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Foundation tools that show their reasoning

Twelve free tools for documenting a problem, finding the water, and checking a repair proposal. Each names its sources. None asks for an email.

12 tools free, in your browser, no email Every tool shows its arithmetic or framework and names its sources. None is an inspection, an engineering opinion or a quote.

These twelve free foundation tools help you document cracks and floor movement, trace water problems, compare repair bids and check a house you plan to buy.

Each shows its arithmetic or framework and cites its sources, and none asks for an email. None is an inspection, an engineering opinion or a quote. HyreFoundation does not inspect, engineer or repair foundations.

Tools for when you have just noticed a crack

A crack, a sticking door, a floor that feels off. Start by documenting it, not by phoning anyone.

Crack identificationWhat does this crack pattern mean, and what does it not prove?Open the toolElevation logIs the floor still moving, and how fast?Open the toolFoundation type identifierIs my house likely on a slab, a crawl space or a basement?Open the tool

Tools for when water is the likely cause

Water drives most foundation movement on clay soil, and it is the cheapest cause to correct. See drainage and grading for the longer guide.

Water intrusion diagnosticWhere is the water coming from, and what do I rule out first?Open the toolCrawl moisture checkIs my crawl space vented, sealed, or a failed mix of both?Open the toolTree distance checkIs that tree close enough to matter on my soil?Open the tool

Tools for when someone proposes a repair

Diagnosis before method, and method before money. These help you ask the questions a sales visit skips.

Engineer or contractor?Should I call an engineer or a repair company first?Open the toolRepair method selectorWhich repair method fits the way my foundation moved?Open the toolPier count estimatorWhy do two pier counts for the same house differ?Open the tool

Tools for comparing bids or buying a house

Three bids are only comparable if they price the same scope. A purchase is the last cheap moment to find out.

Foundation cost calculatorDo these bids price the same lines, at the same depth?Open the toolInspection checklistIs my evidence file complete before anyone quotes?Open the toolBuyer checklistWhat should I have in hand before buying a house with cracks?Open the tool

What each foundation tool answers, and what it will not do

Read the third column first. Every tool has a boundary, and knowing it saves you asking a question it cannot answer.

ToolThe question it answersWhat it will not do
Crack identificationWhat is this pattern, and what does it establish?Give a structural opinion on your wall, or publish a crack-width threshold table. The ACI width guidance sits behind a paywall we did not read.
Elevation logIs this changing, and how fast?Act as a survey. It divides the change between two readings you typed by the months between them.
Water intrusion diagnosticWhere is the water coming from, and what do I rule out first?Design a drain. Fall, capacity and outfall are site-specific.
Crawl moisture checkWhich crawl space design do I have, and is it working?Tell you to encapsulate, or test for mold. Many crawl spaces work fine vented.
Foundation type identifierWhat was built in my region and decade?Tell you what is under your house. It reports what was built across a population of houses.
Tree distance checkIs that tree close enough to matter on my soil?Give a code distance. No US code sets one, and the screening rule it uses is UK guidance.
Engineer or contractor?Which call should I make first?Recommend a firm. We hold no directory and take no referral fee.
Pier count estimatorHow much of the gap between two counts is just spacing?Estimate your pier count. Spacing, depth and capacity are an engineer’s call.
Repair method selectorWhich movement does this method address, and what does it leave alone?Decide the direction of movement. That comes from an elevation survey.
Cost calculatorDoes this bid price the same lines I have?Multiply piers by a rate with no depth entered. Depth drives the total.
Inspection checklistIs my evidence file complete enough to negotiate from?Tell you the foundation is sound. A complete file is not a diagnosis.
Buyer checklistWhich documents do I have, and what is each worth?Tell you to buy or walk away. Price, market and risk tolerance are yours.

What to do first when you find a foundation crack

In order. All of it is free, and none of it can be done later. Our foundation cracks guide covers each pattern in depth.

  • Photograph it with a coin or ruler in the frame

    Touching the surface, in the same plane as the crack. Take a wide shot, then a close one. Put the date in the filename, because photo metadata is often stripped when emailed.

