Francisco, IN Foundation Repair to Recover from Settling

Challenge

These Francisco, IN homeowners had noticed telltale stair step cracking in the rear of their lovely red brick ranch style home.  They also noticed that there is some seasonal fluctuation in the width of the crack between the bricks.  All in all, the homeowners noticed that the stair step cracking was visibly growing.  The homeowners contacted Healthy Spaces and their foundation repair specialist, Damon Cheatham to evaluate the home.

Solution

Damon performed a thorough elevation survey of the home and determined that the home was experiencing settling in the rear that affected the corner and the rear of the home, as well as the shorter south side.  All in all, the home needed 7 push style piers--4 along the long rear side of the home and 3 along the shorter south side of the home.  Push piers are the best application in this situation because there is a known layer of bedrock beneath the soil and the home can be raised to recover elevation and close the crack.  The push piers will be installed using a potholing method because there is some concern that the utilities might not be clearly and easily located.  Additionally, the homeowners are not certain exactly what lies around their foundation because they purchased the home recently and had been told that the previous homeowners had done a lot of renovations and exterior work.

From the beginning, there were a number of challenges for the installation.  They started excavation and discovered a small poured concrete foundation attached to the south side of the house where a large satellite dish had rested in the past.  When the satallite dish had been removed, the foundation had been covered over and landscaped.  That small foundation had to be jackhammered out before the push pier pot holes could be dug.  Shortly after the small foundation was excavated and removed, a Fall storm moved into the area and poured rain down on the newly dug potholes.  The team immediately put their storm recovery plan into place and covered the site thoroughly to wait the storm.

Once the piers were installed along the foundation footer and the hydraulic lift cylinders placed for the elevation recovery and lift, the team was able to completely close the stair step crack in the brick and recover all lost 1 3/4" of elevation.  The piers were capped and the potholes were filled and tamped down.  The site was cleaned and the homeowners were very happy with the project!

Project Summary

Project Manager: Damon Cheatham

Project Foreman: Steven Joseph, JR