Clay that swells when wet and shrinks when dry keeps a house moving. Foundation drainage keeps storm and roof water from soaking the ground right against your walls.
Tell us what the water is doing and we’ll call you back to set up a free on-site look.
A house sits on whatever soil the builder found, and around Amarillo that is usually clay that changes volume with its moisture. Foundation drainage cannot change the clay. What it can do is keep storm water and roof runoff from pooling at the perimeter, so the ground under your walls stays steadier through the year.
Pullman clay loam, a series soil scientists first described in Potter County in 1929, is mapped widely across the plains around Amarillo. Its official USDA description lists a linear extensibility of 6 to 9 centimeters in the top meter, which is the measure soil scientists use for shrink and swell, and that is enough to give the soil vertic properties. The typical profile describes cracks about a centimeter wide running through the upper layers.
Put plainly: when this soil wets up it grows, and when it dries out it shrinks and cracks. A foundation that sits partly on wet clay and partly on dry clay gets pushed unevenly.
The same USDA description notes that Pullman soils are intermittently moist from September through November and March through June, with July through August and December through February the driest months. The National Weather Service adds that most of Amarillo's rain falls April through September, generally in thunderstorms. That means the soil beside your house can swing from soaked after a June storm to split open by the end of a dry summer.
The goal is not to keep the ground soaked or bone dry. It is to stop storm water from dumping on one side of the house and soaking in while the other side stays parched.
We work from the roof down, because most foundation water starts there:
On a slab, the concern is water ponding against the edge and soaking under it. On pier-and-beam, water that runs toward the house can collect in the crawlspace, where it keeps the soil around the piers wet long after the yard has dried. The drainage approach is similar for both, keep water moving away from the perimeter, but on a crawlspace home we also look at where water enters under the skirting and whether the ground beneath the house sits lower than the yard. Vents and access doors at ground level are common entry points, and a few inches of regrading in front of them can keep a storm from flowing straight under the floor.
Some lots cannot get enough slope away from the house: a property line close by, a patio poured toward the wall, a neighbor's yard that sheds water onto yours. In those cases a French drain set a few feet out from the foundation can intercept water before it reaches the wall and carry it to daylight, the curb where permitted, or a sump. It needs a working outlet just like any other drain, and on clay this slow it should be built to carry water away, not to store it beside the wall.
We handle drainage. We do not lift slabs, set piers, or repair cracked foundations, and nobody should tell you a drain will close a crack that is already there. If what we see during the visit looks structural, we will say so and suggest you bring in a structural engineer or a foundation repair contractor before spending money on drainage.
No. Drainage keeps storm and roof water from soaking the clay around your house, which removes one cause of uneven movement. It does not close cracks or level a slab that has already shifted. For existing damage, talk to a structural engineer or foundation repair contractor; we can work alongside their plan on the water side.
Pullman clay loam, mapped widely around Amarillo, shrinks as it dries. Its USDA description records cracks about a centimeter wide through the upper layers and a shrink-swell measure of 6 to 9 centimeters in the top meter. Wide summer cracks along the foundation are that clay drying out after the wetter spring.
Start with gutters, downspout extensions, and grade. On many Amarillo houses those three carry most of the load. A perimeter drain is for lots where slope away from the house is not possible, or where water arrives from the neighbor's side faster than grading alone can turn it.
The goal is the same, keep water moving away from the perimeter, but a crawlspace adds a place for water to hide. Runoff that slips under the skirting can keep the soil around the piers wet for days. We check whether the ground under the house sits lower than the yard and where water is getting in.
Some foundation professionals recommend keeping soil moisture steady during long dry spells. That is a question for them, because it depends on your foundation type and history. Our side is the opposite problem: keeping storm and roof water from pooling at the walls during Amarillo's spring and summer thunderstorms.
Free on-site drainage assessments in Amarillo and across the Texas Panhandle. Call or send the form and we’ll set up a time to look.