Foundation Underpinning Converse, TX.
Underpinning that actually holds in Converse means driving past the Houston Black clay that swells and shrinks with every season, to ground that doesn't move. Here's how we measure it, engineer it, and warranty it.
Converse sits on the Blackland Prairie just east of the Balcones Escarpment, and the ground here behaves nothing like the limestone uplands across San Antonio. The Houston Black clays threaded through the Cibolo Creek tributaries are high-plasticity vertisols, plasticity indices commonly land between 40 and 60, and they drink storm water hard, then give it all back through a dry August. That single wet-then-dry cycle is enough to lift a slab, bow a stem wall, and reopen a crack you patched last spring.
Underpinning is the answer when that movement has dropped part of your foundation below where it started. But underpinning is only as good as the depth it reaches. Stop inside the soil that's still moving and you've simply relocated the problem. The whole point of the work is to carry your home's load down to a layer that stays put no matter what the sky does.
Galvanized steel isn't a marketing choice here, it's a soil chemistry one
Blackland clays around Converse run alkaline and carry sulfates that chew through uncoated metal and slowly attack plain concrete over the decades.
That's why GroundLock's piers are hot-dip galvanized. The coating is matched to this exact ground, so the support you pay for is still doing its job long after the install crew has left.
How to tell the ground under your slab is the problem
On Converse lots near the Cibolo drainage, soil movement shows up in the house long before anyone thinks about the foundation. Watch for these:
- Front doors that drag and won't latch while interior doors still swing free, a classic sign of perimeter differential settlement
- Stair-step cracks marching up the exterior brick or block mortar joints
- A long crack running the length of a hallway, or drywall cracks fanning off door and window corners
- Floors that slope or feel bouncy, and gaps opening where trim meets the ceiling
- Distortion that gets noticeably worse in the days right after a heavy rain, when the clay is in its swell phase
What "deep enough" actually means in Converse clay
The active zone is the band of soil through which seasonal moisture changes actually move the dirt. Under Converse's Blackland clays that band typically runs 10 to 15 feet below grade, and it reaches deeper wherever an impermeable clay lens traps perched moisture beneath your lot. Any pier that terminates inside that zone is bearing on soil that will soften and shift again with the next wet winter.
Our crews drive galvanized steel piers hydraulically and read two things at once: the pressure on the ram and how far the pier moves under it. When those numbers together say the pier has stopped advancing into competent strata, that's refusal, the pier is bearing on stable material, not just wedged in stiff clay. Around here refusal commonly lands anywhere from 10 to 25-plus feet down, depending entirely on how deep the moving zone runs on your particular lot.
Most Converse projects fall between roughly $4,500 and $14,000, and the spread comes down to pier count, access, and how much drainage work the lot needs to keep water away from the repair. The stabilization carries a lifetime, fully transferable warranty, financing is available, and in nearly every case you stay in the house while the crew works from the exterior and access points.
How a Converse underpinning project runs
Free elevation survey to ±0.01 in.
We map your entire slab to ±0.01 in. (1/64 in.) and produce a deflection map showing exactly which corners dropped, which areas heaved, and how the whole plane has distorted.
Engineered pier plan
Pier locations, depths, and the lift sequence come straight off the survey data into a written, engineer-backed scope, no guesswork, no piers placed on a hunch.
Drive, lift, and lock onto steel
Galvanized piers go down to refusal below the active zone, then the slab is raised, often the lowest corner first in a phased lift so the structure isn't overstressed, and the load transfers permanently onto steel.
Re-survey and warranty
We re-measure the finished elevation, document it, and hand you the lifetime transferable warranty before the crew leaves the property.
Converse underpinning questions we hear most
My front door sticks but the bedroom doors are fine, is that a foundation issue?
How deep will the piers actually go under my house?
Why steel piers instead of the cheaper concrete pressed piers?
Should I be watering my foundation during a dry spell?
After the work is done, what do I need to do about drainage?
Will the foundation move again once it's piered?
Do we have to move out while the crew is here?
Is the warranty really good if I sell the house later?
Book your free
foundation inspection.
Tell us where you are and what you’re seeing. A GroundLock structural advisor confirms within one business hour.
All foundation services in Converse
Every GroundLock service, available throughout Converse and the surrounding area:
Get your free foundation inspection.
A licensed inspector measures your slab elevation to ±0.01 in. (1/64 in.) and gives you a written, engineer-backed plan with zero pressure.