Burleson's older neighborhoods, especially around Old Town, still have plenty of pier-and-beam homes from the 1950s–70s. These foundations fail differently than a slab, and need a different repair approach.
Instead of cracking, a pier-and-beam home typically shows springy or uneven floors, gaps where interior walls meet the floor, and doors that swing open or shut on their own. Underneath, the wood beams and joists that span between the original piers can sag, rot from crawl space moisture, or simply lose contact with piers that have shifted in the clay.
Shimming re-establishes contact between beams and piers that have separated slightly. Sistering joists reinforces a weakened or sagging joist by bolting a new piece of lumber alongside it rather than replacing the whole span. Full beam replacement is needed when rot or damage has gone too far for reinforcement alone — common in homes with a history of crawl space moisture.
Most of the wood damage we find in Burleson pier-and-beam homes traces back to poor crawl space drainage or ventilation. We'll flag this during the inspection, since fixing the structural issue without addressing the moisture source usually means the same repair is needed again down the road.
If your home has a crawl space you can access from outside or through a floor hatch, it's pier-and-beam. Homes built directly on a concrete pad with no crawl space are slab foundations.
Yes — we go underneath to inspect beams, joists, and piers directly rather than guessing from surface symptoms alone.
Typically not if the rot developed gradually from moisture over time, which is the most common cause. We can help document the damage regardless.
Free inspection, honest read on what actually needs repair.
(817) 602-9879