  • Mark the ends in pencil and date them

    Length often changes before width does. It takes five seconds and pays off a year from now.

  • Note whether it is wet, damp or dry

    Look for efflorescence, the white crystal deposit left when water passes through and evaporates. It records past flow on a dry day.

  • Walk the outside and see where the roof water goes

    Check gutters, downspouts, grade and irrigation. IRC R405 excuses a foundation drain only on well-drained soil, which shows what drains are for.

  • Open and close every door

    Note which stick, which were planed, and in what season. Door and window frames concentrate stress and show movement early.

  • Wait a season, then photograph it again

    Use the same spot and scale. One photo is a fact; two are a trend. Only a trend separates an old crack from active movement.

  • Do not wait on a horizontal crack in a basement wall

    Especially with inward bowing. That is soil pressure loading the wall where it is weakest. Call a licensed engineer now.

Six facts that apply to every foundation tool here

The findings that recur across these tools, gathered once. Each is sourced on the page it belongs to.

1. Concrete cracks because it shrinks as it dries. NRMCA: “Typically, drying shrinkage related cracking is evident within days to several weeks after construction.” ACI adds that this shrinkage “is always subject to some degree of restraint,” and restrained concrete cracks. A crack alone is the normal state of the material.

2. In Texas, naming the cause is engineering. The Texas Board of Professional Engineers wrote in February 2018 that “Analyzing the cause of a condition, recommendations for repair, or providing any other expert engineering opinion associated with a foundation … would be considered the practice of engineering.”

A free visit that ends in a diagnosis and a price is doing two different jobs.

3. A home inspector who will not name the cause is doing the job right.

Texas inspection standards call a flagged deficiency one that “intended to only be an indicator of visible conditions or symptoms observed by an inspector that may warrant further evaluation by another qualified service professional.” “Further evaluation recommended” is the referral, not boilerplate.

4. The soil moves far more than the concrete. The Colorado Geological Survey says expansive soils can “expand up to 20% by volume when exposed to water.” The ASTM C157 shrinkage limit NRMCA quotes for concrete is 0.05%. That gap is why most routes here lead back to water.

5. Dampproofing and waterproofing are different code requirements. Dampproofing resists moisture and vapor. Waterproofing resists liquid water and is required where a high water table is known. Drainage under IRC R405 is what relieves the pressure.

6. There are two correct crawl space designs. IRC R408 allows a vented crawl space or a sealed, conditioned one. A vented crawl space and a sealed conditioned one are two coherent designs. Half of each is not.

Adding a vapor barrier and leaving the vents open is common and is neither. Sealing the vents without a continuous ground barrier and a conditioning method is the version that grows mold.

What these tools will and will not do

The standing rules, stated once so each page does not repeat them. The editorial policy has the full version.

  • The reasoning is on the page

    Every tool states its arithmetic or framework and the source behind each constant. If you disagree with an assumption, you can see it and change the input.

  • Nothing is emailed and nothing is stored

    The tools run in your browser. There is no email wall in front of a result.

  • They may tell you to wait a season

    We do no foundation work, so a tool here can conclude that the right next step is a dated photo and a downspout extension. Several do.

  • No national average and no price per pier

    We hold no dataset of foundation jobs, bids or invoices, and we will not reprint unsourced per-pier figures. The foundation repair cost guide explains what drives a price instead.

  • We say what we could not verify

    The claim that one in four homes in the continental United States has some damage from expansive soils, and that annual damage to buildings and infrastructure exceeds $15 billion. NOT VERIFIED AT SOURCE — not used as a fact anywhere on this site.

  • No crack-width threshold table

    ACI publishes its crack-width table only behind a paywall, and we did not read it. Width also has no time axis: a small crack that doubled in a year matters more than a wide one that has not moved in decades.

  • Not engineering, legal or insurance advice

    HyreFoundation is not an engineer, surveyor, contractor, lawyer or insurer.

Does HyreFoundation inspect or repair foundations?

No. We do not repair foundations. No piers, wall anchors, slab lifting, waterproofing or encapsulation.

