When a house is built, its foundation will usually work perfectly. Over time, however, a house can sag to one side or suffer from other forms of foundation failure. This can be caused by poor soil underneath the structure, flooding, or other causes. If the house has tilted, it will need to be re-leveled. There are a number of methods that can be used to do this.
When the foundation is still strong enough to support the house, re-leveling and stabilization can be achieved with helical pulldown piles in Mississippi. These cool structural elements are surprisingly easy to install and need little excavation. Here are some highlights of how the installation process works.
The first step is to expose the foundation footers. Initially, a backhoe or other machine is used. Then, workers use shovels to carefully finish the footer exposure so that the footers aren’t damaged. Further preparation of the footers will involve drilling holes for the attachment hardware of the piles, which will be installed later on.
A special machine is then brought in to drive the piles down into the ground. At first, the piles are left sticking out about halfway. Each pile is a thin pipe with helical protrusions coming out of it every few inches. These protrusions allow it to get a good grip in the ground so that it won’t shift like the original foundation did. Once the piles are halfway into the Earth, workers will attach hardware that allows them to gain the proper tension. Wet concrete or a similar substance is poured into tubes that surround the actual piles to provide even more stability. Then, the piles are driven down the rest of the way with the machine while the concrete is still wet.
Once in position, brackets are attached to the pile and then to the foundation footers. A jack-like mechanism is used to bring all of the piles to the proper, even level. Finally, the excavated dirt is put back into place. The house will then be level and will stay that way for the foreseeable future. Helical pulldown piles in Mississippi are just one of the types of equipment that can be used to make a house level. A good engineering firm like Ewing & Ray Foundation Services Inc. will offer the system that will work best for the specific situation and bring about the most long-lasting results.
