PushPier Project in Northborough, MA

Monday, September 20th, 2010 by Melissa Wilcox

Challenge

This home is a 2000 square foot home built in the early 1970s. Since the time the home was built, foundation settlement had been a consistent problem. On one side of the home, the foundation walls began to settle and separate from the rest of the home, resulting in a small gap between the foundation wall and sill plate. A previous homeowner tried to fix the problem by installing a two foot thick wall alongside the original wall, tying the two walls together with rebar. Unfortunately, this was only a temporary fix. Not only did settlement continue to occur, but the additional weight of the new wall actually made the settlement problem worse. The gap between the foundation wall and the sill plate grew to nearly 6", and severe cracks formed in the drywall of the home and throughout the concrete floor. The homeowners first considered total foundation replacement as their only option, but were quickly discouraged when they learned of the expense and disruption of that type of repair. With the stability of the structure becoming an ongoing concern, they knew they needed an economical, long-lasting fix to their problem.

Solution

We recommended the installation of twelve (12) PushPiers to permanently stabilize and attempt to lift the settling portion of the home. Due to the addition of the 2’ thick wall, push piers were installed on both the outside of that wall as well as from the inside of the home along the original foundation wall. L-shaped foundation brackets were installed below and against the footings of both walls, and the piers were driven through the foundation brackets to depths ranging from 13 to 25 feet. The piers were installed to ultimate capacities of nearly 38,000 pounds. Hydraulic cylinders were used to lift the foundation several inches back toward its original position, in turn closing cracks in the floor and drywall. The project was completed in only four days, and the homeowners were relieved that this ongoing problem was permanently resolved.