We do not inspect or survey. We are not engineers, home inspectors or surveyors. We have not seen your wall, your floor levels or your soil, and no page here is a report.

Matching with companies is still being built. The find a foundation professional page explains what an inquiry does today. It is not a booking and never a quote.

Every figure is a named source’s. We hold no dataset of jobs, bids, pier counts or invoices. Each figure is a third party’s published position, or arithmetic on one that we label as ours.

Why it matters to you. A tool built by a repair company rarely concludes “extend your downspouts and look again in April.” These can, and for many houses that is the right answer.

Foundation terms used across these tools

Terms that appear in several tools, with the meaning they carry in this trade.

Drying shrinkage
Volume loss as concrete gives up water. The subgrade and the steel restrain it, which creates tension in a material that is weak in tension.
Differential movement
Parts of a building moving by different amounts. Uniform movement damages little; the difference across the structure is what cracks things.
Settlement, heave, lateral
Down, up and sideways. Three mechanisms that look alike in drywall and are corrected in three different directions. See why foundations move.
Elevation survey
Measured floor heights across the whole building against a fixed reference, drawn on a plan. The closest thing to objective data in this trade.
Offset (displacement)
The two faces of a crack no longer lying in the same plane. A different, and usually more significant, observation than width.
Dampproofing vs waterproofing
Dampproofing resists moisture and vapor. It is the baseline requirement for below-grade walls enclosing usable space. Waterproofing resists liquid water and bridges cracks and joints. It is required instead of dampproofing where a high water table or other severe soil or water conditions are known to exist.
Foundation drain
IRC R405: “Drains shall be provided around concrete or masonry foundations that retain earth and enclose habitable or usable spaces located below grade.”
Frost line
The local depth of ground freezing, published in IRC Table R301.2. Under IRC R403.1.4, footings sit at least 12 inches down and below the frost line. The deeper one governs.
Expansive soil
Clay that swells when wet and shrinks when dry. The Colorado Geological Survey says it can exert “Expansive soils can exert a force of up to 30,000 pounds-per-square-foot.” Repeated cycling does the damage.
Scope of work
Method, quantity, locations, depth and acceptance criteria, in writing. The only basis on which three prices can be compared.

Questions this calculator answers

Are cracks in my foundation serious?
Usually not. Concrete shrinks as it dries and cracks; NRMCA notes this shows up “within days to several weeks after construction.” Watch for cracks that are wide, offset, horizontal in a basement wall, paired with bowing, or growing. Date your photos: change over time tells you more than looks.
Should I get a free foundation inspection?
You can, but know what it is. In Texas, naming the cause and recommending a repair is the practice of engineering. A free visit that produces a cause, a pier count and a price is a sales visit. Ask who the licensed engineer of record is.
Do I really need to pay for a structural engineer?
Often, yes. An engineer you pay is the only party whose fee is the same whether the answer is eighteen piers or none. We publish no fee figures; ask two or three firms. Our structural engineer guide covers when it is worth it.
What does a horizontal crack in a basement wall mean?
It usually means soil pressure is pushing the wall inward, often from water in the backfill. It is a different failure from settlement, and it is the one pattern on this site that should not wait a season. Call a licensed engineer promptly.
Why do you not publish a price per pier?
Because depth drives the cost and nobody knows it in advance. It is confirmed only by driving the pier, and it varies across one lot. A per-pier rate with no stated depth is a number without units, and we hold no dataset of jobs to average.
Is my foundation problem really a water problem?
Often, in part. The Colorado Geological Survey says expansive soils can “expand up to 20% by volume when exposed to water.” Gutters, downspout extensions and grade that falls away from the wall address that cause directly.
Should I encapsulate my crawl space?
Not automatically. IRC R408 allows a vented design and a sealed, conditioned one. Many crawl spaces work fine vented. Standing water is a drainage problem before it is a liner problem.
Does HyreFoundation repair or inspect foundations?
No. We do no foundation work, inspect nothing, survey nothing and rank no contractors. That is why these tools can tell you to photograph a crack, extend your downspouts and look again next season.

Sources and methodology

Figures dated 5 September 2026. Last reviewed .

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