Foundation Underpinning, Push Piers

Thursday, October 1st, 2020 by Brogan Susser

Challenge

During the summer of 2020, the long-term homeowners of this 1940's built home in Fort Rouge contacted Blue Maxx with growing concerns regarding foundation shifting and cracking throughout the home.

The homeowners noted a presence of minor drywall cracks and tight doors over the last decade, which they felt were normal given the age of home and poor soil conditions in their area. However in the last year, foundation settlement had progressed tremendously, prompting the homeowners to call in an expert.

Upon our initial inspection of the home, we found that north side of the building had settled more than 6" from its original position - causing a significant slope in both the main level and basement floors, as well as large drywall cracks and extremely tight windows and doors. Given the severity of foundation settlement, immediate action was required to prevent irreversible damage to the home.

Solution

Blue Maxx installed a total of 22 Helical Piers and Push Piers to permanently stabilize the home's foundation.

First, the exterior perimeter of the home was excavated to expose the wall base. Piers were installed to an average depth of 45' beneath the foundation as required to reach appropriate load bearing soil capacity. After completing the pier installation, our team was able to level the home and foundation using a specialized hydraulic lift system on each pier. Once structural work was complete, the foundation was then waterproofed with a membrane system, and a modern weeping tile system was installed prior to backfilling.

The process took our team 2 weeks to complete from start to finish, leaving the homeowners with a level home on a solid foundation guaranteed to be free of shifting and water entry.