Understanding Your
Foundation Problems
Do I Have Foundation Problems?
This is a question no one likes to ask. Maybe you can see cracks in your brick or broken tiles, or maybe sheetrock has torn clear across the wall? Worse, a window has broken and the front door won’t even open.
If this is happening at your home, it’s best to address the problem early! Don’t wait for the chimney to fall. Call us now before it just cost you more.
Why Is Your House Moving?
Interestingly enough, most people’s homes are moving. The soils in the Houston area are always expanding and contracting depending upon the amount of water in the soil. If you have spent any time in the summer exploring outside, you probably will remember seeing big cracks in the ground in the middle of a field or the bottom of a ditch during dry times that look like they go on forever. Well, that crack in the ground is because the soil shrinks as it dries out. The top 8 to 12 feet of soil will move like a sponge expanding and contracting seasonally with the amount of water available. Large trees and drought conditions are the leading causes of settling foundations, but there are a few other main contributors. Poor drainage can cause this expansion and contraction to be intensified by soaking up too much water when it rains and then drying out later when there is no rain. As it is with the typical structure on a slab foundation, your home has a foundation that is probably only 2ft in to the soil making it highly susceptible to movement.
How on earth can you lift a house? Or build the causeway across Galveston bay? Or even more impressive, what about all those skyscrapers in downtown Houston? What if those foundations moved? Could you imagine if the foundation for the 992 ft tall Wells Fargo Plaza in downtown Houston settled 2 inches on one side? It would literally lean about 6.5 inches and could be catastrophic. Because of the severity if they got it wrong with the foundations on these structures, engineers plan for the best possible foundation conceivable… concrete pile. Concrete pile, depending on the structure, are sometimes drilled out and poured in place or in many cases precast concrete piles are driven deep into the ground to a stable load bearing strata or a point where the compression tension on the pier from the soil is strong enough to resist the needed load.
Our Solution
But what about your house? Well, it’s really the same idea. Deep Rock Foundations sends out a foundation consultant to meet with you and design a detailed leveling plan for your house. A specifically engineered plan is designed for your home based upon the structure of your slab and the areas of your house that have settled, as well as the soil structure in your area. The plan is reviewed and approved by engineers as well as explained to you so that you can understand. Then during operations precast concrete pile are pressed under your house using the weight of your house to press them in.
This process is commonly known as underpinning with the “Concrete Pressed Pile Method”. Each pile is driven beyond the expansive clay and unstable soils in the climate effected zone to the stable load-bearing strata with appropriate compression tension in the soil deep below you house. Depth is important because past 12 feet deep in the Houston area, almost no weather conditions have a notable effect on the soil stability. Plainly said, drought will not dry out the soil that deep.
After pile are driven to the correct depth and we have created a deep grid of concrete piers firmly planted below your home, each pier is now ready to bear the load needed to lift and stabilize your foundation. The load is now transferred from what was previously a shallow 2 ft deep concrete slab to a stable load bearing depth of 15ft or even 25ft (depths will vary based on many different factors). Then with a well-coordinated and strategic leveling plan we can level your home back to near original elevations.
All of our clients can see the elevation changes recorded for their safe keeping. No one cares for your home the way you do, so we make sure you know exactly what is going on during the whole operation. Deep Rock Foundations quality processes and communication with our clients is unmatched. When you do it right every time, you have no problem offering a lifetime transferable warranty.
Backed By a Lifetime Warranty
Deep Rock Foundations confidently warranties our work and attaches that warranty to the house, not just to the homeowner who paid for repairs. Learn more by clicking the link below!