Sinking Foundation Repair Selma, TX.
A foundation edge that drops an inch over Selma's shrink-swell seasons isn't a mystery, it's the Cibolo Creek clay pulling support out from under your footing. Here's how galvanized steel piers driven past that clay fix it for good.
The homes north of San Antonio around Selma sit on some of the busiest expansive clay in Bexar County. During wet winters and spring storms the Cibolo Creek watershed soil swells hard enough to heave a slab and bow a stem wall; through the long dry summer it shrinks back and pulls away from the footing perimeter, letting corners and edge beams drift downward. A sinking foundation here is rarely one sudden failure, it's the running total of dozens of those cycles on a structure built assuming the ground would hold still.
The fix isn't guesswork, and it doesn't start with a quote. Every GroundLock project in Selma opens with a free elevation survey accurate to ±0.01 in. (1/64 in.) that maps how far and where the foundation has moved, followed by an engineer-backed repair plan. Galvanized steel piers then carry the low sections down to load-bearing strata well below the soil causing the trouble, and most homeowners stay in the house while the crew works.
How a sinking foundation gets stopped and lifted
Measure the real deflection shape
We shoot a contour survey of the slab to 1/64 in. so the plan targets the actual low zones instead of reading tea leaves from where cracks happened to surface.
Design piers to the low spots
The engineered plan sets pier locations, a lift sequence, and any drainage corrections, a corner off six inches over forty feet calls for a very different layout than a uniformly settled interior.
Drive galvanized steel to refusal
Piers are hydraulically driven until they hit competent bearing below the active zone, with torque and drive counts logged so depth is verified rather than assumed.
Transfer load and lift
Once every pier confirms bearing, the crew transfers the structure's weight onto the steel and lifts the settled sections back toward level along the planned sequence.
Why the active zone decides whether a repair actually holds
Engineers in this corridor watch one number above the rest: the active zone, the depth seasonal moisture reaches into the soil. In the high-plasticity clays of the Cibolo Creek watershed, that zone commonly runs ten to fifteen feet below grade, and a drought year can push it deeper. Anything a foundation leans on inside that band is still riding the seasons along with the dirt.
That's exactly where pressed-concrete piers fall short. Installed to roughly six to ten feet, they often terminate inside the active zone, bearing on the same moving clay that caused the settlement. It's why so many concrete-pier repairs need retreatment after a few dry summers.
GroundLock's galvanized steel piers are driven hydraulically to refusal against load-bearing strata below that band, with torque readings and drive counts recorded in real time. Verified depth instead of assumed depth is the difference between a repair that lasts decades and one you revisit, and it's backed by a lifetime transferable warranty that stays with the home if you sell. Correcting a settling structure is the core of foundation repair, and doing it below the active zone is what makes it permanent.
Signs your Selma foundation is sinking
A few of these on their own can be cosmetic; together, or worsening across seasons, they're worth a measured survey:
- Diagonal stair-step cracks in exterior brick or mortar joints wider than a quarter inch, or cracks noticeably wider at one end than the other
- Interior doors that bind in summer and swing free in winter, the door is tracking the clay's moisture cycle
- Gaps opening between the top of a wall and the ceiling, or between crown molding and cabinets
- A slab edge or corner you can see or feel dropping relative to the rest of the house
- Sloping or springy floors that weren't there a couple of seasons ago
- Water pooling against the footing after rain, or sprinkler emitters running within three to four feet of the slab
Keep water off the clay you're not piering
Piered sections ride steel below the active zone and shouldn't move with the seasons again, but areas that weren't piered still can, which is why drainage is part of the plan, not an afterthought. Aim for roughly six inches of fall over the first ten feet away from the house, and move irrigation emitters outward so they aren't soaking the bearing clay right under the edge beam.
If runoff or a low grade is feeding the problem, correcting the drainage and controlling erosion protects the repair you paid for.
Selma sinking-foundation questions, answered
How much should I expect to pay to fix a sinking foundation in Selma?
Do you cover my part of Selma and the rest of Bexar County?
Why steel piers instead of the concrete ones another company quoted?
How exact is that elevation survey?
Should I be watering my foundation, and how do I do it right?
Can the foundation start sinking again after it's repaired?
Is the free inspection actually free, or is there a catch?
Will we have to move out while you do the work?
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 Selma
Every GroundLock service, available throughout Selma 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.