Interior Push Pier Installation, Marlboro, MA

Wednesday, August 4th, 2021 by Travis Kellogg

Challenge

Greg B. of Marlborough, MA had been noticing cracks in his homes concrete foundation that were getting bigger over time. Greg was worried about the cracks continuing to grow and causing significant damage to his home. He decided to call Erickson Foundation Solutions for a free inspection. The home is nestled on a hill that is being held up by a large retaining wall.

Design Specialist John Prince inspected the garage and the foundation around the home. While John was examining the home he observed some cracks toward the back of the home. All the cracks were vertical and extended from ground level down to the footings. After a thorough inspection he concluded that the home was settling due to the soils beneath the footings shifting and sinking.

The back of the home was starting to settle and was causing all of the cracks in the foundation and garage. John pinpointed the area of settlement to the back left corner of the home, which is right behind the garage.

To counteract the effect of settlement John proposed that EFS install Push Piers beneath the footings at this corner. The Push Piers will act as an extension of the foundation that could reach 50 or more feet down to find a sustainable point of pressure. The final depths of the piers would be determined by the type of soil found beneath the footing.

John proposed Push Piers on the exterior of the home, however Greg had some hardscape and landscaping that he didn't want to disturb. John had to call an audible and think of a way to stabilize the home without doing work on the outside of the home. Within the basement there was a utility room located at the corner in question, a space about 16' x 6' in size. This would become the space for installation of the push piers.

Solution

Crew Lead Spencer Ladd and his team of Devin, Brian, Nate, Steve, and Jake were the first crew on site. The first step involved chipping out the concrete and digging the holes at the predetermined locations within utility room. They chipped out four holes roughly 18" by 24" and removed all of the debris in those holes to expose the footing of the foundation. The footing of the foundation is where the push pier mount will be attached.

After all the holes were dug to expose the footing the entire team worked to chip sections of the footing off to create a flat area to install the mount for the Push Piers. To do this the team used a combination of a drill and jackhammer to create a flat edge for the mount to rest on. After the edge is flat the crew pre-drills the holes for the mount and inserts the bolts to secure the mount to the footing. Each mount or bracket has 4 bolts so that it is securely fastened to the footing.

Following the footing being secured, the team mounts the hydraulic press to the bracket and begins pushing piers down into the soil beneath the footing. The push piers are sent downward until sufficient pounds per square inch or PSI is obtained, enough to support the weight of the structure above. Once the sustained pressure is obtained the crew will trim off the excess steel pier rod with a band saw. Once that is completed the team will use two more bolts and a plate to secure the rod, effectively tying the pier system together and securely fastening it to the footing.

The team capped off all of the piers and then filled the rest of the holes with dirt. In total, four (4) Push Piers were installed. The team then backfilled the dirt over the piers and poured new concrete to restore the surface of the utility room floor.

The team was successful in stabilizing the foundation of Greg's home.

Another aspect of the project involved lifting and leveling the garage slab at the front of them, which was also effected by the settlement at the back. After PolyLevel was installed to lift and stabilize the garage slab by crew lead Nick Melo and Tyler Oslizlo, Greg also wished to resurface the slab in order to brighten and enhance his garage space. The resurfacing aspect of the project was completed by crew lead Cody Gosselin, Ryan Kirby, and Devin Donoghue. The outcome was wonderful and Greg was very pleased.

broken garage slab Resurfaced garage slab