How We Build These Guides

Last updated: October 2026

What this site is

Foundation Guide publishes plain-language foundation repair guides: the warning signs that matter, how professional inspections work, the repair methods explained without jargon, and what to ask before you hire. Each city guide pairs that guidance with real local data so you can see which pattern — expansive soil, aging housing, or water-driven movement — dominates where you live.

What the local data is

• Housing age — U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates, Table B25034 (year structure built).
• Annual precipitation — NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020, nearest reporting station (named on every page).
• City coordinates — U.S. Census Gazetteer 2024.
• Soil and geology context — qualitative summaries drawn from our research notes (state geological survey publications and USDA soil survey descriptions of regional soil behavior). These describe regional patterns, not per-address engineering data — only a site-specific inspection can assess an individual property.

How to use a guide

Start with the warning signs if you're seeing cracks, sticking doors, or sloping floors. Read the inspection section so you know what a thorough assessment includes, check your city's soil and housing data for local context, then review the repair-methods table before you talk to contractors. When you do, confirm their plan is based on elevation measurements and ask how it accounts for your area's soil — a plan that ignores local geology is a plan built for somewhere else.