Helical Piers - The Proven Solution to Support Your Home
If windows and doors in the home are not working right and you see cracks in the walls, we understand that deciding how to stop damaging settlement is a daunting task. It is hard to find a place to start. The great news is that we can help! Homeowners tell us that they want two things. They can trust a company and a permanent solution so that they never have to worry about it again. People often ask, "All homes settle, don't they?" Well, the truth is, even if that were to be accurate, it is differential settlement, or when a home settles at different rates, that causes these types of damage.
Foundation settlement is typically caused by the movement or shifting of the soil underneath the home, which can cause it to become unstable. There are several reasons why the ground would move or shift.
- Loosely compacted backfill soil around the house
- Shrinking soil around the foundation during drought
- Irregular dry seasons
- Too much rain can soften or wash the dirt out from under or around the footing
These events are common all over the U.S. and never good for your home.
There are a few different solutions that can be attempted to fix the problem at hand. Some may resort to foundation replacement. This solution Is often the most expensive and does not even address the issue of soil that caused the foundation to fail in the first place. Foundation replacement is the most costly and invasive process as all utilities must be taken or detached then reset after completion. To make it worse, you cannot live in the home while it is being done. These costs add up real quick! A better option could be concrete piers, but the blunt concrete cylinders cannot reach load-bearing strata, requiring shimming as the home continues to settle and slide off each other, which completely defeats the purpose. Lastly, there are the square tube helical piers. As the square tubes are forced to turn through the soil, the force can become too great and begin to twist the tube. This twisting of the tube causes it to lose strength and not withstand the weight of your home. If you are looking for permanent stabilization, then Supportworks' patented helical piers installed by Thrasher is your solution.
Helical piers are the solution to stabilize and realign your home's foundation without costly excavation, demolition, and re-building. Supportworks' helical piers are galvanized to prevent rusting. They use the same tube as their patented push piers to give it the strength to be driven into some of the most problematic soils with ease. It resists twisting or going off-track like other pier types mentioned above. The helical auger at the end of the tube is the key that allows it to move through the soil with minimal disturbance around it. This minimal disturbance keeps the undisturbed soil to remain in place to hold the pier steady as it is driven through to the stable soils below. Typically used for light structures such as additions or homes over crawlspaces, detached garages, stoops, concrete/block columns, or even some deck footings, helical piers are an alternative to push piers when the structure is not heavy enough or has enough soil around it for the resistance that the push piers need. Our highly trained crews install the helical piers and monitor them carefully while driven down to the stable soil deep below the surface. Once the pier has reached the right depth and capacity, a bracket is placed under the foundation's footing and securely fastened to the helical pier. The weight of the structure is then transferred through the piers and onto the stable soils below. Not only is the structure now permanently stable and protected from future settlement, but there is also an option for carefully lifting it back into the position, or close to, where it once was. Similarly monitored by devices used during the installation, this process can potentially close any gaps or cracks formed during the settlement.
Through over 40-years of experience and thousands of helical piers installed all over the United States and even other countries, we know that helical piers are the right solution to permanently stabilizing possibly the largest investment of your life. Backed by a 25-year warranty, this will give you peace of mind, improving the quality of your life, and maintaining the value of your property.
Helical piers are a permanent solution to stabilize and realign your home's foundation.
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