Fat Boy Construction :: New Home :: Commercial :: Residential ~ Residential Foundations

Fat Boy Construction ~ Residential Foundation

Many homeowners find themselves facing serious structural repair issues when their home begins to settle in unstable soil. A settling foundation, also known as a sinking foundation, is a problem that never corrects itself and in most cases only gets worse.

Signs of a sinking foundation are:

Cracks in your drywall or ceiling.
Cracks in your poured foundation or basement walls
Stair Step cracks in your mortar or brick work
Sticking doors and windows
Obvious leaning in unleveled surfaces

If you think your home has foundation problems, don’t trust your most important investment to just any contractor or just any foundation repair product. There are many foundation contractors and foundation repair technologies on the market, but we feel the best and least expensive is the Heli-Pile.

Fat Boy Construction has performed extensive research into the local area soils with the assistance of geotechnical and structural engineers and has identified the Heli-Pile Foundation Repair System to be the most effective foundation repair system to stabilize homes in the deep riverbed soils of the area.

The Heli-Pile Foundation Repair System is unique because it is not a friction based pier. A friction pier must be inserted beneath the home until it finds bedrock or another load bearing strata. The Heli-Pile has a “helix” at the insertion end. It is kind of like a giant screw that is turned into the earth beneath the home with hydraulics. The hydraulic pressure is carefully monitored by certified installers until the helix reaches a sufficient depth and pressure to support the weight of the home. In our area this can be as little as 20ft or sometimes as deep as 200ft or more below the home. Once the desired torque is reached the home’s foundation footing is notched and a support bracket is bolted to the foundation below the ground’s surface. The load of the home is then transferred to the helical pier by attaching the supporting bracket to the pier. Hydraulics may then be used to “lift” the home back to its original position, keeping it there forever and fully transferring the load to a deep foundation.

The Heli-Pile Foundation System has been used worldwide with no known failure. It is constructed of galvanized steel and will not deteriorate over the years. In short, your sinking foundation will be stabilized and put on “stilts” under the earth so that it will never settle again.

One of our recent projects involved lifting three townhouses, which had sunk in an unknown borrow pit. We drove eleven piers on each to an average of 25 ft. and then lifted them back to their original level condition.

If you have foundation problems choose the best, choose Fat Boy Construction and leave your home to Heli-Pile.

Click on each picture to view a larger view.

Townhouse Corrections

Townhouse LR window, note slope visible by adjacent siding.	Dining room bump-out tilted to left	Roof line of bump-out.

Adjacent townhouse sinking.	Third townhouse prepared to lift.	Lifting the first townhouse.

Laser level dot on siding prior to lifting.	First townhouse lifted, note space between footing and dirt, entire load of building transferred to deep foundation pile	Prior to lifting, a noticeable bend in foundation evidenced by siding

Second townhouse, ready to lift.	Overview of second townhouse prior to lifting.
Newman Lake Porch Rebuild

Entry porch concrete footings were inadequate for wood framed, tile covered surface, which sunk and destroyed the tile.	Bottom of existing footing too small, and above frost level	Installing first pile

Torque achieved, pile ready for attachment.	Removing protective cover, no damage to existing driveway	Entry formed, re-bar attached to piers, ready to pour concrete, then finish with brick surface
Liberty Lake Porch Rebuild

Contractor had attempted to lift porch with bottle jack	Porch settling about 2 inches in 6 feet	Note elevation of first step, porch has sunk below sidewalk

Settling is pulling roof away from home, popping siding off	Opposite view of porch settling	Settling is pulling railing from wall

Ridge pole of porch roof pulled away from wall, and tilted up		Pier and foundation bracket installed

Preparing to lift porch	Lifting accomplished, porch roof level and returned to wall	Entry step returned to proper elevation