Are There Other Foundation Repair Methods I Can Try?

Innovative Basement Authority’s solid foundation piers are top-notch repairs that are tough to rival. You might come across other repair methods when researching which one is best for your home. Let’s take a closer look into why some of these other repairs simply do not work out in the long run.  

• Total Foundation Replacement 

Completely replacing your home’s foundation is expensive, time-consuming, and will oftentimes disrupt your family’s everyday life. Despite its cost, this solution does not even tackle the true cause of its settling—the weaker supporting soils around your foundation. 

The installation process will definitely remove the soil from around your home in order to get at your settled or cracked foundation. However, it does not completely replace it with new, more compact soil, either. Your home will be placed on jacks or other temporary support systems to keep it level off the ground while contractors move your soil away. The foundation walls are then completely removed and replaced with a completely new set of walls. 

While this solution might work for a while, you might find your home having foundation issues again in just a few years’ time. Total concrete foundation replacement does not repair or even address the issues that caused this deterioration in the first place. You will continue to face the same problems over and over again unless you get a more permanent solution. Innovative Basement Authority’s foundation piers will permanently lift and level your home foundation. 

• Concrete Underpinning  

The soils around your foundation must be excavated before installation of concrete underpinning can begin. Larger concrete footings are then poured and cured right under the existing footings. Instead of replacing the excavated soil with more compact supporting soil, the loose soil is simply backfilled in. Again, this solution does not deign to address what has caused the shifted or settled foundation in the first place. 

Bigger foundation footings are not necessarily more stable. They may even continue to move or damage your foundation even further. This concrete underpinning will not extend out to find more solid soils or bedrock, either. 

It is also good to keep in mind that concrete shrinks as it cures, which eventually creates small gaps between the new and old footings. This ultimately defeats the purpose of adding new footings in the first place. Repairs to these new footings can be expensive, and you will have to keep implementing them if you want your foundation to stay upright. 

• Concrete Piers  

Like the other foundation pier systems, the supporting soil around your foundation is excavated before installation of concrete piers can begin. The piers are slowly shoved into the soil on top of one another and are held together by a wire. Because of this, the pier might not even be installed straight. Shims are then placed between the top of the uppermost concrete pier and the footing. 

The loose soil is again backfilled instead of replaced or addressed. Concrete will also crack or break under immense pressure or from swift temperature changes. This only makes these piers flimsy, at best. Very few foundation companies will recommend this repair method as a result.