All You Need in One Place: Slab and Interior Beams, Drainage, Foundation, Home Piers, and More

Foundations that stand the test of time

All American Foundation Repair & Drainage INC uses a proven press piling system to shore up your foundation and keep your home safe. This system includes:

1. Pressure check water supply lines for leaks, as needed
2. Dig top holes beneath the perimeter grade beam of the structure
3. Place all loose dirt on plywood to keep your lawn and landscaping neat
4. Transport shrubs off the site (Survival is not guaranteed)
5. Remove the concrete from patios and driveways, and re-pour concrete that has been broken
6. Use a hydraulic power unit to press pre-cast cement cylinders into the ground, steel beams inserted to link the pilings together for greater strength
7. Place a top (trapezoid) block on top of the pier cylinders
8. Size and place a pre-cast cement cylinder beside a hydraulic jack
9. Using a predetermined sectional approach, raise areas of the structure in small increments until the structure's natural position has been achieved.
10. Use steel shims to secure the lift of the structure
11. Remove the hydraulic jacks and then size and re-place another pre-cast cement cylinder beside the one placed in Step 6, using steel shims to secure it in place
12. Fill in the hole surrounding the pier cap with soil
13. Pressure check water supply lines for leaks

Providing added strength to your home's foundation

To make your repairs, All American Foundation Repair & Drainage INC must re-support your foundation on columns. We will install the columns by hydraulically driving them beneath the foundation. Our columns, which are called pilings, serve two purposes. First, the pilings serve as platforms upon which we set jacks to raise the settled portions of the foundation. Second, the pilings transfer the weight of the building from the unstable surface soils to deeper, more stable layers. The process individually tests the bearing capability of the soil and piling at each location.

The pilings will be spaced from five to eight feet apart around the section of your house that has settled. At each piling location, we will hand-dig a hole that is approximately two feet square. The dirt from the holes will be put on plywood to protect your grass. Any shrubs in the way will be transplanted off to the side but their survival cannot be guaranteed. In paved areas, such as patios and driveways, we will remove the concrete. At completion, we will re-pour the concrete we broke out. The patches are poured carefully to match the texture of the original concrete as closely as possible, but they may not match the color of the older concrete. A hairline crack will show where the old material meets the new.

Thorough pier and beam foundation repair

This is no fly-by-night operation. If your pier and beam or black and base foundation is in need of repair, All American Foundation Repair & Drainage INC has the skill and equipment to get it right the first time around. We'll use hydraulic jacks to raise the interior floors to their original position, and then shim the floor system with 4 x 4 x 1/4 inch metal plates. If necessary, we can even add girders or footings to support the floor.

Responsible, experienced foundation repair

• A+ rated with the BBB

• Angie's List

• Licensed home repair contractor

• 48 years' construction experience

Helping you protect your most valuable investment

There's one licensed, experienced team you can turn to if you need quality, professional foundation work; All American Foundation Repair & Drainage INC Unlike many competitors, our team has decades of construction experience to repair any type of foundation . Read some of our many happy customer testimonials , and explore our gallery to see examples of our work!

Helping you avoid foundation problems

With decades of experience in helping to maintain and repair home foundations, All American Foundation Repair & Drainage INC of Duncanville, TX has seen many of the "usual suspects" that contribute to foundation damage. By keeping a lookout for these common problem signs, and beginning to institute your own preventative maintenance program, you can head off many expensive problems before they start!

Drainage problems

Drainage: Your yard should slope away from the house and wall so that it doesn't interfere with drainage.

Gutters: They should be able to handle the roof runoff and need to be cleared of leaves and debris.

Replace them if they're rusted or broken.

Downspouts: Water should be discharged at least 3 feet away from the building. Buried (French) drains may be necessary to keep water away from the foundation.

Watering (should supplement rainfall)

Automatic sprinklers: Your sprinklers should be checked to ensure there are no leaks and that they are working properly. You may need to change the number, location, and adjustment of the heads to maintain stable soil.

Shrubs and flowers: You should check beds close to the house to maintain proper moisture. Gaps between the soil and foundation indicate that there could be a foundation problem.

