Foundation Repair Photo Album: Lift a settling home in Burlington, ON

Paul has a 70's block foundation home in Burlington, ON. One corner of the home had settled and caused a multiple of cracks in the foundation. Omni Basement Systems corrected the settling foundation by installing Push Piers by Supportworks. Push piers is a supplemental support system for foundations by attaching brackets to the footings and driving down galvanized piers until they hit bedrock or hard strata. Once the piers are in place, smaller hydraulic cylinders are attached and the corner of the home is lifted back into place.

Settling corner

The corner of this Burlington home is settling due to soil conditions. the bracing on this wall are in place to support the wall while Omni lifts it. These supports are not usually necessary but an oversight when the home was built caused the wall to tip outward.

Push Pier Assembly

A hydraulic cylinder sits on top of a drive stand and the cylinder pushes galvanized 288 piers into the ground until they hit bedrock.

Gas Hydraulic pump.

This gas powered pump will drive the hydraulic cylinders which pushes the piers into the ground.

Foundation crack

A tell tale sign of settling is the foundation cracks where the width becomes larger as you go up.

Pier bracket.

These brackets are attached to the foundation footings and the piers are pushed through the large hole and then capped once they reach the desired resistance from either bedrock or hard earth that will properly support the home.

Spacing

The engineer determines both the spacing and the amount of pressure that is needed to support the home.

Slag stone

This home has a separate problem like many homes of this era. Instead of 3/4" Clear gravel for the under the slab, the builder used Slag which is an off product of making steel. With Stelco & Dofasco nearby, there is plenty of this available and a lot cheaper than using gravel. The problem is, Slag expands when it is soaked in water. The floor above will heave up.