Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:This is a very location specific question. I am from Dallas.there are 2 types of foundations - one that has been repaired and one that will be repaired in the future. That's an exaggeration, but about 40% of homes - even well built ones, will need foundation repairs at some point.
People from other areas of the country don't understand. It freaked me OUT when I first moved to TX. I would have run screaming. Now I wouldn't care as long as it was done by a reputable company and had a lifetime transferable warranty. I would get an independent structural engineer to inspect it but wouldn't kill the deal at all.
Do not take advice from non-texans on this. Post on city data forums in the particular city you're looking in for better local opinions.
New poster here who grew up in Texas. This is the truth. The houses in North Texas are built on slabs on top of soil that expands and contracts quite a bit. I don't think this specific type of soil is found anywhere else in the U.S. (or at least that's what I was told when I was a kid). Add in the Texas climate (alternating floods and drought), and almost all foundations crack at some point. There is a standard process for repairing foundations there. Agree that you should get a structural engineer to look at it, but if you rule out all houses that have been repaired or have foundation cracks, you won't have many to choose from. And you'll probably end up buying a house that just hasn't cracked YET.
Here's a description of the soil:
Blackland Prairie Soils
Vertical profile of Blackland Prairie Soil
Vertical profile of Houston black clay, which occurs in the Blackland Prairie. USDA photo.
The Blackland Prairies consist of about 12.6 million acres of east-central Texas extending southwesterly from the Red River to Bexar County. There are smaller areas to the southeast. The landscape is undulating with few scattered wooded areas that are mostly in the bottomlands. Surface drainage is moderate to rapid.
Both upland and bottomland soils are deep, dark-gray to black alkaline clays. Some soils in the western part are shallow to moderately deep over chalk. Some soils on the eastern edge are neutral to slightly acid, grayish clays and loams over mottled clay subsoils (sometimes called graylands). Blackland soils are known as “cracking clays” because of the large, deep cracks that form in dry weather. This high shrink-swell property can cause serious damage to foundations, highways, and other structures and is a safety hazard in pits and trenches