House Leveling and Foundation Piering in Boerne

Signs of an unlevel house

• Uneven floors you can feel walking across a room, or a marble that rolls on its own
• Doors that swing open or shut by themselves
• Gaps between cabinets or countertops and the wall
• Cracks that open and close with the seasons
• Tile cracking in a line across a floor
• A roofline or brick course that is visibly out of level from the street

Settlement vs. heave (risen foundation)

Most unlevel house repair is about settlement: a section of the slab or pier and beam foundation has sunk because the soil under it dried, shrank, or compressed. Piers are the fix for settlement. Heave is the opposite. Expansive clay that takes on water swells and pushes part of the slab up, which is what people mean by a risen foundation. Heave in Boerne is often caused by a plumbing leak under the slab, a low spot that holds water against the house, or a large tree that was removed so the soil under it slowly rehydrates. Here is the honest part: you cannot push a heaved slab back down with piers. The fix is to stop the water source, give the soil time to stabilize, and then decide whether to lift the lower parts of the house up to meet the high point. A contractor who proposes piers under a heaved area without explaining this is not reading the elevations correctly.

How house leveling works

Leveling starts with an elevation survey, a set of floor readings across the whole house measured against one reference point. That map shows which way the foundation has moved and by how much. Piers are placed under the low areas, then the house is lifted in small, even stages with hydraulic jacks while the elevations are watched. The goal is a reasonable tolerance, not a perfectly flat floor, because pushing a 30-year-old house all the way back to the day it was built tends to crack more than it fixes. After the lift, the space under the beam is shimmed and backfilled, and the readings are recorded so you have a baseline.

Foundation pier types and their tradeoffs

• Pressed concrete piers. Short precast concrete cylinders are stacked and hydraulically pressed into the ground until they stop moving. They are the most common and usually the least expensive option in Texas. The tradeoff is that they stop at the point of resistance, which may be a dense clay layer or caliche ledge rather than solid rock, and the stacked segments are not always tied together.
• Steel push piers. Steel pipe sections are driven down using the weight of the house as the counterforce until they reach refusal. They go deeper than pressed concrete in most soils, and the drive pressure gives a record of capacity at each pier. They cost more per pier.
• Helical piers. Steel shafts with screw-like plates are turned into the ground, and the installation torque indicates capacity. They work well for lighter loads, porches, additions, and new construction, and they can be installed without heavy load on the structure. Dense rock and cobbles, common on many Hill Country lots, can stop them short.
• Drilled concrete piers (bell-bottom). A hole is drilled, often belled out wider at the bottom, reinforced with steel, and filled with concrete. Engineers often prefer them for heavy loads and they can be socketed into rock. They cost the most, take longer, and need cure time before the house is lifted onto them.

Why shallow rock matters in Boerne

Much of the Boerne area has limestone and caliche relatively close to the surface, though the depth varies a lot even across a single lot. When a pier hits sound rock, that is good bearing. When it stops on a thin caliche layer or a loose ledge, it may only appear to be at refusal. That is why the depth reached at each pier should be written down and given to you. Our Hill Country soil guide explains the soil layers in more detail.

Concrete lifting for flatwork

Concrete lifting (also called slab jacking or mudjacking, or polyjacking when foam is used) raises sunken driveways, sidewalks, patios, and garage aprons by pumping material under them through small holes. It is a good fix for flatwork that has settled. It is not a substitute for piering a house foundation, because it adds no deep support and the soil that let the slab drop is still there.

Common questions

What type of foundation pier is best for a Boerne home?

There is no single best pier. Pressed concrete is common and cost-effective, steel push piers go deeper and record capacity, helical piers suit lighter loads, and drilled piers are often chosen by engineers for heavy or critical loads. The right choice depends on your soil, the depth to rock, and the load, and a plan should say why a type was picked.

Can a risen foundation be pushed back down?

No. Heave is fixed by finding and stopping the water source, letting the soil stabilize, and sometimes lifting the lower parts of the house to match. Piers resist settlement, they do not pull a slab down.

How many piers does a house need?

It depends on how much of the foundation has moved. A corner drop may need only a handful of piers, while settlement along a whole side needs piers spaced along that beam. The elevation survey and a written pier layout show where each one goes. Cost ranges are covered in our foundation repair cost guide.

Will my house be perfectly level after foundation leveling?

Not perfectly, and that is normal. Houses are lifted to a reasonable tolerance, because forcing older framing all the way back can crack finishes. Most of the sloping, sticking, and gaps should improve noticeably, and any remaining drywall cracks can be patched afterward (see foundation crack repair).

Does the work come with a warranty?

Yes. Ask any contractor to put the warranty terms in writing before work starts.

Related guides

• How Hill Country Soil Affects Your Foundation
• How Much Does Foundation Repair Cost in Texas?
• What to Expect During a Foundation Inspection