Most people searching for house leveling have noticed one thing: the floor isn’t flat anymore. A chair rolls toward one wall. A cabinet door won’t stay shut. The gap under a bedroom door is a wedge instead of a strip.
On a raised house
Pier and beam homes are the more forgiving case. The crew gets under the house, sets hydraulic jacks under the beams and raises the low sections a little at a time, checking elevations as they go. Once the floor is close to level, they reset the beams on new shims and sometimes add piers where the spacing was too wide. Because the house is raised, it can be adjusted again later if the soil moves.
On a slab
Leveling a slab means lifting concrete, and concrete can only be lifted with something solid underneath to push against. That’s why slab leveling almost always comes with new piers along the low side. The details are on the slab foundation repair page.
How level is level
Very few houses, even new ones, are dead flat. Concrete that has sat out of level for many years can crack if it’s forced all the way back. Ask the company what they’re aiming for and what tolerance they consider finished. You want a number, such as how far off level across a room they’ll accept.
Will it stay?
Leveling treats the symptom. If the house dropped because water pools along one side every time it rains, or a water oak’s roots dried out the soil under the corner, the same thing can happen again. Ask the company what they think caused the movement, and read our piece on why clay soil moves.