I've Got Foundation Settlement, Now What? Part 1

SOLUTIONS THAT DON’T WORK

Number 1: Total Foundation Replacement

What is it? With total foundation replacement, the soil is first excavated from around your foundation walls. Then, the house is jacked up and the slab floor and foundation is rebuilt and the soil is replaced.

Why might people choose this? If my foundation is broken, it seems logical to replace it with a new one rather than to repair the existing one.

Why this doesn’t work?  Not only is replacement extremely disruptive, and expensive, the real problem is that it doesn’t address the issue. The foundation isn’t the problem, the soil is the problem. You’ve simply built a new foundation in the same troublesome soil, so you can expect that your new foundation with ‘break’ just like the old one!

Number 2: Concrete Underpinning

What is it? After soil is excavated from around the foundation, larger concrete footings are poured beneath the existing footings. Once the concrete has cured, the soil is backfilled.

Why might people choose this? If a footing is designed to carry the weight of the home, then a bigger footing should be better right?! Contractors who know just a little may not any other way.

Why this doesn’t work. Most of the time, concrete underpinning does not extend past the ‘active zone’ and beyond the troubled soils. In other words, the soil beneath these newly beefed-up footings may still be moving, causing the home above to continue to move.

When concrete underpinning is used as a solution and the problem continues, it is MUCH more expensive to repair as all of the added concrete will need to be removed and re-supported by a new, more substantial foundation system.

Number 3: Concrete Piers

What is it? Short blunt concrete cylinders are pushed into the soil on top of one another and are held together by a wire. Shims are then placed on top of the uppermost concrete cylinder, and the soil is backfilled.

Why might people choose this? Concrete seems like a pretty strong material, so it must work, right?

Why this doesn’t work. The blunt concrete cylinders are wide in diameter (about six to eight inches), making it difficult to push the sections deep into the ground and past the troubled soil. There is also nothing to guide the direction of the pier, they often are not installed straight.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post where we discuss solutions that do work.