Foundation repair · Cibolo, Texas
Foundation Repair in Cibolo, TX
Very young homes on deep clay, and a city that kept a record of your slab.
Cibolo is the only city we checked around New Braunfels that asks builders to measure every new slab for it. The city says all new homes built in Cibolo must have foundation elevation measurements taken and submitted to the city by the builder. If your house is one of them, that record could be a useful starting point if your floors ever start to move.
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- Free inspectionIt costs nothing
- No obligationStopping after the inspection is fine
- Town-by-town soil dataFrom the USDA soil survey
- Referral service, disclosedWe pass requests to local pros
- Call (830) 500-5898Or send the short form
And in Cibolo, there's a fair chance they could. In our USDA soil sample, 44% of Cibolo landed on clay rated very high for shrink and swell, more than in New Braunfels. If you're looking into foundation repair in Cibolo because of a new crack or a sticking door, here's what the records say about the ground, the homes and the rules.
Clay or Rock: The Ground Under Cibolo
We sampled the USDA soil survey at 25 points across Cibolo. Here's what turned up:
- Houston Black clay, 24%. It reads 12.0 for shrink and swell from the surface down, with 54% clay. The survey finds no calmer layer beneath it.
- Branyon clay, 20%. It reads 13.0, with that layer running from about a foot down to past 6 feet and no rock in the top 80 inches.
- Lewisville silty clay, 12%, and Barbarosa silty clay, 12%, both reading 7.5, in the high band.
- Sunev loam, 8%, reading just 1.5, low on the USDA's scale.
- Doss silty clay, 8%, reading 4.5. The survey says it formed from limestone, with bedrock about 15 inches down.
On the USDA's scale, anything over 9 is very high. So 44% of our Cibolo points landed on very high clay and another 24% on high, while only 16% landed on low or moderate soils. That puts Cibolo firmly on the clay side of the line, with Houston Black and Branyon under much of it.
What that means for your house: a slab in Cibolo is more likely to rest on a thick bed of clay. It swells in a wet spring and shrinks back in a dry summer. Even moisture around the house is what matters most. Repair piers have to reach below the layer that dries and wets, or they can keep settling. Our guide to New Braunfels soil shows how to look up your own lot.
What Cibolo Homes Are Built On
The US Census counts 11,253 homes in Cibolo, with a median build year of 2007. About 90.8% went up in 1990 or later: 43.1% in the 2000s, 36.6% in the 2010s and 2.4% since 2020. Only 1.4% were built before 1960.
The Census records build years, not foundations. Still, homes this young are likely to be on concrete slabs, and many are probably post-tension, with steel cables pulled tight inside the concrete. That's a trend, not a fact about your house. It matters because nobody should drill or cut into a post-tension slab without knowing where the cables run. Our post-tension slab guide explains how to tell.
Young houses still move. A city building official in New Braunfels told the local paper Community Impact that Central Texas saw record numbers of foundation repairs in 2022, after a drought that began in October 2021. Clay doesn't wait for a house to get old.
- 2007Median year Cibolo homes were built
- 1.4%Built before 1960
- 90.8%Built in 1990 or later
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2023.
Permits and Rules in Cibolo
Cibolo's page on home projects says permits are needed for new building, additions and structural changes, and for electrical, plumbing and mechanical work. Small cosmetic jobs, like paint, new floors or cabinets, usually don't need one.
The page doesn't name foundation repair, so treat it as a structural change that needs a permit and confirm with Building Inspections at (210) 240-0897 before work starts.
The new-home rule is the part worth remembering. Builders must send the city floor height readings for each new home, so ask the city or your builder for yours. If your floors move later, today's readings can be checked against the ones taken when the house was built. That shows how much has changed. Our guide to foundation repair permits compares rules across the area.
Watering Rules in Cibolo
Cibolo sets its own water rules. The city's water page says its drinking water comes from two sources, the Guadalupe River and the Carrizo Aquifer.
The year-round rules on that page cover irrigation systems:
- April 1 to October 31: no irrigation systems between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.
- November 1 to March 31: no irrigation systems between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
- Sundays: no sprinkler use.
The page doesn't mention foundations, handheld hoses or drip lines, and it doesn't name a current drought stage. Before you set up a soaker hose around the slab, call the number on the city's water page, 210-658-9900, to ask how the rules apply. Our foundation watering guide covers how to water evenly.
Foundation Repair Services in Cibolo
- Slab foundation repair for slabs on Houston Black and Branyon clay
- Foundation inspection to measure the floors and compare them with the builder's record
- Foundation crack repair to tell a cosmetic crack from a moving one
- House leveling when floors have gone out of level
- Pier and beam repair for older raised houses
Cibolo Foundation Repair Questions
Does Cibolo have a record of my slab?
If your home was built new in Cibolo, it may. The city says all new homes must have foundation elevation measurements taken and submitted by the builder. Ask the city or your builder for a copy.
Do I need a permit for foundation repair in Cibolo?
Cibolo requires permits for structural changes, and its page doesn't name foundation repair either way. Plan on a permit and confirm with Building Inspections at (210) 240-0897.
Why is my new Cibolo house cracking?
Often it's the clay. Houston Black and Branyon, both very high for shrink and swell, covered 44% of our Cibolo sample points. A dry summer can shrink that clay back from the edge of a slab. If you bought from a builder, check whether any warranty covers the foundation before you arrange a repair.
Is Cibolo's ground the same as Schertz's?
Not quite. Cibolo had 44% of its sample points on very high clay, and Schertz had 20%. Schertz also has more of the middle-ground soils, Lewisville and Barbarosa.
Nearby Towns We Serve
We serve Cibolo and the towns around it, including Schertz, Converse, Selma, Universal City, Seguin and New Braunfels.
Schertz, next door, handles permits differently. Its published rules require an engineered pier plan before the work, a sealed engineer's letter after it, and a $225 permit fee. See all service areas.
Get a Free Foundation Inspection in Cibolo
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