As residents throughout New Braunfels face needed repairs, 34-year-old local company Alamo Hy-Tech Foundation Repair has seen an uptick in business in New Braunfels over the past three years and have increased the staff to keep up with the demand. Hy-Tech works alongside the city to complete foundation repairs.
Permits filed in New Braunfels for foundation repairs increased by nearly 118% from 2018-22, according to data from the city. With nearly 200 filed so far in 2023, officials said they anticipate the trend to continue.
“The drought sort of started in October of 2021, and in Central Texas, we saw record numbers of foundation repairs in 2022,” said KC Collins, a building official for the city of New Braunfels. “We’re kind of backing off that drought now. ... We don’t really see [less of a demand for foundation repair] because in 2023 already, we still had 180 residential foundation repairs, which is pretty high.”
Groundbreaking finds
A number of structural and environmental factors can lead to foundation damage of a residential home, apartment or any other building. Soil conditions can cause shifting, expansion and settling of the ground the foundation is built on, depending on the weather, according to national foundation repair company Groundworks.
New Braunfels is located over two geographical ecoregions—the Edwards Plateau and Blackland Prairie—that feature varying amounts of clay. Clay soils are more prone to lose moisture during a drought, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.
Soil conditions vary throughout New Braunfels due to the geography of the region, ranging from rocky and stiff soils to clay and highly expansive soils. Because of this, some areas may be more prone to developing foundation issues, Collins said.
“Your soil conditions are very important for the long-term health of your foundation,” Collins said. “And then that is why No. 1, in the city of New Braunfels, your foundation has to be designed by an engineer who has to have an understanding of those soil conditions at the site in order to do a good design. If you have highly expansive soils, [like] clay soils immediately under your foundation, you have a much higher chance of having foundation problems.”
After nearly a year in Stage 3 drought restrictions, New Braunfels moved to Stage 2 on May 29.
“The drier the ground, ... the more it’s going to affect your foundation,” said Richard McCarter, co-owner of Ground Control Landscaping & Lawn Service. “You can actually go outside to your own foundation and look at the dirt. And if you see a gap between your dirt and your foundation, you’re too dry, ... [and you] need to get water around that foundation.”
Fixing foundation issues
According to Chad Gregson, vice president of Alamo Hy-Tech Foundation Repair, there are two different types of home foundations: concrete, and pier and beam. Concrete foundations are made on a slab where soil has to be pretreated to allow for the necessary drainage. Pier and beam foundations are typically seen in older homes and are built by using wooden beams on concrete piers to elevate homes above the ground.
Gregson said foundations are repaired with steel or concrete piers that are driven at least 12 feet below the foundation by using a hydraulic press to provide additional support. Their repair jobs can range from $3,000 to $60,000, depending on the size of the home and the condition of the foundation.
Gregson said he sees more of a need for the business’s services on the east side of New Braunfels due to the soil conditions of the area.
“All the houses that were out in the country were all pier and beams; now, they’re all slabs,” Gregson said. “Pier and beams are a better solution for [the east side of New Braunfels] really because you can adjust it easier.”
Collins said although pier and beam foundations may be easier to repair, they may have more issues due to being too shallow, not being evenly spaced and bearing too much weight individually. Concrete foundations provide consistent weight distribution on the surface on which they are built.
Ott Plumbing Co. owner Dallas Ott said foundation repair and plumbing companies often have to work alongside each other to repair broken pipes that may contribute to future foundation issues.
Severe weather, including freezes and dryness, can lead to soil shifting, which may lead to pipes breaking around a home and excess moisture contributing to shifts in foundation.
“Any time you have a break under there and it leaks and it gets wet moisture, that can develop into shifting, ... and that’s when it starts breaking the pipe or could cause a break,” Ott said.
When fixing a concrete foundation, excavation work is completed on the exterior or interior of the home, depending on where the leveling needs to occur, according to Alamo Hy-Tech Foundation Repair.
Leveling the issue
One way local professionals recommend homeowners can work to prevent major foundation issues is to have a hydrostatic sewer test completed on their homes.
“We do a lot of digging, a lot of tunneling and excavation for plumbing companies here in town,” Alamo Hy-Tech Vice President Lori Archer said. “Because they’ll find the leak underneath the house from the static sewer tests, and then we’ll have to excavate to get that leak available so that they can repair it. And a lot of times that is put hand in hand with foundation repair.”
Ott Plumbing Co. then works with a foundation repair company to dig a hole that is necessary to repair the leak and inspect and maintain the quality of the foundation. Homes with pier and beam foundations are easier to repair as the pipes can be accessed under the home through a crawl space, Ott said.
Collins said some of the signs of possible foundation issues homeowners should look out for include uneven flooring, gaps between the ground and foundation, as well as broken tiles or cracks in the soil, external foundation or interior walls.
