Foundation repair in Converse — new subdivisions on old Blackland clay.

That's the through-line for foundation work here: the older core near Randolph and the fast new growth toward Schertz sit on the same breathing clay, and each generation of housing meets it in its own way. We measure before we conclude anything — a lot of what looks structural in Converse is really a moisture story.

THE ORIGINAL TOWNSITE BY RANDOLPH TO THE FM 1516 AND 78244 GROWTH TOWARD SCHERTZ — A SHORT RUN NORTHEAST FROM OUR VANCE JACKSON SHOP.

The ground under the northeast side

Converse is flat Blackland clay — no limestone to steady it.

San Antonio's foundations sit on a three-way patchwork — limestone north, clay south and east, transition streets in between. Converse doesn't get that variety. Out here in the flat northeast corner of Bexar County, the ground is deep Blackland Prairie clay, and the USDA maps the dominant soil as Houston Black, a very-high-shrink-swell clay that can swell over an inch and shrink right back with the seasons. There's no shallow rock nearby to hold a slab edge steady, so the wet-dry cycle drives most of what we measure in town.

That actually makes diagnosis cleaner than in the city's patchwork. When one slab moves and the next-door neighbor's doesn't, the difference in Converse is rarely the underlying geology — it's lot-level detail: a downspout dumping at one corner, grading that drifted toward the house, trees drawing moisture out of one edge in a drought. Drought pulls the exposed edges down; the first big fall storm re-wets the dried clay and heaves it back unevenly. Most of the cracked drywall we're called about is that cycle, not a failing foundation — and the free measured inspection is what tells the difference.

Two generations of housing

An older core by Randolph, and a decade of new growth pushing toward Schertz.

Converse grew from a rural crossroads into one of the fastest-growing suburbs in the metro, its population up by half since 2010, and its foundations come in two clear eras. The original townsite closest to JBSA-Randolph holds the city's oldest and most established neighborhoods — smaller, modestly priced homes under mature trees, popular with military families for the gate proximity. Many of those slabs were poured to lighter, pre-modern standards and are now decades into the clay cycle, so seasonal door sticking and corner cracking are the common calls.

The newer Converse pushes northeast toward Schertz — the FM 1516 corridor and the 78244 subdivisions like Bradbury and Mission Hills, HOA-managed neighborhoods built through the 2000s and 2010s on engineered pads. Most perform well; where cut-and-fill met native clay at a lot edge, the seam shows up a few summers later as cracks near garage returns. Out on the larger acreage tracts like Quiet Creek, drainage across a half-acre lot becomes its own variable. Whatever the era, a dated elevation map is what turns a worry into a specific answer — and Converse is a short run from our Vance Jackson shop, inspected on the same free terms as San Antonio.

Nearby

Also serving the communities around Converse.