Three kinds of foundation inspection
| Compared | Foundation contractor | Home inspector (TREC) | Licensed professional engineer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Usual reason | You’ve seen cracks or sticking doors | You’re buying or selling | You want an independent opinion, or the city needs plans |
| What they do | Walk-through, elevation readings, repair plan | Visual inspection and a written opinion on performance | Evaluation, with elevation survey and testing as needed |
| What you get | A plan and a price | A report on the visible signs | A sealed report or repair design |
| Their stake | They’d do the repair | None in the repair | None, if you hire them and they don’t sell repairs |
The Texas Board of Professional Engineers treats analyzing why a foundation moved, or recommending a repair, as the practice of engineering. That’s why a contractor’s inspection produces a proposal, not an engineering opinion, and why Fort Worth wants an engineer’s documents with the permit.
We’re not engineers or contractors. This page explains how independent licensed engineers evaluate foundations, with links to their own guidelines.
What happens at a contractor’s inspection
Expect the visit to cover the house from the outside in:
- Outside: brick cracks, gaps at windows and trim, where gutters drain, how the ground slopes, trees near the house, and on a pier and beam house, the crawl space.
- Inside: doors that stick or won’t latch, drywall cracks above openings, gaps where walls meet ceilings, and floors that slope.
- Readings: a floor elevation survey, usually with a digital or laser level, taken at points across the house.
- At the end: a drawing of the readings, an explanation of what moved and where, and a written plan with the pier count, method and price.
Ask for a copy of the elevation readings even if you don’t hire that contractor. They’re useful to the next contractor, to an engineer, and to you a year from now.
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How elevation readings are judged
An elevation survey measures how far each point of the floor sits above or below a reference point. It doesn’t show what the floor looked like when it was built, which is why engineers read it with care:
- The Foundation Performance Association calls a survey a snapshot of the foundation’s levelness on the day it’s taken.
- The Texas ASCE guidelines say a survey should not be the only basis for judging deflection and tilt, because floors are rarely built dead level.
- Engineers compare deflection, the bow over a span, with a benchmark of L/360, and the FPA notes that distress in the house above tends to begin somewhere in the range L/240 to L/480.
- For tilt, the FPA guideline recommends 1% or less over the foundation, and ASCE notes that a tilt above 1% is usually noticeable.
A contractor’s survey and an engineer’s survey use the same idea. What differs is the conclusion drawn from it and who draws it.
The levels of an engineer’s evaluation
The Texas Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers publishes guidelines that engineers use to evaluate home foundations. They describe three levels:
| Level | What it includes | When it fits |
|---|---|---|
| A | Interviews, documents and a walk-through: a report of first impressions | A first opinion before buying, or to decide whether to go further |
| B | Level A plus an elevation survey, a scaled drawing and deflection and tilt compared with tolerances | Most repair decisions and disputes |
| C | Level B plus testing the engineer deems needed, such as soil, plumbing and material testing | Suspected leaks, unusual soil, or a repair that failed |
The Foundation Performance Association’s own evaluation guideline requires a Level B or C investigation, meaning one with an elevation survey, not just a look around.
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Fort Worth’s rule brings an engineer in anyway
The City of Fort Worth requires a building permit for every residential foundation repair, and its remodel checklist asks for Engineered Foundation Plans + Engineered Structural Letter with the application. So on a permitted job, a licensed engineer reviews the plan whether or not you hired one.
Two things are worth knowing:
- Who hired the engineer. Most contractors work with an engineer they bring in. That satisfies the permit. If you want advice from someone with no stake in the repair, hire your own before you pick a plan.
- What the report covers. One DFW contractor notes that engineer’s reports here are often limited to visual observations and an elevation survey. Ask what yours will include.
The permit guide covers the paperwork, and the engineer guide covers when to hire one directly.
Inspections when you buy or sell
When a house changes hands in Texas, the buyer’s home inspector must give a written opinion on the foundation’s performance and list the visible indications of adverse performance behind it. That opinion isn’t engineering: the engineers’ board concluded that a visual inspection under TREC’s standards is not engineering.
For buyers, the FPA recommends getting a baseline elevation survey, so there’s a record to compare against if the house moves later. Sellers should keep every report and permit; the selling guide explains why.
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Get ready for the visit
- Photograph cracks with a date and something for scale, and note whether they’ve grown.
- List the doors and windows that stick, and whether it’s worse in summer or winter.
- Find the year the house was built and any paperwork from earlier repairs.
- Clear a path to the crawl space access on a pier and beam house.
Then compare what you’re told against the warning signs and the cost ranges, and get a second plan if the first one is large.