McKinney serves as the county seat of Collin County, located approximately 30 miles north of Dallas. Once named “Best Place to Live in America” by Money Magazine, McKinney has grown from a charming railroad town with a beloved historic downtown into a thriving city of over 200,000 residents. The city’s mix of restored Victorian homes near the square and expansive master-planned communities to the north and west makes it one of the most desirable places to live in the DFW metroplex.

Whether your pool sits behind a renovated Craftsman bungalow or a newly constructed estate, it faces the same geological challenge: McKinney’s expansive clay soil. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the area covering Dallas through Collin and Denton counties contains over 50% clay content—among the highest in the country.

This clay soil, part of the Blackland Prairie region, contains smectite minerals that cause dramatic volume changes. Clay soil can exert up to 15,000 pounds per square foot of pressure on structures as it expands when wet and contracts when dry. The American Society of Civil Engineers reports that nearly one quarter of all homes in the U.S. have foundation damage from these soils—and pools face identical forces. The constant expansion and contraction stresses pool shells, separates plumbing connections, and damages underground lines.