Steel Piers and Concrete Piles for Foundation Repair

Foundation problems reduce your home’s value and make it unsafe. From sagging walls and sloping floors to sticking doors and windows, these problems are frustrating and can even lead to health issues.

Foundation Repair

Thankfully, there are ways to prevent damage to your home’s foundation. This includes keeping trees and shrubs away from your foundation, making sure gutters function properly, and ensuring that the yard has proper drainage. Contact Sugar Land Foundation Repair for professional help.

Steel piers are one of the most crucial aspects of modern foundation repair. As the backbone of any successful structural repair, they offer unyielding reliability, durability, and consistency. Whether repairing a home or stabilizing a commercial building, these robust and sturdy elements are an invaluable asset in rectifying the most difficult foundation issues.

What makes steel piers so unique is their ability to be installed deeper than concrete piers, allowing them to reach solid bedrock. This provides unparalleled stability to the structure that will prevent further shifts and settling. Steel piers also have a lower failure rate than concrete piers, meaning they’re more likely to last longer.

During the installation process, your Foundation Specialist will determine where the new piers should be placed based on your damage and the terrain underneath the house. Afterward, the Field Technician will clear the area surrounding the house and place tarps to protect any shrubs or plants. A small hole is hand dug at each pier location, and a hydraulic tool is used to press the lead pipe section into the ground. As each additional pipe section is driven into the ground, the pressure is increased until it reaches the load bearing strata.

Once the piers are in place, they’re loaded and tested separately to ensure that they can support your foundation. The piers are then connected to your foundation using steel brackets and locked in place with steel cable.

While a steel pier solution can be more costly than the concrete alternative, it’s worth noting that their upfront costs are often offset by a reduction in overall foundation repair expenses down the road. This is because concrete pilings are more likely to break down underground than their steel counterparts, making them a less cost-effective choice.

Fortunately, despite their more costly initial investment, steel piers are more than capable of lasting longer than the concrete equivalent. This is because the piers aren’t subject to the same type of degradation that concrete piers experience, due to the fact that they’re constructed from an extremely strong metal that’s less susceptible to corrosion and other environmental factors.

Concrete Pile

Concrete piles are a common method for supporting foundations in Central Texas. These concrete columns (or piers) are used to replace the original foundation of your home or commercial structure and provide support that is equal to the weight of the building plus its occupants. They can be constructed using a variety of materials, but concrete piles are one of the most cost-effective solutions available to solve your foundation problems.

These cylinders of concrete are pressed into the ground by a crew that uses hydraulic machinery. URETEK’s foundation repair experts will dig a hole at each pile location that has been determined to be optimal by our engineers. Once the soil has been prepared for piling installation, the piles are inserted into the soil and then a pile cap is placed on the top of each pile. Pile caps are designed to resist lateral load stresses, which will help stabilize and lift your foundation.

The benefits of piles include a high load capacity, durability, versatility, and ease of installation in difficult soil conditions. In addition, they are environmentally friendly and can be constructed with a variety of construction materials. However, the type of pile material that is selected for a particular project will influence its structural performance and overall installation efficiency.

While a lot of people are capable of taking on a wide range of DIY projects, it is important that specific structural repairs, including foundation repair, are left in the hands of trained professionals. Pile foundation repair is a complicated process that requires knowledge of the appropriate materials and installation techniques to ensure a quality outcome.

Piles can be built from timber, a technique that dates back centuries and is still used for certain applications in the UK, or more commonly, concrete piles that are precast in factories before being delivered to site and driven into place. These piles can also be reinforced to withstand driving stresses. The value of these piles lies in their versatility, which is why they are often chosen for construction in areas where other construction methods may not be suitable.

Poured Concrete Piers

When you want to stabilize your home’s foundation and stop it from shifting, poured concrete piers are a great option. This type of pier is a monolithic structure, made up of one solid piece that’s steel-reinforced on the inside, which means it can resist a wide range of forces, including bending, compression, and shear. Plus, unlike masonry piers (which can suffer from mortar deterioration), or steel piers that can rust due to exposure to water and moisture in the soil, concrete piers are impervious to those issues.

Poured concrete piers are a popular choice for residential and commercial projects, because they provide a stable base for slab foundations. They can be used to lift or level homes that have heaved or settled, as well as to support foundations with cracks or other problems. In addition, they can be installed in a variety of soil conditions, as long as the surrounding ground is stable and can support the weight of the structure.

For concrete pier installation, the crew digs holes with either a post hole digger or a larger variation of an auger drill. Then, a hydraulic system is used to push 12-inch concrete pier segments into the holes until they reach refusal—meaning they can’t go any further. After that, the piers are installed in place under the foundation and a bracket is attached to transfer the building’s weight onto them.

Concrete piers are often installed in conjunction with other methods for foundation repair, such as steel piers and steel braces, which help to reinforce the structure. These additional reinforcements ensure that the piers are positioned correctly in order to fully support the foundation and prevent future shifts.

In many cases, the concrete piers are also “shimmed,” meaning thin steel shims are inserted between the pier and foundation to make sure the entire structure is as even as possible. Once the piers are positioned and shimmed, the excavation is backfilled, and the process is complete.

Concrete piers are more durable than masonry piers and can be installed in a variety of soil types. However, it’s important to properly drain the area around your home in order to keep water away from the piers and avoid the potential for them to shift. In addition, it’s important to install gutter extensions that redirect excess rainwater away from the foundation and piers.

Structural Repair

The foundation is one of the most important aspects of any structure, transferring weight evenly to the ground and keeping structures safe from shifting soil. As such, it is crucial to protect your property by identifying issues, seeking professional assistance, and making timely repairs. Ignoring foundation problems can cause a cascade of additional damage, leading to costly structural instability. In addition, unresolved foundation problems may lead to cosmetic and livability issues that reduce the value of your property.

A comprehensive inspection is the first step in foundation repair, providing a baseline for addressing structural stability and durability issues. Professional inspectors use a variety of tools and technologies, such as laser levels and ground-penetrating radar, to assess the condition of the foundation and identify the root cause of your problem. This enables them to design targeted solutions that will address the most significant issues and restore the load-bearing capacity of your foundation.

Structural problems often manifest as cracks in walls and floors, sagging or uneven floors, and sticking doors and windows. Ignoring these signs can lead to additional and extensive damage, including mold growth and rotting of wooden supports. Additionally, foundation problems can lead to leaks and water damage that wreak havoc on home interiors and exteriors alike.

Professionals can use a variety of techniques to stabilize and repair foundations, including concrete repair, steel piers, underpinning, basement waterproofing, wall stabilization, and drainage systems. Each technique is customized to the unique needs of the structure, using the appropriate materials and ensuring that the solution is both effective and durable.

In addition, professionals can also help you with your plumbing and drainage systems, installing solutions to redirect water flow away from your foundation and prevent moisture-related issues. Ignoring these problems can result in clogs, slow drains, and water backups, which can be caused by shifting foundations. A quality foundation repair service will provide all of these services and more to ensure that your building is safe, secure, and stable.