Pier type and why
Pressed concrete cylinders and steel pipe piers behave differently in this soil. The quote should say which is proposed and give a reason related to your house.
Foundation Piers and Underpinning
Piers transfer the weight of the house past the clay that keeps swelling and shrinking, down onto ground that stays put. Pflugerville Foundation Repairs explains which type is being proposed for your house, how many, where they go and what each one is expected to do.
- Upfront Quotes
- Slab & Pier and Beam
- Residential & Commercial
When Piers Get Recommended
- Elevation readings show a real difference across the house, not a hairline
- One corner or one side keeps dropping season after season
- Cracks reopen every summer after being patched
- Doors and windows in the same area are steadily getting worse
- Drainage has already been corrected and the movement continued
- A room addition is pulling away from the original structure
Piers are the right answer when the soil under part of the house will not support it consistently and better drainage alone has not settled it down. They are not a first response to one crack. If nobody has taken elevation readings at your house yet, that comes before any pier count is discussed.
What Pier Installation Involves
The details below should all appear on a quote. If any of them are missing, ask.
Placement plan
A drawing or list of locations along the beam, with spacing. Guesswork spacing is how a job ends up with a new low spot between two piers.
Driving to resistance
Sections are driven down until they stop moving under load. Depth varies across one house, which is normal; what matters is that each pier is carrying.
Lift and lock off
Once the piers are in, the house is raised in stages and the piers are shimmed and locked. Readings are checked between stages rather than at the end only.
Post-tension slabs
Many newer subdivisions here have tensioned cables in the slab. They must be located before anything is cut or cored, and that changes how interior work is approached.
Warranty terms stated
Ask what is covered, for how long, what voids it and whether it transfers when you sell. Get the answer on paper with the quote.
Your Repair Options
The pier decision usually comes down to depth, access and price. Pressed concrete pilings are driven using the weight of the house itself and are common on residential jobs in Central Texas. Steel pipe piers can generally be driven deeper and are often chosen where the load is heavy or the firm layer is a long way down. Helical piers, which are turned in rather than pressed, come up on lighter structures and additions.
Our pressed concrete versus steel piers comparison lays out where each one fits so you can follow the reasoning in your quote. If you want a second opinion that is not attached to the company doing the work, an independent structural engineer can produce an elevation survey and a written repair plan, and you can ask for quotes against that plan.
Piers are one part of the picture. See slab foundation repair for how they fit into the lift, drainage and root barriers for the soil moisture side, or book a foundation inspection to get the readings first. Coverage is listed on the service areas page.
Foundation Pier Questions
What affects the cost of foundation piers?
The pier count, the type and how hard each location is to reach. Piers on an open side yard are quicker than piers that need tunneling under the house or breaking through an interior floor. Depth matters too, since deeper piers use more material and more time. Pflugerville Foundation Repairs prices the plan pier by pier so you can see exactly what you are paying for.
How many piers will my house need?
That comes from the elevation readings and the load path, not from the size of the house alone. Be cautious of a number quoted over the phone before anyone has measured your floor. Pflugerville Foundation Repairs produces the count after the inspection and will show you why each location was chosen.
Do piers damage the yard?
Exterior pier work means digging holes along the beam, so the beds and grass in those spots are disturbed and machinery may need a path in. Holes are backfilled and tamped and landscaping is put back as well as it can be, but new sod and plants are usually on you. Ask what is included before work starts.
Are piers permanent?
The piers themselves stay in place and keep carrying load, but no system stops the clay moving. Some houses need an adjustment years later, which is one reason to understand the warranty. Keeping soil moisture steady with drainage and watering is what reduces the chance of that.
Arrange a foundation inspection in Pflugerville
Tell us what the house is doing and we will plan the right inspection.