If you live in the southern or southwestern United States, and the foundation of your home is a concrete slab, then you may have, or will have, a major problem. The expansion and contraction of the clay soil your slab rests on may eventually crack your slab, devaluing or even destroying your home. Foundation repair can't be ignored.
Piers have several distinct disadvantages and drawbacks.
They are very expensive, installation is destructive to vegetation and landscaping, they often cause additional damage to the foundation and interior walls during installation, the foundation may fail again between pier locations, and often, the piers themselves fail. When soil dries again and shrinks, the house begins to rely more and more on the support of the piers, which the original foundation was not designed to do. Foundation experts and engineers continue to advise that it is essential to maintain constant moisture of the soil around the beneath the foundation. In doing so, the problems of differential settlement of foundations can be reversed and avoided. Studies at the University of Texas at Arlington have proved this to be true.