How Piers and Piles Help Protect Foundations

If you’ve noticed the foundation in your building beginning to sink or sag, then it’s important you take immediate steps to rectify the problem. Two of the most common techniques to add some extra support to slumping foundations include pier drilling and pile driving, which involve driving piers or piles into the ground below the structure to help shore them up and return them to their proper levels. Their presence under the foundation then prevents any further settlement from occurring.

It can be a complicated process that requires the use of an excavator in Jeffersonville, IN, but it is worth it to ensure the long-term structural integrity of your property. The process involves placing some mechanical jacks to lift up the settled foundation beam to the proper level. Then, once it’s been raised, the beam is held in place by attaching it to the piers placed below the ground.

Depending on the type of foundation and the soil in the area, the contractor will use one of two types of piers: push piers, which are typically galvanized steel pipes that are driven into the soil with a hydraulic machine, or helical piers, which essentially get screwed into the ground with a massive hydraulic torque motor.

Here are just a few of the biggest advantages associated with making the investment in these practices to shore up your foundation:

• Provide long-term stability: Using piles and piers is the best way for you to perform some much-needed repairs to a deep foundation and to ensure that the building will remain stable for years to come. These piers are able to be installed very far down into the soil, much farther than where the foundation reaches, which means it can use some soil density itself as leverage for additional stability. In addition, because the pier is placed down so deep, that means it will not be affected by the varying levels of soil moisture that can result in foundation settling. They’ll be able to more evenly distribute the load without adding any more foundational stress and without being susceptible to environmental factors that caused the foundation to sag to begin with.
• Little effect on the surrounding property: As significant of a job as pier drilling or pile driving may sound, it actually doesn’t cause much of an impact on your property. Contractors do not need a lot of space to operate, and the piers aren’t as large as you might expect. There isn’t a whole lot of heavy equipment used during the process. After the piers have been installed, the soil that was extracted to be able to install them will be put back into place and graded flat.
• Relatively low cost: Using piers is significantly less expensive and also much more practical than replacing or rebuilding the foundation to any extent. Any time you can save money on foundation work without sacrificing quality, you should take advantage of it.

For more information from our excavators in Jeffersonville, IN about foundation piers, contact Estes Excavating Inc. today.

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