Concrete Pressed Piers in New Braunfels, TX
We press precast concrete pier columns to refusal beneath settling slabs, the lowest cost deep repair on New Braunfels lots where firm soil sits within reach.
New Braunfels Foundation Repair HQ has pressed concrete piers under settling homes across New Braunfels, Texas for more than 18 years. A concrete pressed pier is a column of precast concrete cylinders, each cast and cured off site, that our crew presses into the soil one segment at a time beneath a failing footing. A hydraulic ram uses the weight of the house itself to push each cylinder down, and the segments stack until the column meets soil firm enough to refuse further movement. Where the ground allows it, this is the lowest cost pier we install, and on much of the clay east of the Balcones Escarpment it is all a settling slab needs.
Signs You Need Concrete Pressed Piers
How Concrete Pressed Piers Works on New Braunfels Clay
New Braunfels straddles the Balcones Fault. The west side of town climbs into Hill Country limestone, while the neighborhoods east of Interstate 35 sit on expansive prairie clay. That clay drinks up a wet spring, swells, then shrinks and cracks through a long Central Texas summer, and the slab above it rides that cycle season after season until one section settles lower than the rest.
A concrete pressed pier stops the ride by carrying the footing below the layer that moves. Our crew opens a small excavation under the grade beam, sets a precast concrete cylinder in the hole, and presses it downward with a hydraulic ram that reacts against the weight of the house. A second cylinder follows the first, then a third, each pressed until the column refuses to advance. That refusal point is the whole trick: the column has punched through the active clay and is bearing on soil dense enough to resist the full pressing force, which is greater than any load the house will ever place on it. A cap and steel shims then tie the column to the beam, and the wall is lifted back toward level.
Two local facts favor concrete here. First, on many New Braunfels lots the firm marl and weathered limestone sits close enough to the surface that a pressed concrete column reaches refusal at a practical depth, so there is no reason to pay for steel. Second, the segments are solid precast concrete rather than fabricated metal, so the installed cost per pier is the lowest of any deep repair we offer, and that difference multiplies on a house that needs fifteen or twenty piers.
The honest limit is depth. The cylinders stack, but they do not lock together, so on lots where the active clay runs very deep or stays saturated, a steel pressed pier is the better tool; its sections connect end to end and can chase firm bearing much deeper without drifting off line. And for light structures like porches and additions that cannot supply pressing weight, we switch to a screw-in helical pile instead. Part of our assessment is telling you plainly which of the three your soil calls for.
Our Concrete Pressed Piers Process
Concrete Pressed Piers Cost in New Braunfels
Recent Concrete Pressed Piers Projects
The call we hear most often around New Braunfels is a single settling corner on a brick veneer home east of I-35: the clay dries out under one bedroom, the veneer cracks in a stair-step, and the floor slopes just enough to feel underfoot. A repair like that typically takes eight to twelve pressed concrete piers along the affected beam and a careful lift before the doors latch cleanly again. The illustration below shows what that kind of repair looks like before and after the lift.
Call (325) 880-1512Why Choose New Braunfels Foundation Repair HQ
We handle foundation repair, piering, house leveling, and drainage for New Braunfels and the surrounding Comal and Guadalupe County towns. If you are weighing concrete against steel, start with a conversation with a local specialist and we will measure the slab before recommending either one.