Editorial Policy: How We Source, Check and Update Pages

Who we write for

Homeowners looking at a sunken walk, a cracked driveway or a slab that seems to be moving. Every page answers one real question, puts the direct answer first, and ends with when to call a professional. We write at an 8th to 10th grade reading level and skip filler.

Our source order

We use the strongest source available and say which one it is.

Rank	Source type	Examples
1	Engineering and standards bodies	Foundation Performance Association (FPA), American Concrete Institute (ACI), National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA), National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) technical material, ICC-ES acceptance criteria
2	Government data and law	USDA NRCS soil survey data[4], Census housing data, state statutes, city permit pages, state insurance regulators
3	Peer-reviewed and technical references	Geotechnical papers, transportation research bulletins
4	Cost aggregators	Dated ranges only, with the date and the dataset named
5	Manufacturer data	Product specs such as foam density, stated as manufacturer figures

Contractor marketing pages are not a source of fact on this site. If the only support for a claim is a contractor blog, we cut the claim or rewrite it as general guidance.

How we handle cost data

• Every price is a range with its source and the year. We never promise a price.
• Each cost page uses at least three dated sources and notes regional spread.
• Some cost publishers share one dataset. This Old House says its foundation repair estimates are based on Angi cost data^[3], and Angi and HomeAdvisor publish from the same family of data. We count Angi, HomeAdvisor and This Old House as one source, not three.
• When a source contradicts itself, we say so or leave the figure out.

When sources disagree

We show the disagreement. If one guideline uses 1/8 inch and another uses 3/16 or 1/4 inch, the page names each one and what it applies to. Published limits are guides for engineers, not pass or fail tests for homeowners. The FPA says its own criteria are not meant to override engineering judgment^[1], and we write the same way.

Myth-busting

Where common advice is wrong, we say so and cite the primary source. Examples we correct on this site:

• "Any crack wider than 1/8 inch is structural." No standard we found says that. In NRMCA guidance, 1/8 inch is a typical basement warranty trigger for repair, alongside leaks and vertical offset^[2].
• Big national damage figures with no primary source. We use the figure we can trace to its origin, with its year, or none at all.
• Product lifespans stated as fact. We separate a design basis from a sales claim and say which is which.

Our own data

Some pages publish figures we calculated, such as the county soil shrink-swell table, built from USDA NRCS Soil Data Access^[4]. Anywhere those numbers appear, we say they are our calculation, describe the method, and link to it. We do not present them as a government figure.

Expert review

Every page shows a reviewer. Until a named engineer or experienced contractor reads a page and agrees to be named, it reads "Expert review pending." We do not invent reviewers or credentials.

Safety and scope

Structural repair, permits and engineering decisions are not do-it-yourself topics on this site. We send those to a licensed structural engineer or a qualified contractor. Basements and crawl spaces are outside our current scope.

Money and independence

We may be paid for contractor referrals. That never changes article content, cost ranges or myth checks. We do not name, profile or criticize specific contractor companies in articles. Product brands appear only in neutral, factual terms. Details are on how we match and how we rank.

Updates

Each page shows the date it was last reviewed. Our policy is to recheck cost pages at least once a year, and legal and permit facts whenever a city or state changes its rules or a reader reports a change. Errors are fixed and logged on corrections.