Pier and beam foundation repair
How the house is carried
Piers of concrete, block or brick stand on pads set in the ground. Heavy timber beams run across the tops of the piers, and smaller joists cross the beams to carry the subfloor. Thin shims between pier and beam take up any gap. Around the outside there may be a concrete or masonry wall, or only a skirt hiding the crawl space.
Each of those parts can fail by itself. A pad sinks or tilts. A pier leans. A shim rots or slips out. A beam cracks, or its end softens where it has stayed damp. Joists cut too slender for their span bow over time.
Signs from inside the house
- A dip you can feel walking across a room, often midway between two rows of piers.
- Floors that shake when someone walks past, or china rattling in a cabinet.
- A ridge running above a beam, the boards falling away to left and right.
- Baseboards hovering above the boards, or peeling off the plaster.
- A musty smell from the floor after wet weather, which points to damp under the house.
Soft spots near a tub, toilet or kitchen sink are frequently a plumbing leak that has rotted the subfloor. That needs a plumber as well as a carpenter.
What gets checked in the crawl space
Someone has to go under the house. They should look at every pier for lean and for contact with its beam, probe beams and sills for rot and insect damage, and note standing water, wet soil and blocked vents. Floor elevations taken upstairs are matched to what is found below.
Wood-destroying insects are a matter for a licensed pest control company. If the inspector finds termite damage, expect to be told to deal with that alongside the structural work.
From shims to new beams
The lightest repair is re-shimming: a beam is eased up on a jack and fresh shims slipped in until each post takes load again. Next comes adding piers or adjustable steel posts where spans are too long, and replacing piers that have tilted. Damaged beams and joists are replaced or have new timber fixed alongside them.
Because the structure is reachable, pier and beam work can often be done in stages and adjusted later. Ask what is being done about the cause as well, whether that is water collecting under the house, poor ventilation or a leak.
Questions about pier and beam houses
Crawl space repair, pier and beam repair: one trade or two?
For houses here, largely yes. Crawl space repair is the name used in other parts of the country for work on the posts, beams and joists under a raised wood floor. It can also mean moisture control such as vapor barriers, so ask a company which of those it does.
Do I need to empty the rooms?
Usually not, since the work happens beneath the floor. The crew needs a way into the crawl space, which may mean an access hatch outdoors or one cut in a closet floor. Ask before the day.
How do I know which kind of foundation I have?
If the house sits a foot or more above the yard with vents or a skirt around its base, and the floors are wood, it is almost certainly pier and beam. If the floor is at about ground height and the garage floor is bare concrete continuous with the house, it is a slab.
Ask for an inspection of the supports and timber beneath a raised wood floor before agreeing to a repair.
Call (361) 217-1905Ready for someone to measure the house?
Dial the number and say what you have noticed. A foundation repair firm covering your part of the Coastal Bend answers, books a visit, and afterward sends its report and price under its own name. That firm is a separate business from this website.
Wall, ceiling or floor shifting while you watch? Gas in the air? Get everybody outdoors, then phone 911 or the gas utility.
House foundations only
Call (361) 217-1905Corpus Christi Foundation Repairs refers callers and repairs nothing itself. Calls may be recorded. Details: referral disclosure.