Denton County · Raised floors and crawl spaces
Pier and Beam Foundation Repair in Denton, TX
A raised floor over a crawl space moves in its own ways.
A floor that dips toward one wall, or a door that starts to drag, is unsettling in an older house. If your home stands on piers over a crawl space, pier and beam foundation repair in Denton, TX starts under the floor.
- Free inspection
- No obligation
- Town-by-town soil data
- You never pay us
- Call (940) 535-7201
What have you seen?
In a pier and beam house, the floor doesn't touch the ground. Piers stand on the soil, wood beams rest on the piers and floor joists rest on the beams. When one pier sinks or rises, the beam above it sags or humps, and the floor follows. A free inspection finds which part moved.
Signs a Raised Floor Has Shifted
These are worth a closer look:
- A floor that sags or tilts toward one side
- Door and window frames pushed out of square, so doors drag
- Walls pulling away from the floor or ceiling
- Floor coverings that crack or lift, and cracks in drywall
The Texas engineers' guidelines give a sense of scale. Most people notice a tilt once it passes 1%, a drop of 1.2 inches over a 10-foot room. For sag, they point to a limit used for floor framing, span divided by 360: on a 30-foot span, that's 1 inch. They also say some of these signs don't by themselves mean the foundation is failing.
Not sure what your house sits on? Look for a crawl space door or vents below the floor line. Raised floors turn up more in older Texas houses, a pattern rather than a rule. In Denton, 8.0% of homes went up before 1960, a share only Pilot Point tops among the 33 towns we studied, at 19.8%. Frisco and Flower Mound have just 0.7%.
How a Raised Floor Is Repaired
Under many older Texas raised floors, each pier is concrete blocks stacked on a small pad at the surface, which repair companies call "block and base." A Texas repair company says 1940s and 1950s homes often still sit on their original cedar posts. Either way, the support starts near the top of the soil, so it moves with that soil.
On the clay bands, short piers ride the swell. West of Denton, Sanger clay reads 8.4 on the USDA's shrink-swell scale right at the surface. East toward Frisco, Houston Black clay reads 12 from the top down. Krum had 96% of its land points on high or very high soil, and The Colony 94.7%.
In the middle band, the top layer is sandier. Birome and Callisburg start with 5 to 8 inches of sandy loam over a clay layer that reads 4.5. The USDA says even moderate clay can shrink and swell enough to damage buildings.
The work comes from a short list:
- Reshimming, where a pier has settled a little and the gap needs filling again. One Texas repair company says wood shims compress over time, so it uses steel ones.
- New or added piers, where a block stack has failed or a span sags between supports.
- Wood repair, where a cracked beam or rotted joist has to be braced or replaced before the floor comes up.
How a raised floor sits on its piers
- Short masonry piers standing on the ground
- A timber beam resting on the piers
- Floor joists and the floor on top of the beam
- The open crawl space under the floor
What Pier and Beam Foundation Repair Costs
One DFW repair company's 2020 cost page put pier and beam repairs in Arlington, Irving and Grand Prairie at about $3,500 to $8,000, sometimes over $10,000 in North Texas. A job that only needs shims might come in under $1,800. Those are one company's figures from 2020, not a price for your house.
For all foundation repairs, a large Texas company puts its Dallas-area average at about $11,117, from work booked in 2026. A company with a Lewisville office says its repairs over the past 12 months averaged just over $11,000. Our cost guide explains what goes into a quote.
Who Does the Work Under the Floor
An independent foundation repair company that works your part of Denton County does it, not us. We have no crews of our own. When you call or send the form, we pass your request to that one company. It comes out for the free inspection, and any repair is between you and them.
That company may pay us for the request, but you never pay us, and you're free to get other quotes. What you get from us first is the research: the soil and permit facts for your town, each from a public source.
The Process, From Crawl Space to Final Readings
- The free inspection. Someone goes under the house, checks each pier and beam, and measures the floor at points across each room.
- The plan and the permit. The City of Denton's rule covers raised floors too: all foundation repairs need a permit, with a repair letter and plan sealed by a Texas registered engineer.
- The repair. Piers are reshimmed, replaced or added, and damaged wood is braced or swapped out.
- The second set of readings. The Texas guidelines call for a floor survey after the work, so you can see what changed. Ask for a copy.
Pier and Beam Foundation Repair Questions
Can shims alone fix my floor?
Sometimes. If the piers are sound and have only settled a little, reshimming may be enough. If a pier keeps moving or a beam has cracked, more shims treat the gap, not the cause.
Will the floor be perfectly level afterward?
Probably not, and that's normal. The Texas guidelines say a level result is unlikely after a lift. Near level, and holding, is the honest target.
Does the soil in my crawl space need watering?
The Texas guidelines favor soil moisture that stays near even on all sides of a foundation, and they caution against overwatering. Our watering guide covers your town's rules.
Get a Free Pier and Beam Inspection in Denton
Tell us what you've noticed and where the house is. A foundation repair company that works around Denton will check underneath, measure the floors and explain what they find. The visit is free, with no obligation.
What have you seen?