Support is installed down to ground below the layer that swells and shrinks, the weight of the structure is transferred onto it, and the house is raised toward its original elevation as far as it will safely go.

How deep support has to reach under San Marcos

Support has to bear below the layer that moves. 97% of the mapped land here sits on soil that sheds water rather than taking it in, and mapped soils run to 54% clay, so the depth at which the ground stops changing volume is a local measurement rather than a standard figure. It is established during installation — by driving to refusal, or by boring to a specified stratum — which is what makes it the single largest unknown in any quote written beforehand.

The reasoning behind that

It starts with the survey, because the pier count and their locations come from where the structure has moved rather than from a rule. Skipping this step is how a house gets somebody’s standard scope. Then access. Perimeter points are excavated from outside; interior points mean opening the floor. Support is driven, bored or turned down to competent ground — driven piles reach refusal using the weight of the house itself, bored piers go to a designed depth and need cure time. Then the transfer and the lift. Jacks take the load onto the new support and the structure is raised in small increments across several points at once, watched for how the building responds. This is where the judgment sits: how far to go is decided by the house, not by the survey. Finally backfill, making good, and — where it was in the scope — the plumbing test. The drainage work that stops the ground swinging is a separate operation and is commonly a separate quote, which is why it is commonly not done.

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