Which foundation repair method fits each cause of movement?

Reviewed by Preston, Oklahoma foundation repair consultant · Updated 2026-10-14

In short: Foundation movement has many causes, and each repair method only works on some of them. This table matches 26 causes, called mechanisms, to the methods that address them directly, the methods that support the main repair, and the methods that do not fit. The key split is between settlement, which piers can hold up, and heave or water problems, which piers cannot fix.

How do you read the table?

• Primary: the method acts on the cause or carries the load the cause has taken away.
• Supporting: the method helps, protects the main repair, or controls part of the cause, but is not enough alone.
• Not suitable: the method works against the cause, cannot act on it, or treats a symptom while the cause continues.

"Piers" below means underpinning such as steel push piers, helical piers, pressed concrete piles and drilled piers. Each method has its own page; the decision factors between pier types are in the method selection matrix.

What is the physical logic behind the table?

• Settlement vs. heave: swelling clay lifts lightly loaded foundations, and corners tend to rise relative to the center of a slab ¹. Piers push up from below, so they suit settlement but cannot pull a heaved area down.
• Depth: piers work against seasonal clay movement only when they reach below the zone of seasonal moisture change and are anchored against uplift ²; that zone can range from 3 to 40 ft deep ¹.
• Water: the code requires grade to fall at least 6 in within 10 ft of the foundation ³, and lawn watering, leaking pipes and pools create damaging moisture differences ¹. An engineering analysis compared how a slab moves and bends with and without a water line leak beneath it ⁸.
• Soil treatment: lime cut swell about 95% at 3% in one Oklahoma soil and raised it 1,237% in a high-sulfate soil ⁴, because of ettringite formation ⁵.
• Crawl spaces: moisture is controlled by ground cover, ventilation or conditioning, and drainage under the code's crawl space rules ⁶.
• Basement walls: the code designs walls for sideways soil pressure, with the highest design values for the clay soil classes it lists ⁷; soil treatment does not reinforce a wall.

Which methods fit which causes?

A mimic is a crack pattern that looks like foundation movement but comes from something else, such as roof framing or concrete shrinkage; see cosmetic repair only. Whether a house is settling or heaving is worked out in heave vs settlement.

Related

• Method Selection Matrix
• Heave vs Settlement
• Symptom Matrix
• Drainage Solutions
• Chemical Soil Stabilization
• Monitoring Program