So, I moved into a new house in McKinney back in the beginning of March. During the buying process, I had a solid inspection done, no signs of foundation issues. Within a few weeks of moving in, I began noticing a few popped nails heads in drywall in various areas (mostly in the ceilings along the back and one side of the house. More have shown themselves since. Obviously it seems like there is some movement going on. I do water regularly for the lawn and whatnot, but now I am wondering if I should set up soaker hoses around the outside of the house.

I have never really had to deal with this before, so I am just trying to get a handle and what to do. There is the do it myself route, and just line the circumference of the house in soakers. But then how often and for how long? How do I know when I reach the right saturation point and if it's helping? Is it worth having an irrigation company take a look at things and install something more semi-permanent? Or, should I go a step further and have an actual foundation company take a look at things?

Lastly, what to do about the popped nail heads? And should I just leave that alone until things settle down?

Water the soil around your foundation when it pulls away.



Don't water into the crack, but about 6 inches away from the foundation to push the soil back into place.

https://water.tamu.edu/watering-foundation/

Start with soaker hoases for now. As mentioned, keep it watered enough so the soil stays snugged vs the house and you should be good. Keep your line 8 to 18 inches away. And don't just flood it day one.

I'd recommend installing some sort of drip irrigation at some point, particularly in sections where it's sod vs flowerbeds next to your house. Easy to place and just leave the soakers in the beds. But an asswhip in places that have to be mowed.

I wouldn't go crazy on fixing the popped stuff until you get it stabilized

Thanks guys. So I have another question. I currently do not see any separation between my foundation and the ground (nothing like the picture above). I already water regularly for the lawn, but am I to assume that if I do not see the ground pulling away or large cracks in the ground close to the foundation, that additional watering through soakers or drip may not be necessary?

I understand you want to find the happy medium of enough moisture but not too much and trying to maintain that. I am just not sure how to determine what that is. Well, aside from no longer seeing signs inside the house of movement. Is there anything else I should be paying attention to?

Who did your inspection? If it was just some joe blow overall home inspector, I might recommend having an engineer come out and take a look if it would put your mind at ease and you don't mind parting with some $$$. For both houses we lived in, I had a separate engineer come do a foundation inspection in addition to the usual full home inspection.

A few popped nails and minor cracks at drywall seams are usually natural settling and not a big deal. Cracks the involve the drywall itself instead of just the seams is more worrisome (i.e. a crack that goes out from the top corner of a window or door jam at 45 degrees). Doors that don't close properly, cracked tiles, etc. also tend to be more worrisome signs, but again, sometimes that's just natural settling within tolerance that may have pushed some half-assed construction over the edge.

Some popped nails and very minor cracks happen with our crappy soil and natural settling. Both houses I've owned had a number of them, but everything was fine.

Just FYI... Not necessarily pertinent to OP, but handy to know...

large trees can also pull a significant amount of moisture out from under a house. The home I grew up in was in SW Houston. Highly expansive clay soils. About 20 ft behind the house was a large pecan tree. The tree was well cared for, and had certainly had an extensive root system. Towards the end of every summer, dad would have to set a sprinkler out all day watering slowly underneath the tree. Water would pond in the soil and a little bit on the patio and sidewalk along the back of the house. You'd think it would soon be running down the driveway, but would sit stationary at that level for hours and hours as the sprinkler continued to run. Finally sometime in the evening it would finally fill everything up and he'd shut it down as the "puddle" would finally extend towards and into the driveway. The tree was causing shrinkage well underneath the house. We never let it get far enough or extreme enough to cause damage, but always kept a close eye on a couple of "indicators" we'd picked up on along the exterior.

Also, the "foundation" in the picture above looks to be pier and beam, not slab on grade. Those are concrete masonry units (cinder blocks) enclosing the crawlspace. Impact of soil movement along that skirt should be minimal to the integrity of the actual piers.

Disclosure... Dad is a geotechnical civil engineer and did soils and foundation design for a significant portion of his professional career. That in mind, I'm highly inclined to defer to his expertise in this matter. When others were having their homes re-leveled we never had to.