69gto96z

iTrader: (13)

I am doing a research paper for my professional presentations class on pier style foundations for homes in the North Texas area. My poll question is, Do you think homes in the North Texas area should be required to be built with a pier foundation, instead of a normal slab foundation, to help prevent foundation cracking? If you guys could take 2 seconds to vote, it would greatly help me out. Thanks!

1FAST02FORMULAHAWK

iTrader: (8)

i think they all should, not just north tx. Ive been renting the house i live in now for 2 years, and the doors and windows get harder and harder to close by the day from foundation problems. I had intended on buiying the house at first, but now theres no way, it would take loads of cash to fix the slab there.

quickblade

All texas homes seem to have problems with foundation..
Its because of this crap ground that we are building on... All this clay mud sucks ***.... Too much movement here in Dallas...

$O$OE

iTrader: (14)

X2 i noticed that also when I moved out here, the ground is easy to dig up compared to Cali's hard as dirt..

Sarge_13

iTrader: (1)

it would cost a lot more but all homes should have been built with a pier foundation, JMO.

quickblade

but that would cost the builders more money out of pocket...
They would never do that because they already cut corners to get the houses build....

But that would be a good idea.. in places like Texas it should be a part of the building code when building new homes..... Would save alot of people money in the long run..

irbs

iTrader: (7)

My dad has been building houses for the past 30 years and every home he has ever built has had piers in the foundation.

69gto96z

iTrader: (13)

I think it is a good idea and that it should be required. But I don't see it ever being a requirement.

camaro468

iTrader: (6)

it is deff a good idea for some areas in n texas

OhOneWS6

iTrader: (11)

There is not a one size fits all answer to that. DFW has largely varied soil conditions. Over near white rock lake there are sections of exactly that, white rock. You should have seen the dust cloud at NW Hwy and Jupiter when that were trenching that David Weekly neighborhood. No need for piers there I guarantee. Where I am at in Sachse, it's black gumbo. The ground shrinks, swells and moves here on an hourly basis seems like. Still with the advance in foundation repair, It's no big deal to fix it if you do end up with a foundation issue.

IMHO, A better solution would be to require a soil test before issuing a permit to build. Let the engineers decide if you need piers or not.

For the record, My house was built in 95 on a regular slab with no issues but there are houses less than a block from me that should be bull dozed the slab is so bad.