The most common house leveling project that includes “a bit of everything” will usually cost between $5,000 to $8,000 to complete.

What Is House Leveling?

House leveling is the process of lifting a home back to the position that it was in when it was new. For new homes, slabs are supposed to be no more than 1.5 inches out of level. This standard comes from the American Concrete institute.

Once a house moves, the goal of leveling is to get the house back to where it was before it began to move. The vast majority of property owners rarely notice small variations in foundation elevations. Our professionals provide house leveling and foundation repairs in Dallas to within a reasonable tolerance.

All houses are built on a foundation. Over time, this foundation can sink, settle, crack, or heave. There are numerous reasons why this may happen. Some common causes are issues with the soil, too much moisture, or a foundation that was not done properly from the beginning, making foundation repair services necessary.

House leveling or foundation repair is arguably one of the most important repairs a home will ever need. Every single pound of your house’s weight sits on the foundation. It goes without saying that houses are quite heavy. The foundation must be properly designed and installed. Any issues, even the slightest, can cause damage and devalue your home.

Complete Rebuild of House

An extensive rebuilding project of a pier and beam foundation is the least common type of repair. Usually, dry rot or termites have destroyed much of the wood material under the home and you basically have to start over and this can be more costly to repair.

Damage could be isolated to one area/room like for a bathroom that had a long-term leak, or throughout the home. For a full rebuild of a crawlspace type of foundation, the house leveling project could cost anywhere from $5,000 for a small area to $20,000+ for a full home.

Piering and Underpinning

Underpinning costs $1,000 to $3,000 per pier, depending on the type (reinforced concrete, steel push, or helical) and depth required for stability. Underpinning with piers is the most common method to strengthen and level an uneven foundation.

After raising the foundation to a level position with hydraulic jacks, piers are inserted into deeper, more stable soil at 6' to 8' intervals.

Extensive damage requires 8 to 10 piers.

For concrete slab foundations, fixing sinking requires injecting structural fill (slabjacking), or underpinning the dropped areas through mass concrete pouring, beam and base, or mini-piles. Resolving heaving requires removing the water source to ensure the soil under the foundation stays dry.

Causes of Foundation Settling

There are a few reasons why your house may have settled poorly and led to foundation issues. Sometimes, it is just because a house has settled naturally, and is now uneven. However, sometimes, it is due to other things as well.

One example is that the soil underneath the foundation was not properly backfilled. This can cause the soil to shift and settle in other places, which means that the foundation can settle at different, uneven levels.

Another cause is expansive soils. Expansive soils are those that expand and shrink with different weather conditions, much like that of the soil that is popular in Houston and its surrounding cities. These soils, which are common in our area, will absorb water and expand, or shrink when a dry period hits.

This constant growing and shrinking can cause a foundation to become unsettled. Tree roots are also a large risk to a foundation, due to the fact that they can absorb the water from around the house and cause the foundational soil to become overly dry and shift.

The Difference Between Self-Leveling Concrete and Regular Concrete

Traditional concrete requires a large amount of water to achieve the fluidity needed to pour it effectively. Self-leveling concrete removes the need for as much water while maintaining the fluidity of the concrete.

In fact, self-leveling concrete can be more fluid than traditional concrete, in some cases. It’s consistency has been described as similar to that of pancake batter, whereas traditional concrete is much thicker and coarser.

What makes self-leveling concrete different from regular concrete is the high amount of polymers that are used to manufacture it. Polymers are unique, glue-like molecules that work to bond a substance together. Polymers are used in everything from leather to wood and from computers to paints and metal coverings.

Self-leveling concrete is more expensive gallon-for-gallon because of the added cost required to create it. However, this versatile substance can often be used instead of demolishing damaged concrete and replacing it.

Most home remodeling businesses don’t even know that instead of tearing up old concrete that appears too far gone, they can use a ½-inch-thick layer of self-leveling concrete to restore the floor and immediately improve its aesthetic.