FOUNDATION FAILURE INVESTIGATION AND DESIGN

In this house, the foundation failure of the granite block subwall has reflected into the brick veneer and up to the window.

See our article in Helical Pier World

It's an unfortunate fact that often residential construction is less than perfect.  For a number of reasons, foundation failures are quite common.  Foundations can fail when they are placed on fill dirt that is not compacted, if they are placed on poor soils (such as topsoil), or if they are placed over trash pits.

There are a number of good foundation repair contractors around Atlanta, and a number of very bad ones too.  The bad contractors will often try to oversell you on what is needed, and some of them have very poor products.  In many cases, it's to your advantage to hire us first.  We come out to your house, perform a thorough investigation, give you a recommendation for repair, and we will try to give you the names of at least three foundation repair contractors.  In some cases the damage may be unusual and we may only recommend one or two contractors.  Now, for legal reasons we do have to mention that we don't guarantee the work the foundation repair contractors do on your house, and any dispute with them is a contractual matter strictly between you and them.

How are foundations repaired?  I can break it down into two basic methods.  The first, and most common is to put a steel pier under the foundation.

The above picture was provided to us courtesy of Atlas Piers of Atlanta.  In this case we are looking at a resistance pier.  A resistance pier is jacked into the ground and bolted against the foundation.  The other type of steel pier is a helical pier.  A helical pier has an auger flight at its end, and it is turned into the soil.  Generally, helical piers are used in new construction, or on lighter houses, such as single story ranch houses.  We also have slab piers, which are put under the floor slab.

For information on Resistance Pier installation, please see our presentation we prepared for a rather difficult repair project.

The second way of repairing foundations is by pressure grouting.  If you check out this link you will see some stick figure drawings showing the basics.  It's not the best artwork we've ever done, but it gets to the point.  Generally pressure grouting is useful for concrete slabs.  As the stick figure comic shows, you can get in trouble if the wrong contractor is chosen.


In this photo, a floor is being pressure grouted by Southeastern Pressure Grouting.  The technician has drilled holes in the floor, and driven a pipe down through the holes to the bottom of the soft soil.  The grout is pumped through the rubber hose under high pressure into the pipe.

One of my colleagues has a very negative opinion of pressure grouting.  He bases his opinion on the problems that occur with it constantly.  If you looked at my stick figure drawings, you can see how the method can go bad. He is of the opinion that slab piers are a better technology.  The problem with slab piers is that they have to be placed on a grid about 5' apart, the reason is that is about as far as a standard floor slab can span by itself.  Generally slab piers run about $800 a piece, so in a 20'x20' room you would need 25 piers, which would cost $20,000.  Pressure grouting is much cheaper than that (roughly $8,000 to $10,000) for the same area.  However, that savings is wasted if the job is done wrong.  I tend to recommend a combination approach, I go with slab piers under load bearing walls, and pressure grouting under the rest of the slab, depending on the application.

If you need to have your foundation repaired, how much will it cost?  Figure foundation piers have to be 5' on-center, and you need two in corners.  The repair has to extend one pier past where the settlement starts.  You can throw a budget of $1,100 a pier, and any kind of restoration (driveways, landscaping) will add more costs.  That should give you an idea of the cost.

As for us, our fees are generally a flat fee in the Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan area of $375.00.  That includes investigation of the problem, recommending a solution, and giving you a list of contractors.  If we have to core slabs, or do additional engineering, it can be more. 

Do you need an engineer for a foundation repair?  I'd like to say "yes, all the time", but that's not true.  Simple foundation repairs do not require engineering, and are fairly straightforward.  However, it's not just the engineering that is important.  Do you know who to call to get quotes from on the foundations?  Do you know whether you are getting the right type of foundation repair?  There are a number of foundation contractors out there that in some cases dishonest, and in other cases they try to oversell you.  Let me give some horror stories:

Story 1
I was called to a house in Northern Georgia, the homeowner had settlement problems.  He had cracking in the foundation at the left front of his house, and cracking in the garage slab adjacent that slab crack.  His second floor had cracking in all of the walls, and the floor was out of level.  He was quoted a price of $18,000 to put a series of foundation piers along the side of the house.

I found that only the front corner was settling (about $3500 in piers to repair).  The problems in the upstairs were not due to foundation problems, there was inadequate support over the garage.  There were no beams or columns in the garage, the floor joists spanned 22', and were carrying load bearing walls.  I measured the deflection with a laser level and found the floor had settled 1 1/2". 

The homeowner would have spent $18,000 on unnecessary piers, and the problem still would not have been addressed.

Story 2
In this one the homeowners had cracking in the brick on the front face of their garage.  They had been given a range of repairs, the most memorable was for $20,000 to remove and replace the brick and do a bunch of other structural repairs.  I found that the corner was settling and in this case $2,200 in repairs were needed.  The brick work needed some minor cosmetic repair after the foundation was stabilized.  That cost another $500.  They were very happy to pay me.

Often we can save our clients a few thousand dollars in repair costs, although that doesn't always happen.  What we can do in every case is give you an engineered solution to your problem that will help you do the right repair with the right contractor.

Story 3
I am always talking to different foundation repair contractors to see who I can put on my list.  I met with one, and was very impressed.  I planned on putting them on my list, and a couple days later they called me.  I was told I was being put in their "select partner program" or something like that.  I thought it meant that I was going to be someone that they would recommend to people.  Many foundation repair contractors will give customers a list of engineers they can contact (like me, they usually recommend two or three).

Nope, the "select partner program" wasn't that.  I would get $100 for my first referral to them, and after that  percentage of the job (either 5% or 10%, I don't remember the figure exactly).  That is not only a conflict of interest, but something I could lose my license over.  There are so many levels of wrong in that.

I told one of the company managers that this wasn't something I could do.  He told me in his best salesman voice that "many engineers felt the same way", so they could donate that kickback to my favorite charity.  No, sorry.  If I steal from you and give it to the United Way, it's still stealing from you.  If I take a kickback and it goes to my favorite charity, it's still a kickback. 

That company is not on my list and never will be.  If you hire an engineer, make him or her give it to you in writing that they are not accepting any kind of kickback, gratuity, or gifts from companies they refer to you.  If the engineer gets a ham on Christmas from companyies he or she refers, that's fine.  I don't think people will cloud their judgment over a ham once a year.  Other than that, don't hire any engineer unless he or she is totally impartial in recommendations.

For more information, check out this excellent website. This site is also excellent: My Foundation Repairs.  Finally, check out "Foundation Repair Information" on the menu to the left.

For more information, please fill out the form below and we'll get back to you.  Also, feel free to call us at 678-225-4900.