As you may have learned in our article, Foundation Repair: 95% of Homes do NOT Need it, most of the times you do not need a foundation repair, even when you think the cracks in your house look really bad, even then, chances are you do not need foundation repair. Save yourself the money! But what about the few times a foundation repair is needed? What foundation repair system should you choose? In this article, we’ll explore a more interesting question, what foundation repair system should you NOT choose
Most Popular system = Worst System
We cannot write enough superlatives to express how terrible this system is. It’s that bad. This foundation repair system is so bad, you might be better served by walking around your neighborhood and dropping $100 bills all over the street.
The Reason this system is so popular is that it is also the cheapest of many, if not all, other systems out there. It also requires little skill to install it. Anyone with a cousin could open a foundation repair company and install this unreliable type of foundation repair system, day in and day out.
There are several names that this system goes by and that makes things very confusing. Several of the names used for this foundation repair system are: Pier, Push Pier, Push Pile, Pile, Pressed Pile, Concrete Pilings. To further complicate things, the words “Pier” and “Pile” are, also, two foundation systems that do work, and work well, assuming they are built and done correctly. Unfortunately, many foundation repair companies will use the words “piers” and “piles” to describe their system but they are really referring to what most professional engineers would call “push” or “pressed” piles. No need to despair, we’ll clear up any confusions right here.
The system that doesn’t work is simply an array of concrete cylinders stacked on top of each other, below the foundation. The most common type of concrete cylinders are 6″ wide x 12″ deep but we’ve seen a few that are 4″ wide x 8″ deep, and anything in between (6 x 10, 8 x 12, etc). The reason engineers like to call them “push” or “pressed” piles is because these cylinders are literally pushed below the ground, right below the house foundation.
Structural Engineers and soil engineers in general will say that, besides the fact that the system wouldn’t meet the simple minimum requirements of the building code, the system wouldn’t work for several reasons.
One is the assumption that these cylinders are perfectly stacked on top of each other. Because of the pressures required, the blocks of concrete will not be perfectly stacked and in fact these blocks will be skewed to the point that the final product might be something far from a straight column, meaning you have a lot less capacity than you think.
Another Major flawed assumption is that these concrete pilings are deep. Depending on your location in Texas, you’re looking at 20ft deep piers to make a foundation repair permanent (unless Rock is found at a much shallower depth… not likely in most houses with foundation problems). Most of these piers are pushed 4ft to 6ft.
In some cases, foundation repair contractors say they’ve gone down 12ft but the truth is that because the blocks of concrete are tilted sideways as they are pushed into the ground the depth reached is still a lot less than 12ft and of course, even at 12ft, foundation repair companies are agreeing with the fact that they have installed something that is less than the minimum 20ft generally required to be considered a permanent solution.
To make matters worst, as the cylinders twist during their insertion into the ground and become unevenly stacked, portions of the concrete blocks crack off, further reducing the foundation repair capacity.
Popular With House Flippers and House Sellers
People who are selling houses, but especially House Flippers, like to use this kind of unreliable foundation repair. You can’t blame them. It’s cheap and it’s fast. Once the house is out of their hands, the foundation problems that will develop a few months in the future become the new homeowners’ problem. We know of people who have bought houses, then a year later started to have many foundation problems, and ended up having to file a lawsuit against the people who sold them the house.
If you’re looking to buy a house that has had foundation repair done, you’re going to have to ask for all the paper work and make sure the foundation repair done is not the “push pile” or “press pile” type of piers that we have discussed in this article. If you can’t get a clear answer, it might be prudent to look for another house somewhere else.
Other Similar Foundation Repair Systems
Some manufacturers and foundation repair companies are aware of the problem with the piles not being straight as they are driven into the ground and so some of them have come up with improvements on the system but, the system as a whole still fails to provide a permanent foundation repair consistently.
Some of the improvements on the flawed system are providing a hole in the center of the concrete cylinder so a steel rod can be installed. Other companies use the hole to run a cable which is later pulled. Still, other companies provide a Plastic coupling to try to prevent these blocks from twisting.
Unfortunately, the size and overall depth of the piles is still inadequate. In some cases, adding an inadequate type of foundation repair will make your house perform worse than it did before, costing you more money in repairs of walls, ceilings, tiles, brick, etc. All of which is not covered by the warranty provided to you when you installed the inadequate foundation repair.
The Takeaway
In other words, these foundation repair systems are nothing more than temporary foundation leveling. As we’ve learned in our article Foundation
Repair: 95% of Homes do NOT Need it, 100% of houses are not level so spending tens of thousands of dollars on a foundation leveling job instead of a true foundation repair makes no sense to us. If you’re selling your house or you are a house flipper, we understand you’re trying to do a quick fix and then have the new owner inherit the problems of the house but once the house foundation moves again, the new owners are going to find a lawyer to help them get their money back from you. Not a good situation to be in. By being cheap you might end up spending more money.
Maybe you don’t need a Foundation Repair! Schedule a Foundation Inspection by a Third Party independent Professional Engineer to find out whether you can save yourself thousand of dollars in repairs that are not needed.