Slab Foundation Repair in Waco, TX
That crack over the garage is not going to close on its own. McLennan Foundation Repair lifts and stabilizes settled slab-on-grade foundations across Waco and McLennan County with pressed concrete pilings, steel piers, or drilled piers, matched to your soil depth instead of a sales quota. Typical slab repairs run $3,500 to $12,000 for 8 to 12 piers. Call for a free elevation survey and get the pier plan as a drawing with a firm price.
Signs Your Slab Foundation Is Failing
- A dropped corner where brick cracks meet a sticking door
- Stair-step cracks climbing the brick veneer
- Cracks in tile floors or the slab itself
- Door frames out of square on one side of the house
- Baseboards separating from the floor
Slab settling concentrates on the side that dries deepest. If your list clusters on one wall, call before the next dry season widens it.
Slab Repair Judged from the Elevation Map
A dropping corner feels like the whole house is failing; usually one run of piers says otherwise. McLennan Foundation Repair diagnoses from measured elevations and prices the piers the map calls for, with depth logs to prove where each one stopped.
- 1. Call or send the form
Reach a person today, not a call center.
- 2. Get the free elevation survey
Your floors mapped and explained on your kitchen counter.
- 3. Get it fixed and documented
Pier plan, firm price, depth logs, and warranty in writing.
Slab Foundation Repair Costs by Pier Type
| Work item | Typical range | What moves the number |
|---|---|---|
| Pressed concrete pilings | $350–$700 / pier | Depth to point of refusal; tight side-yard access adds labor |
| Steel piers | $1,000–$1,600 / pier | Driven to rock; the right call on deep fill or two-story masonry |
| Drilled bell-bottom piers | $700–$1,200 / pier | Depth and diameter; 7–10 day concrete cure before the lift |
| Interior pier (through the slab) | add $250–$500 / pier | Floor covering removal, slab breakout, and patch-back |
| Post-lift hydrostatic plumbing test | $250–$450 | Flat-rate; protects the repair from a hidden under-slab leak |
A bid that prices "per pier" without stating how many piers, where, and to what depth is not a bid. It is an opening offer.
Prices shown are typical ranges for foundation work in Waco & McLennan County, not a quote. Every job is different: final pricing comes from the on-site elevation survey and estimate, and can change with scope, access, and site conditions.
The Slab Repair Process: Survey to Final Lift
- Elevation survey (60–90 minutes, free)
Floor elevations mapped room by room. Settling shows as a slope map you can read yourself.
- Pier plan and firm price (Same visit)
Pier locations marked on a drawing of your slab, with type, count, and target depth.
- Permit and engineer letter (3–10 business days)
City of Waco permit inside city limits; independent P.E. documentation either way.
- Excavation and pier installation (1–2 days)
Roughly 2×2 ft pits at each mark; piers pressed or drilled to depth; interior piers accessed through neat slab cuts.
- Lift, level, patch-back, and elevation re-map (Final day)
Hydraulic lift to practical tolerance, then concrete patch, soil return, and landscaping reset. Final elevations documented.
How Slab Foundations Behave on Waco's Expansive Clay
Nearly every Waco house built after the mid-1960s sits on a slab-on-grade foundation: a concrete pad with a thickened perimeter beam, poured directly on Houston Black clay. The design is fine until the clay’s moisture changes unevenly. The classic Waco failure is a dry-season perimeter drop: the exposed outer edge of the soil dries and shrinks first, the beam loses support, and the slab edge rotates downward while the center stays put.
That failure pattern is why most repairs here are perimeter pier jobs, and why a good pier plan concentrates on the settled run rather than ringing the whole house by default. It is also why August through October is our busiest season, and why your bid gets slower and pricier if you wait for the drought to finish the job. If a corner is already dropping, call today. Catching it at eight piers instead of fourteen is thousands staying in your pocket.
One more Waco-specific note: parts of town near the Brazos and Bosque river terraces sit on alluvial deposits rather than pure Blackland clay, and depth-to-refusal there can differ street by street. The pier log, with depth and pressure recorded at every pier, is the document that proves the crew stopped at bearing soil and not at lunchtime. McLennan Foundation Repair includes it on every job.
A Stabilized Slab and the Pier Log That Backs It
After the lift, brick cracks tighten, door frames square up, and your floors stop sloping toward the low corner. Every pier is logged with its depth and pressure, the plumbing is tested, and the warranty is in writing. Your slab stops being a worry and becomes a documented repair.
Slab Foundation Cracks in Waco Do Not Heal Themselves
A slab crack that started hairline grows wider with each moisture cycle, and a corner that dropped half an inch this year drops faster next year because the exposed beam edge dries deeper. Waiting also narrows your options: early foundation settling is often a one-run pier job, while a slab left sinking for years can need interior breakouts and double the piers.
Get Your Free Elevation Survey
Call for a free elevation survey
Slab Foundation Repair FAQs
How do I know it's the foundation and not just settling cracks?
Direction and pattern. Vertical hairlines above doors that open and close with the seasons are cosmetic. Stair-step brick cracks, doors out of square, and floor slope you can feel walking mean the beam has moved and an elevation survey is worth an hour. The survey is free, so you lose nothing by finding out.
Will the cracks in my brick close after the lift?
Most tighten substantially; some need tuck-pointing after. We tell you which to expect before the lift, wall by wall.
How deep do piers go in Waco?
Pressed pilings typically reach refusal between 8 and 14 feet here, depending on where you are relative to the Bosque and Brazos terraces. Steel goes deeper. The point-of-refusal log for every pier is part of your paperwork.
Does a slab repair disturb the yard?
Each exterior pier needs a small excavation at the beam. Sod is cut and set aside, shrubs within two feet may need trimming, and the soil goes back when the pier is done. It looks like a flowerbed was weeded, not like a trench ran through.
What warranty should I expect?
Repairs come with a warranty, and the exact coverage belongs in writing before work starts. Ask two things: what the warranty covers and whether it transfers to the next owner. A warranty is also only as good as the company behind it, so ask how long the company has operated under its current name.
Can foundation repair break my plumbing?
A lift moves the slab, and old cast-iron or loose PVC joints under it can open. That is why a hydrostatic test after the lift is cheap insurance. It catches a leak while the crew is still mobilized.
Do you fix the cause or just the symptom?
Piers stop the settling. If the settling came from water, meaning pooling at the beam, a short downspout, or a grade sloping toward the house, the drainage has to be corrected or the other side of the house goes next. We quote both when both are needed.
Is mudjacking an option for a settled slab house?
Mudjacking lifts flatwork like driveways, patios, and garage aprons. Mudjacking does not stabilize a structural perimeter beam on expansive clay, because slurry injection adds no bearing below the active soil zone. Foam injection is different: it works on interior slab dips and flatwork, and McLennan Foundation Repair offers it where it fits. Anyone quoting mudjacking for a house perimeter is quoting the wrong tool.
Related Foundation Repair Services in Waco
House leveling: when movement shows on more than one side.
Drainage correction: stop the water problem that caused the settling.
Slab repair in Hewitt: the same clay, one permit office south.