Foundation Piering Brought This Lee's Summit Home Back to Level
Challenge
This house had settled to the front 3 inches.
Installing piers on 3 perimeter walls lifted the foundation back to its original elevation.
This Lee's Summit residence was settling to the front approximately 3 inches, causing major cracks throughout the drywall, brick and foundation.
Even though the repair was very extensive, the customer was very pleased with the level of professionalism, expertise, quality and customer service we provided.
The foundation repair required piering the entire house except for the back foundation wall. Thrasher installed 25 piers (21 resistance and four helical) to stabilize and lift the house's whole front back to level. Once we raised the foundation, we permanently supported the entire basement and garage floor to fill the lifting process's hollow space. After lifting the home, we also waterproofed the foundation cracks utilizing epoxy injection on the interior and sealing the exterior with HLM 5000 (an elastomeric waterproofing membrane product).
Signs of settlement are often visible from both the inside and the outside of a home. Common signs and symptoms are cracks in the foundation wall, cracks in the drywall, sticking doors and windows and bowing or uneven floors. With the resistance piers used in this situation, we bypassed the suspect layers of soil and pushed until we reached bedrock. By doing this, we can be confident that our Piering system will provide the structure with permanent support, preventing any further movement regardless of the soil.
The settlement issues of this beautiful Lee's Summit home aren't readily apparent from the exterior. Two of the 21 resistance piers have been installed in the basement of this Lee's Summit home.
The culprit behind these issues was not the home or the way the house was built. The problem is the soil underneath it. In our area, the ground is primarily composed of a high level of clay. This clay soil responds very rapidly to moisture or the lack thereof. During the rainy seasons, the water soaks into the ground, and the clay soil responds by expanding in size. Once the soil becomes oversaturated, it becomes weak. Think of stepping in a very wet pile of mud during a rainstorm. Your boot forces the ground to squish out around your foot as you press down. This is magnified under the extreme weights of your home.
During periods of drought and high temperatures, the soil responds differently instead of expanding actual contracts in size. This creates cracks and voids in the earth. In the summertime or times of drought, you can often see cracks in the soil's top layers in the ground around your home. In these dry times, the earth's cracking and lack of moisture create voids in the soil, making it weak. This also results in issues for your foundation.
The piering solutions we install to provide peace of mind for our customers can be installed on both the inside and the outside of the home. This gives the customer the ability to choose what's ultimately best for their situation. Our expert installation crews will dig holes to reach the footing under your foundation walls to install the resistance piers. Once this is achieved, the installation professionals will install our piers one by one until bedrock is reached. This process is repeated until all piers are installed to bedrock. If a lift is desired, we hook up a hydraulic system to attempt lifting.
We enjoy having the homeowner present and participating in this lifting process with our crew leaders to monitor the home as we lift. Within minutes of the system being engaged, you can see changes in the elevations of the areas of the house we are raising. Once the desired outcome is achieved, we disengage the hydraulic system. The next step is to backfill the holes and tamp the soil. When completed, you cannot see any of the piers and can rest assured that your home is now permanently stabilized and will not move. We do not recommend making any cosmetic changes to your home for a few months after installation to allow your home to become used to its new position. Once those months pass, it is now in a position where you can repair those drywall cracks, sticking doors and windows and paint knowing that the cracks will not return.
