Guide
Looking after a foundation in Frisco
You cannot change the clay under your house. You can keep its moisture from swinging wildly, which is most of what foundation upkeep in North Texas comes down to.
City rules
What Frisco allows around a foundation
Frisco limits lawn sprinklers by season. Its watering schedule and Water Efficiency Plan do not mention foundations by name, but they treat the tools used on foundations differently from sprinklers.
- Soaker hoses, drip lines, bubblers and a hand-held hose with a shut-off nozzle may be used when needed, for up to two hours a day.
- Sprinklers run on your trash collection day: once a week in spring and autumn, with a second day allowed in summer, and not at all from November through March.
- No sprinkler watering between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. from April through October.
- Never while it is raining, when it is below 40°F, or so that water runs off into the street.
Schedules are revised, and drought stages can tighten them. Check the city's page at the start of each summer.
Watering
Even, not soaked
The aim, in the words of Texas engineers' foundation guidelines, is near-uniform soil moisture on all sides of the house. The same sentence warns against too much water. Flooding one side does as much harm as letting it bake.
- Lay a soaker hose or drip line a short way out from the slab, not against it, and run it right round the house.
- Water when the soil starts to pull away from the concrete. A gap you can see is the signal.
- Give shaded and sunny sides what each needs. The west and south walls usually dry first.
- Do not aim a hose into an open crack in the ground. Water sent straight down a crack can reach the soil under the slab unevenly.
- Ease off in a wet spell. The point is to steady the moisture, not to add to it.
Around the house
Roof water, ground slope and trees
- Gutters and downspouts
- Carry roof water well clear of the slab and past the planting beds. The City of Richardson's foundation advice to its own homeowners suggests at least three feet.
- Grading
- Soil should fall away from the house, not toward it. Years of added mulch and topsoil often reverse the slope without anyone noticing. Keep beds below the top of the slab.
- Trees and big shrubs
- Richardson's page notes that trees or large shrubs within 20 feet of a foundation can dry the soil unevenly and may need extra water in dry periods.
- Taking a tree out
- Not always the cure. Engineers warn that removing a mature tree lets the clay re-wet and swell, which can lift that part of the slab. Ask before you cut.
- Leaks
- A water bill that rises with no change in use, or a warm or damp patch of floor, is worth a plumber's leak test.
Twice a year
A ten-minute walk round the house
- Is the soil tight against the slab all the way round?
- Do all downspouts still discharge away from the wall?
- Any new puddles within a few feet of the house after rain?
- Any crack in the brick that was not there six months ago?
- Do the doors that used to close still close?
- Has anything changed nearby: a pool, a patio, a neighbor's regrading?
If the answers start to worry you, signs of a foundation problem sorts out which ones matter.
Watering questions
Will watering fix a foundation that has already moved?
It can help a slab whose edges dropped because the soil dried out, and some recover a good deal over a wet season. It will not lift a part that has settled for other reasons. If cracks keep growing while the soil is evenly moist, book an inspection.
Can I water my foundation in winter when sprinklers are not allowed?
Frisco's winter rule stops automatic lawn sprinklers. Drip irrigation, bubblers and hand watering are still listed as allowed, for up to two hours a day and only when the weather calls for it.
Foundation repair in Frisco and nearby
Describe the problem, book the inspection
This number is for foundation repair on houses. Say where the cracks are, which doors stick and how long it has been going on. If part of the house shifted all at once, there is a gas smell, or brickwork seems about to come down, clear the house and dial 911 or the gas utility before anything else.
Ready to have someone look at it?
Phone and say what you have noticed. The foundation repair company on the other end is independent of this site and takes on houses in your part of Collin or Denton County. Ask it for a time to come and inspect.
Call (972) 430-3959Your call may be recorded. Read how referrals are paid for and what happens to call details.