Question on House Foundation (for sale, 2015, rentals)

[justsomeguy]

Hello, I own an older home that is around 100 years old. The house sits on a pier and beam foundation. I have been told that foundation issues tend to be fairly ubiquitous in N Texas due to the expanding and contracting soils. I'm sure my home has some foundation issues due to some drywall cracks and some slight sloping of floors around exterior of the house, and the age of the home, etc.


So my question is.... is this something that needs to be fixed soon (probably super expensive I'm sure), or is it not that big a deal for an older home like mine? By not that big a deal, I mean if I leave it as it is for the time being, will my house still be ok, generally speaking (other than the issues I listed above)? Is there a point where it "becomes a big deal" i.e. where action needs to be taken and if so, how will I know when that point is? What will happen to my home if I don't do anything about this in the near term?

Finally, since foundation issues seem to be a common issue in N Texas, if I get it fixed, am I going to have just turn right back around and get it fixed again in a few years (then fixed again a few years after that, etc.)?

Basically just trying to gauge how concerned I should be since this seems to be a fairly common issue in the metroplex, by my understanding. And if there is a "preventative maintenance" benefit to correcting the issue now vs. later on down the road (i.e. saving me more $/headaches down the road). And if there is a noticeable point where immediate action is needed.

If something needs to be done and you have any good quality recommendations for a repair company please DM them to me.

Thank you.

[jdallas]

If you get it repaired by a reputable company, they will provide a warranty against any additional problems in the area they correct. If you are planning on selling in the near future, having it repaired now would be a good thing to do as that provides a certain amount of piece of mind to a prospective buyer and also demonstrates some measure of care in maintaining the property.
Honestly, if your floors are noticeably sloped along the perimeter, you are beyond the point where immediate action would be needed.

[justsomeguy]

Originally Posted by jdallas

If you get it repaired by a reputable company, they will provide a warranty against any additional problems in the area they correct. If you are planning on selling in the near future, having it repaired now would be a good thing to do as that provides a certain amount of piece of mind to a prospective buyer and also demonstrates some measure of care in maintaining the property.
Honestly, if your floors are noticeably sloped along the perimeter, you are beyond the point where immediate action would be needed.

So what would happen if I did not take action then? Probably not planning to sell any time soon. That is probably 6 to 10 years away unless some unforeseen event happens.

[WorldKlas]

I have owned many houses in the DFW area and have experience with a few of them regarding foundation issues. My approach has varied depending on the specific house. Each time, I have hired a reputable engineer to get an opinion and mostly have followed that opinion. But, in general, here's my layman's decisions:

1. A pier and beam home with signs of slight shifting -- had this house inspected 3x over a 10-year period. Once, used a foundation company (who gave me a bid for a foundation repair and implied urgency) and 2x used bona fide engineers. The engineer reports each said the house could benefit from being "reshimmed" and estimated pricing was not outrageous. But each report indicated no urgency. In the end, we did nothing. When we put the home up for sale, it passed the buyer's inspections (they also used an engineer to inspect)

2. A rental - slab house with significant movement -- engineer said there was signficant movement and one corner of the house was 1.75" lower than other side. He did say that there did not appear to be much new movement and warned that repairs could impact plumbing and he recommended correction only to fix it to a 1" diff. This was in 2010 and the economy was bad and the foundation repair company offered us a screaming deal and warranty to do the entire foundation. So I did it. We had to have them return about 2 years later as a corner was dropping and they did the repair. I sold the house with the transferrable warranty and in 2015 the new owners again had the foundation company out. Great company; don't know if I would do that repair again and count on tenants to keep the foundation watered.

3. A rental - slab house with minor movement one only one corner -- I paid a local good ole boy foundation company about $1500 to jack up a corner and its held fine for 6 years now.

4. Two other rental slab houses with pretty significant movement all along one side of each of the houses. We did cosmetic cleanup, shaved some doors so they would open and close and have elected not to address the foundation while the houses are rentals because its key to water the foundations for maintaining them and I can't trust that tenants will be vigilant about doing so. Its been about 4 years that each has been in service and each house has some new minor cracks that are not impacting plumbing or any functioning of the homes.

[escanlan]

Originally Posted by justsomeguy

Hello, I own an older home that is around 100 years old. The house sits on a pier and beam foundation. I have been told that foundation issues tend to be fairly ubiquitous in N Texas due to the expanding and contracting soils. I'm sure my home has some foundation issues due to some drywall cracks and some slight sloping of floors around exterior of the house, and the age of the home, etc.


So my question is.... is this something that needs to be fixed soon (probably super expensive I'm sure), or is it not that big a deal for an older home like mine? By not that big a deal, I mean if I leave it as it is for the time being, will my house still be ok, generally speaking (other than the issues I listed above)? Is there a point where it "becomes a big deal" i.e. where action needs to be taken and if so, how will I know when that point is? What will happen to my home if I don't do anything about this in the near term?

Finally, since foundation issues seem to be a common issue in N Texas, if I get it fixed, am I going to have just turn right back around and get it fixed again in a few years (then fixed again a few years after that, etc.)?

Basically just trying to gauge how concerned I should be since this seems to be a fairly common issue in the metroplex, by my understanding. And if there is a "preventative maintenance" benefit to correcting the issue now vs. later on down the road (i.e. saving me more $/headaches down the road). And if there is a noticeable point where immediate action is needed.

If something needs to be done and you have any good quality recommendations for a repair company please DM them to me.

Thank you.

Your questions really can not be answered with any degree of accuracy without an actual full review of the foundation and conditions affecting it. I would recommend that you do hire an exceptional Licensed Engineer who is an expert with residential foundations. The Engineer can perform a review of all areas and provide proper answers and guidance. I've PM'ed you the name of such an Engineer.

Good luck!