How Piering Can Save a Sinking Foundation

Does your front door stick when you try to close it? Does your office chair constantly roll to one end of the room? You might think those are just quirks in your home, but they could be signs of a huge problem with your foundation.

Let’s back up and talk about how your house is built. It will make all of this easier to understand.

Your foundation begins with a concrete slab. It gives the walls something to rest on and creates the entire structure of the house. From there we have the walls that create the basement, and then the floor of the house itself. Everything else, you’re probably familiar with, as you see it every day. Walls, floors, ceilings, etc.

Problems occur when the soil around the slab isn’t stable. A high water table eroding the soil, constant expansion and retraction from temperature changes, or even a neighbor doing heavy excavation can all disrupt the stability of the soil surrounding your home. As the soil shifts or erodes, the foundation slab is left unsupported, and it can sink, tilt, or even crack.

But that’s all underground - how on earth would you be able to tell something was wrong? Well, refer back to the beginning of this blog. Sticking doors, sloping floors, bowed walls, and new wall cracks (particularly surrounding doorframes) are all signs that your foundation is sinking, cracking, or settling.

Luckily, there’s a way to fix this - piering. Piering involves excavating around the house and drilling braces called piers deep into the soil - into virgin soil that won’t shift or erode, and can provide stability. The piers are then affixed onto the foundation, and support the weight of the house rather than allowing it to rest on the unstable slab.

Steel piers are much more reliable than unstable soil when it comes to supporting a house, and pier installation not only stabilizes against future sinking, but may also allow for the house to be raised to its original alignment.

If you have a sinking feeling about your sinking house, call us for a free inspection at 1-866-379-1669!