foundation settlement repair Archives

April 15, 2017December 1, 2022 by Ron Lee

Foundation Repair Methods Review

If you have noticed a wall in your basement bowing in, basement wall cracks, or a shifting foundation, you are probably starting your foundation repair methods review. There are various reasons why a foundation may begin to settle or crack. Poor soil conditions, improper maintenance, and/or poor footing may all be factors. Consider the following information.

Foundation Reinforcement

If you have a basement wall that is bowing in with open horizontal cracks, you may be able to stabilize it from further movement or even straighten it back into its original position. Carbon fiber mesh straps can be utilized for this purpose. Fortress Stabilization has developed a system made of both carbon fiber and kevlar meshed together giving them the ultimate in tensile and shear strength. These straps are smooth to the wall and paintable making them barely noticeable. Once installed, your wall becomes stronger than it was originally and will have a lifetime structural guarantee.

Furthermore, excavation may also be required to remove the weight from the wall before the straps are applied. This removes the pressure from the soil on the outside of the house so that the wall can be straightened back into position.

Foundation Repair methods review for Bowing Wall

Bowing Basement Wall

Structural Piering

If the foundation is sinking and settling due to poor soil conditions, structural piers may be the best option. The Stabil-Loc Foundation Pier System is installed directly under the concrete or mason wall that needs to be lifted or stabilized. Piers are driven deep within the earth into bedrock or stable, load-bearing strata which is verifiable with load-testing. As the home is lifted, a mechanism allows the part of the piering system under the footer to be rotated. This prevents the footer from breaking, which is a feature not found anywhere else. Installation can be done quickly, with minimal excavation required. This system is designed to restabilize the sinking structure by shifting the weight of the home off of the foundation and onto the piers. This redirects the load to more reliable earth layers underground.

Structural Piers

Foundation Replacement

If severe mortar rot is occurring or if the blocks are shifting, completely replacing the foundation may be the best solution. A single foundation wall can be replaced if it is the only area that is affected, or the entire foundation can be removed and rebuilt. There are many factors to take into consideration when deciding whether or not to replace a foundation wall.

How to Choose the Best Foundation Repair Option

So after this basic foundation repair methods review, are you starting to get an idea which of these methods would be best for your foundation issues? Just as important as the method is the foundation repair contractor. How do you know which contractor to choose? Keep in mind that there are various kinds of foundation issues, therefore, a company must be able to offer various solutions. A single solution will not work for every foundation problem. Make sure your foundation repair contractor can offer a specific solution to fit your unique problem.

We perform each of the above mentioned foundation repair options all over northeast Ohio, including the following areas:

Stark County, including Canton, Massillon, North Canton, Alliance, and Louisville.

Summit County, including Akron, Stow, Cuyahoga Falls, Hudson, and Barberton.

Portage County, including Kent, Ravenna, Rootstown, Streetsboro, and Atwater.

Wayne County, including Wooster, Orrville, and Dalton.

Carroll County, including Carrollton, Minerva, Delroy, and Malvern.

Tuscarawas County, including New Philadelphia, Dover, and Sugar Creek.

For a complete list of our service area click here.

Pioneer Basement Solutions has Certified Structural Evaluators on staff. We also work closely with various local structural engineers. Contact us for an evaluation of your basement and a professional foundation repair methods review.

May 23, 2016 by Ron Lee

Foundation Settlement Repair

Foundation settlement repair consists of installing support below the foundation to stop it from sinking into poor soil conditions. The Stabil-Loc Foundation Pier System is installed directly under the concrete or mason wall that needs to be lifted or stabilized. The pier is driven deep within the earth into bedrock or stable, load-bearing strata which is verifiable with load-testing. As the home is lifted, a mechanism allows part of the piering system that makes contact with the bottom of the footer to be rotated to prevent breaking the footer- a feature not found anywhere else. Installation can be done quickly, and with minimal excavation required. This system is designed to re-stabilize the sinking structure by shifting the weight of the home off of the foundation and onto themselves, redirecting the load to more reliable earth layers underground.

Stabil-Loc Foundation Piering Systems are patented piers for virtually any foundation settlement repair. What separates them from any other pier systems is the unique method of installation and how the system was designed. Engineers created a new method and started from scratch using a piering system that places the bracket directly underneath your home and the pile (the pole of the pier) attached to the center of the bracket. This gives a much stronger and durable system that no other pier can provide- withstanding any shifts of soil conditions or pressure. These piers are also designed to drill deeper than any other system, resting the structure’s weight on bedrock or load-bearing strata (the most stable of earth’s crust layers).

The Difference of Stabil-Loc Piers for Foundation Settlement Repair

Using traditional brackets along the side of your structure (often called offset piers) proved to be an inadequate technique for foundation repair. Lifting the structure with piers and brackets at an angle (helical piers) or offset to the side of your home would eventually bend, break, or improperly raise the foundation. In the diagram to the left you can see the instability of other systems that lead to foundation failure. Your investment in a Stabil-Loc Foundation Pier system is reliable using linear lifting instead of angular, offset, or using concrete materials. This provides a more stable and natural method of leveling your foundation.

So how do you know if you have a foundation settlement problem? A settling foundation is very different from other foundation problems so for reference we’ll briefly look at the common foundation problems. Horizontal cracks in basement walls lead to basement walls bowing in. Poor attachment of the structure above can lead to basement walls tipping in at top / in effect sliding out from underneath the house above. Bad foundation drainage can lead to water soaking into the block weakening the mortar joints and causing the basement wall to sheer off or slide off of itself. Water damage to a basement wall can also lead to decay or rotting basement walls. None of these issues qualify for foundation settlement repair, each issue having its own solution.

Basement settling cracks are typically vertical or they follow the mortar joints in a stair step pattern. The soft soil underneath the footing of the wall causes the footing to settle. The result being the wall that sits on the footing to drop causing the cracking. So if you have the following: vertical cracks in your basement walls, stair step cracks in your basement walls, large cracks in the basement floor which is becoming uneven chances are you need foundation settlement repair. Other tell tale signs are walls cracking in living space above, uneven floors and doors and windows that do not operate normally.

A professionally trained structural evaluator will be able to confirm weather you have a settling basement. Measurement should be taken to identify where the foundation breaks are and how much movement there has been. At Pioneer Basement Solutions our straight forward no sales nonsense approach can help you determine what if any needs you may have. We never attempt to sell anything to any customer that they do not need unlike many national or franchised companies which are large marketing and sales organizations that train sales people how to sell thier products to every prospective customer they get in front of.

Contact Pioneer Basement Solutions today to schedule your foundation evaluation and get the information you need for your foundation settlement repair.

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