How We Source: Standards, Limits and Corrections

The point of this site is that you can check it. Here is how we decide what counts as a source, what we do when sources disagree, and what we will not do.

Source hierarchy

1. Government agencies and geological surveys: USGS, USDA NRCS, FEMA, HUD, Department of Energy and national laboratories, state insurance regulators, the FTC.
2. Engineering and standards bodies: the American Concrete Institute, ASCE and its Texas Section, building-code references.
3. University extension and trade associations: useful but variable; we note authorship and dates, and flag when a source is unsigned or undated.
4. Professional training material: for example InterNACHI inspector materials, labelled as such.
5. Trade press and company or marketplace content: used sparingly and labelled. Cost guides from marketplaces appear only as attributed ranges.

Rules we follow

• Every figure is attributed to a named source on the page, with the source's own date where shown.
• Numbers are never invented or estimated by us. Where sources disagree we show both; see what foundation repair costs. The one place we combine figures is the cost calculator: it takes the middle (median) of the published low figures and the middle of the published high figures for each repair, lists every figure it used, and labels single-source items.
• Old sources are flagged in the text. Some older documents (a 1978 Colorado Geological Survey publication, a 1994 HUD report, the 2002 ASCE Texas Section guidelines) are still the best neutral descriptions available, but we say how old they are and do not use their cost figures.
• General explanations that are not tied to a source are kept to mechanisms and plain reasoning, and are not presented as findings. Where we have found no neutral source, we say so.
• We use no testimonials, no unnamed experts and no invented anecdotes.
• Pages show a last-reviewed date. Substantive changes are noted on the blog.

What we do not do

• We do not recommend or rank repair companies.
• We do not give a diagnosis. Foundation problems depend on soil, water, construction and history that only a professional on site can assess.
• We do not accept payment for placement.

Limits

• Several sources are US-wide guidance; local codes, soils and practice differ. Always check local requirements.
• Some sources (for example California's insurance regulator) describe one state. We say so.
• We fetched and read sources at the time of writing; links can change.

Corrections

If you find an error or a better source, we want to correct it. Corrections are noted on the blog.