Trees: Trees extract water through their roots every day of the year. During extremely dry periods, you should water them. Barriers can be installed that will keep potentially troublesome roots away from the foundation.

Foundation repair and maintenance tips

Foundations and water: Expansive soils act like a sponge; as they absorb water (usually in the winter and spring) they swell and as they lose water (in the summer) they shrink.

As the soil under a house shrinks and swells with the seasons, the house and foundation will move up and down. As long as the foundation movement is not great enough to damage the house and / or foundation, it is not a problem. If the up and down movement of a foundation always returns the foundation to its original level position, then damage to the house and foundation may appear and disappear on a regular basis.

Following a controlled watering program can help stop seasonal house and foundation damage. By keeping the moisture content of the soil under the foundation constant, foundation movement can often be stopped. All American Foundation Repair & Drainage INC has written this to assist the homeowner in performing a simple foundation preventive maintenance program.

The goal of a foundation watering program is to maintain a constant level of moisture in the soil under the house and foundation. The best way to water a foundation is to install a buried foundation watering system. If you do not want to go to the expense of installing a buried watering system, soaker hoses will provide you with many of the same benefits. The best way to use a soaker hose is to bury a soaker hose three inches deep, one foot from the edge of your foundation. Placing the hose a short distance from the foundation allows the water to soak into the soil evenly.

The hose should not be placed against the foundation. When soil has dried and cracked, water can travel along the cracks for several feet in all directions. If the soil around your foundation is dried and cracked, then water placed next to the foundation will run through the cracks and accumulate at the bottom of the grade beam (the thick portion of the foundation that is under the exterior walls). In some cases, an accumulation of water in the soil at the base of a foundation can cause the soil to lose some of its load bearing capacity. If the soil loses enough load bearing capacity, the house will sink into the ground.

Obviously, it is necessary to water more during hot, dry weather and less during cold, damp weather. The amount of water required to keep a foundation stable during the summer can be surprisingly large. A single large tree can remove as much as 150 gallons of water, or almost 20 cubic feet of water, from the soil each day. Shrubs and other plants can also remove large quantities of water. During persistent hot dry weather, it may be necessary to water a foundation daily. Watering should supply enough water to keep the moisture content in the soul under the foundation constant. If the amount of water applied is only enough to keep the surface damp, the watering program will not work. Obviously, the homeowner is the only one who can weigh the benefits of controlling foundation movement versus the increased size of the water bill.

Upheaval: Water that collects under the foundation, regardless of origin, is a major problem. This water is confined, accumulative, and particularly serious; it accounts for a high percentage of all failures. The source can be either domestic leaks or nature. Foundation failures resulting from this excessive water under the foundation are classically termed "upheaval."

"Upheaval" relates to the situation in which the internal and on rare occasion, external areas of the foundation raises above the as-built position. In high-plasticity soils this phenomenon results, almost without exception, from the introduction of moisture under the foundation. Once the slab heaves, the reinforcing steel is stressed into what amounts to a permanent elongation.

Is poor drainage damaging your foundation?

Every homeowner fears them: musty odors, soil erosion, and damp spots around a home's foundation. Poor drainage allows moisture to penetrate cracks, placing added stress on your foundation. Fortunately for you, expensive damage to foundations around patios, pools, and homes can be prevented by surveying the area and making the appropriate changes. All American Foundation Repair & Drainage INC can ensure that water drains away from your foundation and keeps it safe and solid.

Identify drainage issues accurately

It takes an expert to identify potential drainage issues originating from sprinklers, rain runoff, a high water table, sprinklers, underground springs, and other factors. We have the experience to find these trouble areas.

Keep the moisture away from your foundation

Your yard should drop 6 inches in the first 10 feet from a structure, and at least 1 foot per 100 feet beyond that. All American Foundation Repair & Drainage INC will assess the slope of your yard, examine runoff to see where it's draining, inspect gutters and downspouts, and check over all the other trouble areas that could result in foundation-damaging drainage issues. Give us a call to let us help with your drainage problems!