You’re looking at one or more foundation repair estimates and they mention something about “breakouts” or break-outs or “breakout piers” or something like that. You’re like, “Uhhhhhh, what does that mean exactly??”
Now more questions come to mind: What makes breakouts different from whatever else is going on in this plan? Why are they so special?
Well, they’re not exactly special, but there are some key things to know about breakouts.
At Anchor Foundation Repair, we’ve been estimating and preparing foundation repair plans for Brazos Valley homeowners for 40+ years. We sure can explain the situation with breakouts because we deal with them all. the. time.
In this article, we’ll discuss what’s important for you to know about breakouts when it comes to slab foundation repair. We cover process differences, cost factors, and what you should know about breakouts after your repairs are completed.
BTW, breakouts are not unique just to Anchor. This info applies to all foundation repair methods and companies. So we’ll talk about generalities relevant to any foundation repair contractor, as well as specifics that apply to the customers we serve.
What Is a Breakout?
A breakout describes a location where a foundation repair support needs to be placed but there is something in the way – something needs to be *broken out* in order for the support to be installed. This term is not particularly creative, but it gets the simple point across.
Most often, what’s in the way is concrete from a sidewalk, patio, or porch that needs to be broken out. But it can also include things like wooden decks or some other type of hardscaping.
On a foundation repair diagram, the breakouts may be denoted with a different symbol than the non-breakout locations. On our plans, it’s a circle for regular piers and a square for breakout piers.
I’ve seen plans from other companies where the regular piers are marked with an empty circle and breakouts have a filled-in circle. Most foundation repair companies have a different symbol to make the distinction between regular exterior supports and breakouts (but some won’t).
Why Does My Foundation Repair Have to Have Breakouts?
Unfortunately, if you’ve got concrete or another obstruction in the way of your foundation repairs, you’ve got to have breakouts. Foundation repair supports have to be installed in certain places to correct the foundation settlement properly.
If there happens to a patio in the way, there’s no way around it, only through it.
Breakouts are an inevitable part of foundation repairs for most homes. Every foundation repair company has to do breakouts when breakouts are needed.
The only time there wouldn’t be breakouts is if all the areas of your home that need repairs are surrounded by just grass and/or dirt. This happens on occasion. It really just depends on where your home has settled.
Do Breakouts Cost More?
You might wonder if breakouts cost more. They do. The reason is because of the increased labor and material. There’s extra work that must be done to remove the concrete or other obstruction. Then there’s more work to be done to patch the concrete back afterwards (or put your deck back together).
This is another reason why the breakout piers or pilings are marked differently on your repair plan. So you can see how many piers you have at one price point vs. the higher price point.
In general, breakouts will cost 5 to 6% more than a regular support where only dirt needs to be removed for installation. At Anchor, a normal pier costs $880 to $935, and a break out pier costs $935 to $990 depending on where you live (These price points are as of Spring 2026, but that could be different if you’re reading this article 3 years later).
How Will Installing Breakout Piers Be Different Than the Others?
For breakout pier to be installed, there’s prep work before anything can get put in the ground. A roughly 2-by-2-foot section of concrete (or other material) will need to be cleared to reach the repair point.
When it’s concrete, what this means is that the crew will jackhammer your sidewalk to remove the part that is in the way. If it’s a deck, they would take the structure apart, rather than just cutting a square out.
Many homeowners don’t really think much about breakouts until someone starts busting up concrete, and making big square holes in your porch. Then it starts to sink in that this is happening.
This was mentioned already, but just in case you forgot, the foundation repair team will put fresh concrete back to replace what was busted out. They should put your deck back too – that’s what we do anyway . . .
What Does a Breakout Look Like During and After Repairs?
Breakouts will look like someone cut a square out of your concrete. There’s going to be a hole in the surface and then we dig after that to install the foundation supports. If we just break out the concrete with a jackhammer, the edges of the square will be a little wavy.
We do offer the option to saw out the breakout sections, which leaves a straight line cut that is a little neater in appearance. This costs a tad more.
Since these breakouts essentially create holes on what are likely walking surfaces, we cover the holes up daily for safety.
After Your Foundation Repairs
There’s a bit of an *ugly* truth about breakouts that you need to know about after your repairs are complete. When any removed concrete gets patched back, there will be a visible square of new concrete at each breakout location.
At first, this fresh concrete square is quite dark and noticeable compared to the existing surrounding surfaces. Some of these patched squares may be on your front porch or a main sidewalk, making them pretty visible. Folks are sometimes surprised by how this looks. Frankly, it’s not the most aesthetic appearance for a while.
We’re sorry about this, but it’s the reality of concrete that no one can control. The old stuff is one color and the new stuff just looks different and stands out.
But take heart, the newly poured concrete patch does fade over time. The initial curing will lighten things up a lot, so it won’t be nearly as dark as it looks just after your foundation repair job is completed. Then for a while, the new patch will likely be lighter than the old stuff and it still stands out, but in a different way. As the years go by, it will continue to blend in more and more.
Is There Any Way to Avoid Breakouts?
With this new bit of info about how the concrete patchwork will be darker and visible for some time, you might wonder if there’s a way to avoid breakouts.
The only way to truly avoid breakouts is to have nothing but grass/dirt at all the repair points OR I guess not to get foundation repairs in the first place . . .
In some cases and if you choose to incur the extra expense, you could fully remove and re-pour the entire piece of impacted concrete instead of doing a breakout.
So, if you really wanted to replace the full piece of concrete instead of having the breakout, you could. It would cost more – usually it’s about $10-15 per square foot to replace concrete flatwork in the BCS area.
We don’t typically do this as a foundation repair contractor, so you would need to get a concrete contractor to do this for you after the foundation repairs are complete.
This works well for sidewalks and patios, but we’d steer you away from doing it with a porch. A porch is part of your foundation structure, and removing and repouring it is more complicated, more expensive, and just not something we recommend.
It’s technically possible if you find a concrete contractor willing to take it on, but we’ll leave that one up to you . . .
Why are Porches Different?
The difference between porches and patios is that a porch is really just an exposed part of your greater slab foundation, while a patio is a separate piece of concrete. It’s a lot easier to remove and replace a patio or sidewalk because they are shallow concrete flatwork pieces that don’t penetrate too far into the ground.
Removing a porch that is part of your full slab-on-grade foundation would be extensive, and then whatever you put back would probably have to be more like a patio.
Alternative Idea: If your porch ends up not looking as good as you would like after foundation repairs, you could try a few tricks to mask it or add a special finish to improve the appearance. Basically, cover up the whole porch or offending areas with something new. The options range from basic to fancy.
- Get a bigger doormat or add a large rug,
- Mask patches with potted plants or other décor,
- Gray concrete paint or other coating finish,
- Painted stencil pattern or DIY kit from the hardware store,
- Stamped concrete pattern, or
- Upgrade to tile.
Don’t Skip Foundation Repairs Because of Breakouts
Now that you know all about breakouts, you might still be concerned about the appearance afterward. But you shouldn’t skip your foundation repairs altogether because of this issue. If you need foundation repair to stabilize your foundation, that’s important and not just for pretties.
At Anchor Foundation Repair, we’ve been fixin’ Brazos Valley foundations since 1985. Most folks don’t stress about breakouts as far as we know, but we thought it was important to let you know about them.
What’s next when it comes to your foundation repairs? Well, since you are probably still comparing estimates, we’ve got a few suggestions to help you put your bids on an even playing field so you can choose the one that’s best for you. Here’s an article to help with your comparison shopping and there’s a useful printable tool at the end too 😉.
