Slab foundation repair
Piers driven under a settling slab until it carries the house again
See how slab foundation repair works →
San Angelo, TX · Tom Green County
Your house is moving because the ground under it moves
Sticking doors, stair-step cracks in the brick, a floor that slopes toward one corner. Tell us what you are seeing and get a free evaluation and a written price — no obligation, no pressure, no call center.
$0The evaluation and the written price cost nothing
In writingYour price on paper before any work starts
Never soldYour number is used to call you back, and nothing else
Free evaluation · your price in writing · we never sell your details
Why it happens here
San Angelo sits on clay that pulls itself apart for half the year
This is not a sales line, it is on file with the federal government. When the USDA needed a reference example of the Tobosa clay series — one of the shrink-swell Vertisols — it took the profile from Tom Green County, roughly ten miles northeast of San Angelo. The official description records cracks 0.3 to 1 inch wide reaching 20 to 60 inches down, open 210 or more cumulative days a year.
The Lipan series is the same story on the other side of town: its reference profile is 7.2 miles southeast of the San Angelo courthouse near Veribest, it runs 40 to 60 percent clay, and its cracks stay open more than 150 cumulative days a year. The Angelo series, named for this area and mapped across Tom Green and Irion Counties, carries 35 to 50 percent clay.
Add the rainfall pattern on top. San Angelo averages 20.94 inches a year, but the average hides the swing that actually does the damage: 35.72 inches in 2016 in the wettest year on record against 7.41 inches in 1956 in the driest. Clay that expands and contracts through a range like that lifts and drops whatever is sitting on it, and what is sitting on it is your slab.
Ground and climate facts on this page come from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Official Soil Series Descriptions for the Tobosa, Lipan and Angelo series (all three mapped in Tom Green County) and from NOAA climate normals for San Angelo.
210 or more days a yearthe Tobosa clay near San Angelo spends with its cracks open, per the USDA
40 to 60% claythe clay content of the Lipan series mapped southeast of town
7.41" to 35.72"the rainfall swing between San Angelo's driest and wettest years on record
What to look for
The signs that mean it is the foundation, not the paint
Most houses have a few harmless cracks. These are the ones worth acting on.
Stair-step cracks in brick
Mortar joints splitting diagonally up the wall in a staircase pattern. That is one side of the house sitting lower than the other, not a mortar problem.
Doors and windows sticking
A door that closed fine last year and now catches at the top corner. The frame is out of square because the floor beneath it moved.
Diagonal cracks from corners
Cracks running at an angle away from the corner of a door or window opening. Openings are the weak point, so movement shows there first.
Sloping or bouncy floors
A ball that rolls to one side of the room on its own, or floors that flex when you walk across them. Common in pier and beam houses on the older side of town.
Gaps opening at the trim
Baseboards pulling away from the wall, or a gap opening between the wall and the ceiling. The structure is being pulled in two directions.
A gap under the slab edge
Visible separation between the soil and the slab around the outside of the house, usually worst in late summer when the clay has shrunk away.
Seeing two or more of these together is the point at which it is worth getting measured. One on its own is often nothing — and the free evaluation will tell you that plainly rather than selling you piers.
How the free quote works
Three steps. No pressure. You decide what happens next.
You tell us what you are seeing
Fill in the short form. Which signs, roughly where, and how long they have been getting worse. Two minutes.
The house gets looked at properly
A local foundation specialist calls you back and arranges the free visit — measuring the floor, walking the outside, and working out whether the ground or the drainage is driving it.
You get the price in writing
What needs doing, why, and what it costs — written down, itemized, and yours to keep. No obligation to go ahead.
Before that written price arrives, it helps to know the range a repair like yours normally falls in. What foundation repair costs, with every figure sourced →
Services
Foundation work for San Angelo homes
Every job starts with the same free evaluation and the same written price. Pick what sounds closest to your situation.
Pier and beam repair
Sunken piers, sagging beams and floors that bounce when you walk
See how pier and beam repair works →
House leveling
The whole structure brought back within tolerance, measured not eyeballed
See how house leveling works →
Foundation evaluation
Measured floor elevations and a written report before anyone sells you piers
See how foundation evaluation works →
Crack repair
Slab, brick and drywall cracks closed after the movement is stopped
See how crack repair works →
Drainage and grading
Getting rainwater away from the slab so the clay stops swinging
See how drainage and grading works →
Foundation watering systems
Soaker lines that hold soil moisture steady through a Concho Valley summer
See how foundation watering systems works →
Root barriers
Stopping a big tree drinking the water out from under your slab
See how root barriers works →Before you spend a dollar
Texas does not license foundation repair contractors
There is no state foundation repair license in Texas. None. So when a company tells you it is licensed, there is no license of that kind to check, and the word is doing no work at all.
We would rather tell you that than let you assume otherwise, because it changes what you should be asking for. Four things are checkable, and any contractor worth hiring hands them over without hesitating:
- A written scope. How many piers, what type, and exactly where each one goes. Not "we will level the house."
