Shotcrete: A Foundation Solution

We’ve seen everything when it comes to foundation issues. A sinking slab here, a cracked wall there - these and many other problems are thankfully easy to fix with our products. We can use PowerBraces and wall anchors to stabilize and straighten a bowing wall, and helical and push piers can raise a sinking slab and restore your house to a level position.

But what happens when your walls start crumbling?

 

We see it most often with stone basements, which may be interesting to look at but can prove very difficult when it comes to repairing, but poured concrete can act the same way. And as it crumbles, the stability and safety of your home come into question. But what are you supposed to do with a crumbling foundation?

There are a few options with varying risk, convenience, and cost levels.

1. Pour a New Foundation

“Can’t we just pour a new foundation?” might sound like the most obvious response, but it’s actually the most complicated.

First of all, it’s inconvenient. The house needs to be lifted entirely (called cribbing), which makes it uninhabitable, and the process of digging out and then pouring a new foundation can take months. It isn’t feasible for most people to move out of their home for months.

Secondly, it’s expensive. A simple, relatively shallow foundation under a small house could run you $30,000 or more. Get into bigger houses or deeper basements and that number increases, getting into the $100,000s before long. And that’s not counting engineering fees, permits, and the cost of moving out.

Third, it’s risky. Houses are made of wood framing and drywall, but there’s also a whole world of nails, screws, wires, and countless other materials. And they’re all interconnected. Cribbing a house puts everything at risk of breaking, and it’s not even a question that things will break. Drywall will crack, and you can probably say goodbye to features like that masonry chimney. Double the risk if you’re changing the depth of the foundation - digging deeper could find your new basement well under the water table and in for a world of flooding.

In some houses, it’s possible to do only a portion of the foundation at a time, reducing the need for cribbing, but this process has an even longer timetable, and contractors still don’t recommend living in the home during the process because the threat of shifting and settling is still too high.

2. Move

You could move into a new house, with a foundation that isn’t falling apart, and leave your past behind you.

But again, it’s inconvenient. House hunting, inspections, closing, packing, moving, unpacking - not to mention listing your current house and dealing with inspections and closing on that end.

And again, it’s expensive. Not only is a new house expensive, but do you think you’re going to get a great asking price for the death trap you’re trying to move out of? Any prospective buyer brave enough to take on a house that needs a new foundation is going to ask for a huge credit, and what choice do you have?

And did I mention the packing? Moving is the worst.

3. Build a New Foundation In Place with Shotcrete

Ah, Shotcrete. We’ve talked about it on the blog before, where I explained it as spraying concrete through a fire hose. It’s a more detailed process than that, but it gets the point across. Using Shotcrete, we can create new walls by building a framework right on top of the old ones and use the sprayed concrete to provide structural stability to your foundation and home without moving anything.

It’s convenient. Depending on the size of your foundation, the process takes a few days, but during that time neither your house nor you have to move an inch. We create new walls without disturbing the existing structure, so no movement is necessary.

It’s - well, I can’t say it’s inexpensive. Ring Pops are inexpensive; raising a goldfish is inexpensive. But in the context of foundation repair of this magnitude, Shotcrete is the most cost-effective solution and certainly less expensive than cribbing your home or buying a new one entirely.

It’s safe. Nothing moves, nothing shifts, and the original depth of the foundation are untouched. You’ll lose a few square feet internally from the new walls, but the surrounding soil is undisturbed and won’t create new problems.

When your foundation starts crumbling beneath you, you need to move quickly to avoid the dangers of total wall failure. And where your options used to be limited to lifting your house or moving to a new one altogether, Shotcrete now provides a safe, convenient alternative. Call us today to see if Shotcrete is the solution for you.