Thursday, June 9, 2011

Common Types of Home Foundation Repair

A foundation may be defined as the fulcrum on which an entire building structure rests. Therefore a building can be considered safe only if the foundation is strong and formidable.

Imperfect or defective foundation setting is the chief cause for undertaking foundation repairs. You may be need foundation repairs if cracks are seen in exterior walls or on foundation walls or interior walls or ceilings of your home. Foundation repairs will also become necessary if there is sunken interior concrete floors, bowed or buckled foundation walls.

Weather eventually takes its toll on many homes and the foundation suffers damages of differing magnitudes requiring different types of repairs. Earthquakes and floods cause serious foundation damages and timely repairs can save the home from splitting, caving in or crumbling to the ground.

Foundation repairs are obviously less expensive when the entire home has not fallen around the foundation. Some repairs may be too complicated for the average homeowner and should be left to professionals.

To those who may not be familiar, there are two common types of foundations - the slab-on-grade foundation and the Pier and Beam foundation. Slab-on-grade foundation means a concrete slab is poured below the structure to give it a strong base. The Pier and Beam foundation is said to be deeper and recommended for use in areas prone to snow and frost fall.

There are various methods of performing foundation repairs and cement, steel, stone or wood were used earlier. But time has shown that these methods are inadequate and quite often ineffective. Today, two of the most successful ways of foundation repairs are slab jacking and the piering method or hydraulic jacking.

Slab jacking involves adding grout beneath a slab or beam and care must be taken to ensure that the quantum of sand is perfect while adding grout. Piering method or hydraulic jacking entails driving steel posts through unstable soil and using hydraulic jacks to stabilize weakened concrete slabs. Piers are installed to support your home from further damage if your home foundation has some problems. The two piers commonly used for foundation repair are - friction piers and point bearing piers.

According to experts in foundation repairs, there are three advanced methods of foundation repair - concrete press piling, steel press piling and bellbottom piers. Concrete pressed piling entails drilling or pouring concrete piers. You will have to drill holes to a depth of 9-12 feet below the surface, and then fill the cavity with reinforcing steel and concrete. You will have to fill the concrete spacers and shims over the poured concrete

The steel pier method is rated as the best of the lot as the robust steel pier is drilled at pressures of up to 10,000 PSI and depths up to 60 feet. Normally, these types of foundation repair are graded as the quick solution and takes three days to complete. Bellbottom pier home foundation repair method entails drilling a hole in the ground, belling it at the bottom, pouring concrete into the hole, and then using that to lift up.

Once you suspect or detect home foundation damage, you must immediately contact a reputed home foundation repair contractor for your home foundation inspection and repairs. The home foundation repair contractors will assess the extent of foundation damage after initial inspection and will determine the method of repair and time period needed to carry out the repairs. They will provide you the repair estimate after taking into account several factors such as labor cost, type of material to be used, cost of materials, number of man days etc.

There are many professional elevation companies with certified and experienced personnel undertaking house lifting projects. One of the most reliable long-standing and frontline elevation companies is Southern Elevations & Shoring Inc located at 18 West 24th Street, Kenner, LA, 70062, 504-305-5858.

Southern Elevations & Shoring is fully insured and licensed contractor and their team consists of certified electrical and mechanical technicians. You can contact them on 1 800 LIFT MY HOUSE to attend to your house lifting work. You may also visit http://www.southernelevations.com for fuller details.

The author is expert for houma house raising . For information visit our site Davies shoring.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/6331879

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