House leveling and pier and beam repair in Tyler, TX

On this page, house leveling means bringing the floor of a pier and beam house back toward level by working in the crawl space under it. It can be a quick re-shim or a bigger job with new piers, beams or sills. Here is what each involves, what it costs, and what to check before anyone crawls under your house.

Is your house pier and beam?

If the floor sits above a crawl space, on wood framing that rests on beams and short piers, it is pier and beam. A slab house sits on concrete poured on the ground. The difference matters because a pier and beam floor is adjusted from underneath, in the crawl space, instead of by lifting a slab.

Not sure which you have? Our slab or pier and beam guide walks through the signs. If your house is a slab, see slab foundation repair instead.

What does a pier and beam problem look like from inside?

Usually it shows in the floors and doors. When Texas home inspectors judge a foundation, the signs they must report include “binding, out-of-square, non-latching doors,” “sloping floors,” and cracks in walls, ceilings and floors. None of these proves the cause, but each is worth writing down with a date.

One East Texas owner described a 1968 brick pier and beam house in “sandy east Texas soil” with “lots of humps in the floor” and doors that would not close. Sandy soil did not keep that house level. Our guide to the signs of foundation problems covers the other warning signs.

Older houses in Tyler and nearby towns

Tyler has a lot of older housing. Census estimates say 52.6% of the city’s homes were built before 1980. The city’s own comprehensive plan says most of the older housing is downtown in the Azalea Historic District, in Midtown and in the northern part of the city.

Athens (54.0%), Canton (54.7%) and Jacksonville (50.3%) also have more than half their homes built before 1980. Rusk (48.1%) is close behind, and two Van Zandt towns run older: Wills Point (61.8%) and Grand Saline (73.6%). In Gun Barrel City, one housing unit in five is a mobile home, which is leveled on piers rather than repaired like a slab, and Malakoff counts 112 mobile homes, about one unit in nine. On the same lake, Tool counts 352 mobile homes, 22.4% of its housing units. We found no count of how many of these houses are pier and beam, so we do not guess at one.

If yours is older, find out whether it has been leveled before. Records of past work help whoever looks at it next. The Tyler page has more on the city’s housing.

What leveling can involve, from shims to sills

Leveling runs from small to large. A re-shim adjusts the supports you already have so the floor sits flatter. Bigger jobs add or replace piers, replace damaged beams, or replace sills, the wood that runs along the bottom of the walls. The price climbs with each step and with how much wood has to come out.

• Re-shim or re-level. Industry estimates put it at $1,200 to $4,000.
• New piers or pads. These usually come as part of the bigger jobs, which run $5,000 to $15,000. We found no clear published price for a single new pier block or pad. One national guide’s figure does not say whether it is per pier or per job.
• Beam and sill replacement. Sill plates run $100 to $200 per linear foot. Published prices for replacing a beam disagree too widely to quote one range.
• Getting under the house. One Texas engineering firm says pier and beam repair costs depend on “crawlspace access and the extent of wood replacement.”
• The permit. Tyler’s fee schedule charges $0.35 per square foot for “All Additions, Alterations, Repairs,” but the city publishes no rule written for foundation work. Ask the company whether it will pull one, or call Building Services at (903) 531-1151.