- Proof of general liability insurance, confirmed with the insurer rather than a photocopy.
- An engineer's involvement. The Texas Board of Professional Engineers points to the Texas Section ASCE Guidelines for the Evaluation and Repair of Residential Foundations. Ask whether a licensed professional engineer is evaluating the house and will stamp a report.
- The warranty in writing — what it actually covers, and whether it transfers to the next owner when you sell.
Ask us the same four questions. That is the point of writing them down. How to check a foundation contractor when there is no license to check →
The three levels of investigation, and why the word matters
An engineer's evaluation comes in three defined depths. Knowing which one you are being sold is how you tell what a quote is actually based on.
Level A
A look and a write-up
Interviews, document review, visual observation, and a written report. No instruments on the floor.
Level B
The floor gets measured
Everything in Level A, plus measured floor elevations, a scaled drawing, and deflection and tilt checked against tolerances.
Level C
The ground gets tested
Everything in Level B, plus soil sampling and testing, plumbing testing, and a detailed distress survey.
The three levels are defined in the Texas Section ASCE Guidelines for the Evaluation and Repair of Residential Foundations, Version 3, adopted March 2022.
Not sure whether it is serious yet?
That is exactly what the free evaluation is for. Get it measured before you decide anything.
Questions people actually ask
Foundation repair in San Angelo — straight answers
Is a crack in my wall actually a foundation problem?
Sometimes, and often not. Hairline cracks in drywall tape and mortar joints turn up in almost every house in Tom Green County and most of them mean nothing. What matters is the pattern: cracks that run diagonally from the corner of a door or window, cracks wider than about a quarter inch, brick joints that step up across the wall, and doors that used to close and now do not. Those say the foundation is moving. The free evaluation exists to tell you which of the two you have, without you paying to find out.
Why do so many San Angelo houses move in the first place?
The ground. Two of the clay soils mapped around San Angelo are Vertisols — soils that swell when wet and shrink when dry — and the USDA's reference profile for both of them sits in Tom Green County. The Tobosa series, whose type location is about ten miles northeast of town, is described as opening cracks 0.3 to 1 inch wide reaching 20 to 60 inches down, and those cracks stay open 210 or more cumulative days a year. The Lipan series, whose type location is 7.2 miles southeast of the courthouse near Veribest, runs 40 to 60 percent clay and cracks open more than 150 cumulative days a year. Your slab is sitting on ground that spends over half the year pulling apart.
What does foundation repair cost in San Angelo?
Nobody can answer that honestly from a web page, and a contractor who gives you a number before looking is guessing. What we can tell you is what the national market data says so you know whether a quote is sane: Angi's national survey puts the average foundation repair at $5,176, with most projects landing between $2,225 and $8,135. Pier work runs $1,200 to $3,000 per steel push pier, and a typical house needs six to ten of them. Those are national planning ranges, not San Angelo prices and not a quote. Your own price comes in writing after somebody has actually measured your floors.
Do I need a permit to have my foundation repaired?
The City of San Angelo requires a permit to construct, alter, repair, enlarge, move or demolish a structure, and foundation underpinning is structural work. Residential plan review runs 10 to 15 business days. Ask any contractor you are considering, in writing, who is pulling the permit and whose name is on it. If the answer is that no permit is needed, that is worth a second opinion — you can confirm it yourself with the city's Building Permits and Inspections office.
Texas does not license foundation repair contractors. So how do I check anybody?
That is right, and it is the single most useful thing to know before you spend five figures. There is no state foundation repair license in Texas, so a company saying it is "licensed" is not saying anything checkable. What is checkable: ask for a written scope with the number and type of piers and where each one goes, ask for proof of general liability insurance directly from the insurer, ask whether a Texas licensed professional engineer is evaluating the house and will stamp a report, and ask what the warranty covers in writing and whether it transfers when you sell. Any contractor worth hiring will hand all four over without flinching.
Can I slow the movement down myself?
Yes, and it is close to free. The point is even moisture, not more water. Run a soaker hose 12 to 18 inches out from the slab on a schedule through dry spells, water for short stretches several times a week rather than flooding it occasionally, and keep gutters and grading pushing rainwater away from the house. Soaking bone-dry clay all at once makes it swell fast, which is the same problem running the other direction. The Texas A&M Forest Service screwdriver test is the simplest gauge there is: if a screwdriver will not push easily six to eight inches into the soil, it is time to water.
Service area
San Angelo neighborhoods and Tom Green County towns
Santa Rita
College Hills
The Bluffs
Lake View
Paulann
Rio Vista
Grape Creek, TX
Wall, TX
Christoval, TX
Veribest, TX
Your street does not have to be on this list to be covered. Where we cover across San Angelo and Tom Green County →
Get your free written quote
Tell us what the house is doing. A local foundation specialist calls you back, looks at it for free, and puts the price in writing. Nothing is owed either way.
Free, no-obligation evaluation
Your price in writing before work starts
We never sell your details on