What are Helical Piers?

Helical piers are steel rods with helix blades welded to the bottom of the shaft. They are designed to provide proper support for a settling foundation. Settling occurs when soil erodes due to shrinking and expanding and the home can no longer rely on the unstable soil layer. The upper layers of the soil are soft and easily displaced, while the bottom layers are dense and unaffected by typical erosive elements like water, wind, runoff, and ice. This soil layer is the best for supporting a home, and it’s the helical piers’ job to make sure the home gets that reliable support.

Helical piers are driven deep into the ground, past the soft soil layers, until reaching the load-bearing soil layers. Once the helical piers have reached the desired depth, foundation brackets are attached to the helical piers, and the weight of the home can be transferred to the lower soil layers. Helical piers are a permanent solution to an age-old problem that seemingly had no real fix. Traditionally, concrete piers were used to support the settling foundation, but concrete piers cannot reach the soil depths that helical piers can. When attempting to go lower, concrete piers would crumble when met with skin friction.

Helical piers are slim, so they avoid dealing with skin friction no matter how far down they go. The bigger the structure, the more likely skin friction will develop, but helical piers avoid this completely by design. They provide the foundation with a more reliable support than concrete piers and are not susceptible to freeze-thaw damage. Helical piers can even potentially lift your Grand Forks home, so it can be even once more, which is something that cannot happen with concrete piers. If you want a long-term solution to foundation settling, then the only option is to go with helical piers.