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Project Overview
After living in their house for four years, homeowners in Richmond, VA, wanted to take the proper steps to further ensure the safety and structural stability of the building. The major cause for concern was bricks that appeared to be coming away from the 20-year-old structure on a bay window area.
These are telltale signs of foundation settlement, which occurs when the soil the home was built on can no longer properly uphold the structure. The soil can consolidate and expand or heave, and lead to a host of other problem signs such as drywall cracks, sticking windows and doors, and a variety of other foundation wall cracks.
Instead of trying to take on a do-it-yourself project, the homeowners knew they needed to contact a reputable contractor for assistance. They noticed a lot of service trucks from JES Foundation Repair throughout the area, and they were motivated to contact the company for a free inspection and estimate. An expert JES inspector then visited to complete a thorough assessment of the home.
The inspector measured approximately 1.5” of settlement just over the bay area in the kitchen. He also noticed an area of uneven floor in the kitchen, which led him to further investigate in the crawl space underneath the house. While in the crawl space, the inspector noticed cracks on the same wall with visible exterior cracking. He also observed the crawl space was not properly sealed or insulated.
Along with a crawl space encapsulation and installation of a crawl space support jack to help stabilize the kitchen floor, the JES inspector recommended having Helical Piers – also known as Helical Piles – installed underneath the settling bay of the home built on sandy loam and clay soil.
Helical Piles are a permanent piering solution used in specialty foundation settlement applications and for lightweight structures.
The homeowners then decided to move forward with the work. Two crews from the JES Chester branch – one for the crawl space and one for the foundation work – completed the entire project over the course of five working days. Two days were needed for the portion involving the Helical Pile installation.
The foundation crew first excavated around the home to accommodate the installation equipment. The crew then dug down 2’ to expose the foundation footing. Four round shaft Helical Piles with 8-10 helix bearing plate configuration were installed. Each of the four galvanized steel piles was installed 12’ into the ground and down to more stable soil to better stabilize the settling bay on the house. This helped lift the settling portion of the home 1” back towards its original position. Any remaining cracks were sealed.
This crew also placed a sturdy IntelliJack™ support in the crawl space to help stabilize and lift the sagging kitchen floor, and the other crew completely encapsulated and insulated the crawl space with CrawlSeal™ liner and ExTremeBloc™ panels.
Not only are the homeowners happy about having a healthier crawl space, but they now have peace of mind knowing their home is being protected by trustworthy solutions like Helical Piles.
JES Foundation Repair Installs (4) Helical Piles to Underpin a Bay Window that Settled in Addition to Stabilizing and Encapsulating the Crawl Space
by Holly Richards-Purpura
Winter 2019
