Foundation Repair in Wichita Falls, TX

Cracks, sticking doors or sloping floors? You are not alone in Wichita Falls

If you are reading this, you probably saw something that worried you. Maybe a crack showed up over a bedroom door. Maybe the back door started to stick, or a marble rolls across the kitchen floor. These are the things Wichita Falls homeowners call about most.

The good news is that most foundation problems can be fixed without tearing anything out. The first step is finding out what is really going on. That is what the free inspection is for.

Here is how it works. You call (940) 468-1786 or send the short form. We connect you with one local foundation contractor who works in Wichita Falls. They come out, measure your floors, look at the cracks inside and out, and give you a written price. There is no charge for the visit and no pressure to say yes.

What we can help you fix

You do not need to know the right words. Tell us what you see. These are the problems people around Wichita Falls call about most:

• A crack over a door or window that keeps getting longer
• Doors that stick, drag, or will not latch anymore
• Floors that slope or feel bouncy, so a ball rolls to one side of the room
• Stair-step cracks in the brick outside, often near a corner
• Gaps where the wall meets the ceiling, or where trim pulls away
• Cracked tile on a slab floor
• Water that pools next to the house after a storm
• A soft or sagging floor in an older house with a crawl space under it

The contractor we connect you with handles all the common fixes:

• Foundation repair for a house that has sunk, cracked or gone out of level
• Slab foundation repair for homes built on a concrete slab, which covers most homes built since the 1960s
• Pier and beam repair for older homes with a crawl space, common in neighborhoods like Floral Heights
• Drainage correction so rain stops soaking one side of your house
• Foundation crack repair for cracks in the slab, walls and brick

Not sure if what you see is serious? Our signs of foundation problems page shows which ones need a look soon and which ones are usually cosmetic.

Why foundations move in Wichita Falls

Wichita Falls sits in the red plains of North Texas, close to the Red River. The ground here is hard on houses for a few clear reasons.

The clay. The soils mapped across Wichita County include Tillman clay loam and Kamay silt loam. Both have a subsoil that is 35 to 50 percent clay, according to USDA soil surveys. Kamay was even first described from a site near Iowa Park. Its clay is the kind that swells a lot when it gets wet. Tillman soil formed from red clay and claystone, and USDA notes it can crack more than 4 feet deep in a dry spell. Many people call this kind of sticky clay "gumbo." When it gets wet, it swells and pushes up on the house. When it dries, it shrinks and lets parts of the house drop.

Droughts that end in floods. Wichita Falls gets about 29 inches of rain in a normal year. Normal is rare. From 2011 to 2015 the area went through a drought so bad that the city's lakes fell to just under 19 percent, the lowest since they were built. In Stage 4 of that drought, the city only allowed homeowners to water a foundation with a soaker hose, from 8 p.m. to midnight on their watering day. Then 2015 brought 50.5 inches of rain, the most the city had seen in one year at the time. Clay that had been drying out for four years soaked up water fast. Swings like that are what move foundations.

Rivers and creeks. The Wichita River runs through town, and Holliday Creek runs into it. The USGS says a Wichita River flood on June 30, 2007 put water in 167 homes. Even when water never reaches the house, ground near a river or creek can stay soaked for weeks and then dry out unevenly.

The houses. Wichita Falls has both kinds of foundations. Census data puts the median home here at about 1972, and about a third of homes were built before 1960. Many older homes, like the 1920s houses in Floral Heights, sit on piers and beams with a crawl space under the floor. Most homes built from the 1960s on sit on a concrete slab. Each type shows trouble in its own way, and each has its own fix.

What it costs in Wichita Falls

Price is the first thing most people want to know. The table above shows typical ranges from published cost guides. They are not quotes.

The number of piers is the biggest thing that moves the price on most jobs. Inside piers cost more than outside piers. Fixing drainage, patching cracks and a plumbing test can add to the total. Your written estimate shows how many piers, where they go, and what is included, before any work starts. See the full Wichita Falls foundation repair cost guide for more detail.

For Sheppard families and anyone selling soon

Sheppard Air Force Base trains more than 60,000 people a year. If you are stationed here and own a home, you may need to sell on short notice when orders come. Foundation movement often shows up when a house is about to sell. A buyer's inspector checks doors, floors and cracks. If the buyer uses a VA loan, the appraiser also looks for signs the house is not structurally sound.

If you are getting ready to sell or PCS, a free inspection now tells you where you stand. If the house needs work, a finished repair with paperwork and a written warranty is easier to explain to a buyer than a crack nobody looked at.

How it works

1. Call (940) 468-1786 or send the form. Tell us what you are seeing. A photo of the crack helps, but it is not required.
2. Free inspection. A local foundation crew measures your floor levels across the whole house, maps the cracks, and checks doors, gutters and drainage.
3. Written estimate. You get a plan and a price in writing. It shows what is wrong, how they would fix it, and what it costs.
4. You decide. No pressure. If you go ahead, the contractor schedules the work and handles any city permit the job needs.

A crack that grows over the summer is cheaper to fix now than next year. Call (940) 468-1786 or send the short form, and a local foundation crew will call you back, usually the same day.