I was wondering how much it ran them.

[centralaustinite]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

No, as I said, I was addressing eastof35 who said they'd had foundation repair on pier and beam idone recently on a 1930's house in East Austin. I was wondering how much it ran them.

I thought that the OPs house was built in 2003?

Big differences in type of pier and beam between 1930 and 2003!

CaptRN, I thought that all newer homes with pier and beam were drilled piers like mine, the type of shallow pier you describe would be very problematic with some types of soil. I love my deep drilled piers, I remember the crew that dug them, they wondered if we were building a skyscaper because they went so deep!