As soon as you notice deep gaps around your home foundation and wide cracks on the walls, it’s when you get worried about your home foundation. You know that one day you will wake up and the complete foundation will be sunken. Instead of overlooking this alarming matter, you need to find Greenville foundation repair agency. They will offer you underpinning as a solution for the problem. You may wonder what underpinning is or whether it works as a permanent solution. If these questions are hammering your mind, it’s time to know the complete info.
What is Underpinning?
Soil movements, foundation settlement, and other causes leave adverse effects on the home foundation. Therefore, you need to underpin the space to minimize the damaging effect. You heard so many times about underpinning terms. Do you know its actual meaning? If not, then please find out below.
It is a process in which contractors use some underpinning product to stabilize home foundations and repair structural damage. A wide variety of underpinning products are available in the market.
Pinning means driving these products deep inside the soil and earth beneath the structure and foundation. These products lift the structure and add to its strength.
Types of Underpinning
Greenville foundation’s repair agency utilizes a variety of underpinning methods. Let’s get their details one by one.
Mass Pour: In this process, the soil is excavated in some sections to the footing level. Every exposed pit is filled with concrete. Every section is sealed, and this mass pour process continues until the complete area is underpinned.
Screw Piles and Brackets: This is the most common kind of home leveling method. Giant size screw piles are driven inside the home once the soil is excavated from the foundation surface, and then these piles are set deep inside with brackets. Greenville foundation contractors prefer this method as it is a fast process of lifting the foundation. Besides, it doesn’t cause any damage to the surrounding property.
Pile and Beam: When your basement walls require reinforcements, then contractors install mini piles on either side of the walls. They remove brickwork beneath the walls and replace it with concrete for better strength and durability. When you have limited access to the foundation repair area and face a high load capacity, contractors offer this solution for a sinking foundation.
Piled Raft: It is a rare underpinning method because the contractor needs to underbill the complete building for its structural stability. This method is also ideal when the foundation is too deep, or the soil is too hard to excavate. First, contractors set piles at different locations and break some pockets under the footing. Intense needle beams are reinforced in this process to hold the weight of the wall.
Is underpinning a permanent solution?
When you don’t want to build a home from scratch and plan to save some bucks, the underpinning will hold your foundation and strengthen the walls for some years. So, yes, it works as a good solution. This solution lasts longer than other temporary options when the home foundation is lifted with piles and brackets.
