Woodstock: Foundation Settlement Repair With Helical Piers

The situation

The southeast corner of the house had settled almost an inch relative to the rest of the foundation (opens in a new tab) , visible as a sloped kitchen floor and a door that no longer latched. The soil under that corner was soft fill rather than the undisturbed native soil the rest of the footing bore on, and it had been slowly compressing for years.

What we did

We excavated to the footing at the affected corner and drove 2 helical piers to load-bearing depth, then transferred the load from the footing onto the piers with steel brackets. Hydraulic jacks lifted the corner back toward level in small, controlled increments, watching the rest of the foundation for any new stress as we went.

The outcome

The corner came back up three quarters of an inch, and the door latches normally again. The piers reach soil that does not compress the way the old fill did, so the movement that caused the settlement has nowhere left to continue.

This is the case for helical piers rather than push piers: the structure above was light enough that mechanically screwed-in piers reached capacity on their own, without needing the weight of the house to drive them. The free inspection is how we tell you which of the two your foundation calls for.

By the numbers