Warning sign
Pier and beam foundation repair
Most houses in Sugar Land stand on a slab. The older ones, and many farmhouses and cottages around Fort Bend County, stand on rows of short piers with wooden beams across them and a crawl space underneath.
How these floors complain
- The floor bounces or the china rattles when someone walks across the room.
- A dip you can feel between two walls, or a slope toward the middle of the house.
- Gaps between the floor and the baseboard, or between floorboards.
- Doors that bind in the rooms over the low spot.
- A musty smell indoors after wet weather.
What goes wrong underneath
Piers that have sunk or leaned
Each pier sits on a small pad on the clay. As the clay shrinks and swells, pads settle by different amounts and some piers tip.
Shims that have crushed or fallen out
Thin wood or steel shims fill the space between pier and beam. When they rot, compress or drop out, the beam is no longer held.
Wood that has decayed
Beams and joists rot where a pipe has leaked on them or where the crawl space stays damp. Soft wood sags under the same load it used to carry.
Too few supports
Some older floors were framed with long spans. Add a tiled kitchen or a heavy bath and the middle of the span deflects.
What a company does in the crawl space
- Checks each pier for plumb and each pad for settlement.
- Looks at every shim stack.
- Probes beams and joists for soft or hollow wood.
- Measures joist spans and spacing.
- Notes standing water, damp soil, blocked vents and the slope of the ground.
- Looks along the plumbing for drips and stains.
Wood that insects have eaten is a job for a pest control company before any carpentry. A dripping pipe is a job for a licensed plumber. A foundation company should tell you when one of those has to come first.
Repairs a company may suggest
The lightest repair is re-shimming: the floor is jacked a little at each low pier and new shims are set. Where piers have failed, they are rebuilt on wider pads or replaced with poured concrete or steel.
Decayed beams and joists are replaced, or a new board is fastened alongside the old one. Extra rows of piers or adjustable steel posts can be added under long spans to stiffen a bouncy floor.
None of it lasts if the crawl space stays wet. Expect the plan to include something about where the water goes.
Questions about pier and beam houses
Is a bouncy floor a foundation problem?
Often it is a framing matter: joists that are a little light for the span. It becomes a foundation matter when piers have settled or wood has rotted. Someone has to go underneath to tell which.
Will the floor need adjusting again later?
It may. Piers on shallow pads keep moving with the clay, so re-shimming after some years is a normal part of owning this kind of house. Ask the company what it expects for yours and what its warranty says about adjustments.
Can I look under the house myself?
You can shine a torch through the access hatch and note standing water or a fallen shim. Leave crawling in to the people who do it for a living: there are wires, pipes and wildlife under there.
When you are ready
Describe the problem and book an inspection
One call puts you in touch with an independent foundation repair company that works in Sugar Land. Have the address, the age of the house and a short list of what has changed.
Talk to a local foundation company
Say what you are seeing and where in the house. The company you reach is independent and gives you its own findings and its own price.
Call (832) 307-1056Read the referral disclosure and the privacy policy.