Foundation Inspection Von Ormy, TX.

Homes here sit on a low shelf of the Medina River floodplain, where flood deposits have layered thick, high-plasticity clay against pockets of sandier soil. That stratified ground doesn't move the way the deep Blackland Prairie clays east of San Antonio do, it swells fast and unevenly after a hard rain, then shrinks back through the dry months, leaving a pattern that can look almost random until someone measures it.

A GroundLock inspection in Von Ormy is that measurement. We're not there to sell a repair on the spot, we record how far, and in which direction, your slab has moved, then explain whether the culprit is seasonal clay in the active zone, a plumbing leak keeping one patch of soil wet, or genuine settlement below the moving layer. Telling those apart is the whole point of the visit.

What the elevation survey actually records

It starts with a grid of measured points across your floor. Here's what those numbers and the walkthrough capture:

• A ±0.01 in. (1/64 in.) elevation reading at interior and perimeter points, turning "the door sticks" into a deflection map of the floor.
• The direction of movement, edge settlement on a dry, south-facing side versus a center heave dome near plumbing, a compound pattern common in floodplain homes.
• Crack widths, door-frame gaps, and brick separation, logged against the elevation data rather than guessed at.
• Exterior grading measured against the target of 6 inches of fall over the first 10 feet from the foundation.
• Downspout terminations and any ponding directing water against the grade beam.
• Irrigation head placement and signs of a slab leak, both of which can mask true settlement if missed.

Reading the active zone under a floodplain slab

The engineering idea at the center of the inspection is the active zone, the depth range where soil moisture rises and falls with the seasons and drives foundation movement. In Von Ormy's riverine clays, where plasticity indices commonly run above 40, that zone can reach 8 to 12 feet or deeper. So our engineer isn't just cataloging damage; they're mapping where the active zone is pushing versus where deeper consolidation or washout is pulling the structure down. A perimeter that settles while the interior domes upward tells a specific story the elevation grid makes legible before anyone talks about pier locations.

Drainage gets evaluated in the same breath, because in alluvial ground it's often the direct cause of differential movement. Flat or negative-grade yards let water pond against the grade beam and saturate the clay where it bears, and this close to the Medina floodplain a high water table after heavy rain compounds it. If drainage or erosion is feeding the movement, the report says so plainly. Correcting it can change what the repair needs to be.

How a Von Ormy inspection runs, start to finish

Timing your inspection, and why the season matters

Cracks and door-frame gaps that open during a Central Texas summer drought often close partway once fall rains rehydrate the clay, so scheduling while the distress is visible preserves the most diagnostic information. Two local details also shape the reading: sprinkler heads within 18 to 24 inches of a grade beam keep the clay swollen year-round and mask real settlement further out, and a slow plumbing leak produces a heave dome that reads like pier uplift, which is why plumbing gets pressure-tested before anyone blames the piers.

If the report does point toward repair, galvanized steel piers are driven through the full active zone to stable strata below, where pressed-concrete piers often stop short inside the moving clay. Projects typically land between $4,500 and $14,000, carry a lifetime transferable warranty, offer financing, and usually let you stay in the home while the crew works, read more about the repair itself once the survey sets the scope.

Von Ormy foundation inspection questions