The short answer
A pier and beam house sits on a perimeter beam and rows of short piers, with wood beams and floor joists spanning between them and a crawl space underneath. When the floors slope, bounce or sag, the repair is usually one of four things: tighten or replace shims, add or replace piers, sister or replace damaged beams and joists, or fix the water in the crawl space that started it. Most of that work happens under the house, not inside it.
Where Austin’s pier and beam houses are
About 28% of Austin’s homes were built before 1980, against 24% for Travis County as a whole. The pier and beam houses are concentrated in that older stock, in the central neighborhoods that grew up before slabs became the norm. Some of those neighborhoods are local historic districts, and the city notes that its Express permit can take longer in a floodplain or historic district.
Newer subdivisions in Cedar Park, Leander and Pflugerville are overwhelmingly slab-on-ground, so pier and beam repair is mostly a central Austin job.
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What fails, and how it shows
| Part | What goes wrong | What you notice | Typical fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shims | Wood shims dry out, crush or slip | A soft or sloping spot over one pier | Re-shim with hardwood or steel shims |
| Interior piers and pads | Pads sink into wet clay or tilt; old piers crack | A dip that keeps coming back | New or added piers on a larger base |
| Beams | Rot, termite damage, or too long a span | A long sag, often down the middle of the house | Sister, add support, or replace the beam |
| Joists and subfloor | Rot near plumbing, notched or undersized joists | Bouncy or spongy floors in one room | Sister joists, replace subfloor |
| Sill and perimeter beam | Rot at the sill; perimeter beam settles | Cracked siding or brick, gaps at the baseboard | Replace sill sections; pier the perimeter beam |
| The crawl space | Standing water, poor ventilation, runoff from the yard | Musty smell, damp insulation, rot | Drainage first, then repairs |
Sloping floors are one of the signs the Texas Real Estate Commission tells inspectors to look for, but in an old pier and beam house a slope can be decades old. The question is whether it’s changing.
Re-shim, new piers or new beams: which repair
| Repair | When it fits | Typical cost | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Re-shimming | Piers and pads are sound; the house just needs to come back up | $1,600 average | Angi |
| Adding a pier | A beam spans too far or a pad has failed | $800–$4,000 per pier | Angi |
| Replacing a beam | Rot, insects or a cracked beam | $400–$1,200 per beam | Angi |
| Replacing a beam | Same job, a second guide’s range | $1,500–$4,000 per beam | HomeGuide |
| Leveling with shims | A general re-level of the whole house | $1,000–$3,500 | HomeGuide |
The two beam figures differ because the guides price different scopes; a long, hard-to-reach beam in a low crawl space costs more than a short one near an access door. Ask the contractor to list each beam and joist they plan to replace and why.
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How a re-level usually goes
- Readings and a look underneath. The crew measures floor elevations inside and checks each pier, pad, shim and beam from the crawl space.
- Access. Through the existing crawl-space door, or through a new opening in the skirting if there isn’t one. Very low crawl spaces sometimes need digging out at the access point.
- Jacking. Jacks lift the beams a little at a time while someone watches doors, windows and plaster for strain. Old houses don’t like to be rushed.
- New supports. Hardwood or steel shims go in where the piers are sound; new piers or larger pads go where the old ones failed. Rotten beam sections are sistered or replaced while the weight is off them.
- Readings again. A second set of elevations shows what changed. Ask for both sets in writing.
- Finishes. Expect some doors to need planing or rehanging, and some plaster or drywall cracks as the frame settles into its new position.
Water in the crawl space
Most pier and beam trouble starts with water. Runoff from the yard flows under the house, soaks the clay around the pads and keeps the wood damp. The Foundation Performance Association’s paper on repairs calls continuously saturated soil detrimental to both the foundation and the repair piers.
The fixes are usually simple and come before any leveling:
- Regrade so the yard falls away from the house, and extend downspouts well past the edge of the foundation, as the ASCE Texas guidelines put it.
- Clear blocked vents and make sure the crawl space can dry out.
- Fix plumbing leaks under the floor, which a licensed plumber handles.
- Add a drain where water still collects. HomeGuide puts an exterior French drain along one side at $1,200–$4,500.
Leveling a house over a wet crawl space without fixing the water usually means leveling it again. The drainage page covers the details.
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Seasonal movement in older houses
Pier and beam houses on Austin clay move with the seasons too. In a long drought the soil under the perimeter dries and the outside walls drop; after heavy rain they come back up. That’s why a door that drags in September can close fine in April. Before a full re-level, it’s worth knowing which season you’re looking at. A contractor who re-shims at the bottom of a drought may set the house too high for the wet season.
What to ask before you sign
- Which piers, beams and joists are you replacing, and can you show me on a drawing or in photos?
- What’s causing the drop: soil, rot, water or overloading?
- What will you do about drainage or water in the crawl space?
- What kind of shims will you use, and how will they be secured?
- Will the lift crack plaster, tile or doorframes, and who repairs that?
- Who pulls the permit, and does the house’s historic status change anything?
For a big job, a foundation inspection with the readings in writing, or a second plan, is worth having before you commit. The cost page compares pier and beam prices with slab repairs.