Foundation Problems in North Texas: What Homeowners in Frisco, Richardson and Plano Should Know

If you own a home in Frisco, Richardson, Plano, or anywhere else around Dallas, you have probably heard other homeowners talk about foundation problems. A neighbor had piers put in. A friend's doors would not close. Someone on the street has a crack running across the garage floor.

It is common enough that it can feel like it is just part of owning a home here. In a way, it is. But it is also something you can understand, watch for, and deal with before it turns into a big, expensive problem. This guide explains why foundations move across North Texas, what the warning signs look like, and what we would do about them.

Why North Texas homes have foundation problems

A big reason is the ground. Much of North Texas sits on expansive clay soil. When it gets wet, the clay swells. When it dries out, it shrinks and cracks. It does this over and over, every year, and the amount it moves depends on how much water is in the soil.

Your foundation sits on top of that ground. When the soil under one part of the house swells or shrinks more than the soil under another part, the foundation gets pushed and pulled unevenly. That is what cracks slabs and pulls walls out of square.

The weather makes it worse. North Texas often goes through long, hot, dry stretches, then gets hit with heavy rain. That is a very hard swing for clay soil, and it is a common time for new cracks and sticking doors to appear.

Why newer homes are not immune

A lot of homeowners assume foundation problems are an old-house issue. They are not. In fast-growing areas, many homes were built relatively quickly, on lots where soil was moved around and graded. Even a well-built slab can have problems if the soil underneath it was not prepared evenly or if water drains badly around it.

Newer homes are often on slab foundations. Slabs are strong, but they can still settle, crack, or lift at the edges when the soil moves. Older homes with a crawl space may have a different issue: piers settling, beams sagging, or moisture damage under the house.

Signs to watch for

Here are the signs we hear about most from homeowners in this part of Texas:

• Doors and windows that stick or will not latch, especially after a dry spell or a big rain
• Cracks in drywall, particularly above doors and windows
• Stair-step cracks in brick, following the mortar lines
• Cracks in the garage floor or slab, or cracked tile
• Gaps between the walls and the ceiling or baseboards
• Floors that slope or feel bouncy in one area
• A gap between the soil and the foundation, or soil that has settled away from the edge

One sign by itself is rarely a cause for panic. What matters is whether it is changing, and whether you are seeing several of them at once. Our guide to spotting foundation cracks after heavy rain walks you through a simple way to check and track them.

What makes it worse

Foundation movement is mostly about water. These are the things we see most often making it worse:

• Gutters and downspouts that dump water right next to the house
• Poor grading, where the ground slopes toward the foundation
• Large trees close to the house, pulling moisture out of the soil in dry weather
• Plumbing leaks under or near the slab
• Bare soil or no landscaping on one side, so it dries out much faster than the rest

The good news is that most of these are things you can check and sometimes fix yourself. If water drainage is the problem, our foundation drainage page explains how we handle it.

What you can do right now

• Walk around your house after the next rain and see where the water goes
• Make sure downspouts carry water several feet away from the foundation
• Keep the soil around the house evenly moist during long dry spells, using a soaker hose run slowly, rather than letting it bake or soaking it
• Take dated photos of any cracks or gaps, and check them again in a few weeks
• Fix any plumbing leaks quickly

For more on how dry weather affects the ground, see our guide on how clay soil affects your foundation during dry spells. It is written about Austin, but the same clay-and-weather story applies across North Texas.

When to get it looked at

If cracks are wider than about 1/4 inch, if they keep growing, if you see stair-step cracking in brick, or if doors and floors keep getting worse, it is time to have someone look. A foundation inspection is the easiest first step. We measure your floors, check the cracks and drainage, and tell you what is going on.

What repairs might involve

It depends on what the inspection shows. Common options include:

• Slab foundation repair, using piers or slab lifting to stabilize and raise settled areas
• Foundation crack repair, to seal and reinforce cracks
• Foundation pier installation, to carry the load on stable soil
• House leveling, to correct uneven floors
• Foundation drainage, to deal with the water that caused it

If you want to understand what drives the cost, read our guide on what influences foundation repair pricing.

Where we work in North Texas

We work with homeowners across the Dallas area, including Frisco, Richardson, Plano, Allen, McKinney and Dallas. If you are in Frisco or Richardson, you can also look at our pages for foundation crack repair in Frisco, foundation inspection in Frisco, foundation crack repair in Richardson and foundation inspection in Richardson. The full list is on our cities we serve page, and you can read more about our foundation repair services.

The short version

North Texas clay swells and shrinks with the weather, and your foundation feels it. Watch for sticking doors, cracks, gaps and sloping floors, keep water moving away from the house, and keep the soil around the foundation evenly moist. If something keeps changing, have it checked early.

If you want us to take a look, call us Monday through Friday, 8am to 6pm. We will talk through what you are seeing and help you figure out the next step.