Foundation Repair Photo Album: Lift a settling foundation in St. Caharines, On

Yvonne & Eileen thought they had a simple wall crack in their foundation. When the representative went for an inspection of the property, he found something more serious. The wall cracks were caused by a section of the foundation was settling. This was evident by the how the cracks opened up more as you go up, the cracking in the brick facade and a large floor crack between the two wall cracks. THe wall crack were just the hinge points where the foundation had settled. Omni Basement Systems repaired the foundation by adding a product called Push Piers from Supportworks. Push piers are large brackets that are attached to the foundation and large galvanized tubes are pushed down through the soil until they hit bedrock or supporting soil. In this case, Omni had to go down 82 feet per pier. After the piers were all in place, Omni was able to lift the house back into position with secondary hydraulic lifts. The customer can enjoy their basement without worrying about the their house cracking and falling into the ground.

Wall crack

All wall cracks show on the outside at the top of wall but this one is different.

Step cracking

A tell tale sign that your house is settling is step cracking in the brick. DO NOT IGNORE THIS.

Mortar missing.

The previous owner filled in the missing mortar but they missed this one.

Exspanding wall crack.

Your will notice that the crack gets wider as it goes up the wall. Another tell tale sign that you have movement in your foundation. As the part of the house settles, it falls away.

Push piers

These large brackets are attached to the footing and wall and galvanized tubes are driven down to bedrock.

Drive stand and hydraulic cylinder

The red hydraulic cylinder will push these pier tubes down until they reach bedrock or solid ground that will support more than the weight of the house. The pressures are determined by a structural engineer.

Pier tubes

The pier tubes are designed with a connector so they will stay inline. On this sight, the bedrock was 82 feet down so it took a lot of tubes.

Piers locked down

Once the tube has reached the desired pressures, The tubes are locked off with the bracket using a a heavy plate and large bolts.

Lift cylinders

Once all the piers are in place, smaller cylinders are installed along with connecting hydraulic hoses which are used to simultaneously pressurize and lift the home back into position.

Laser shows the lift

If you look closely on the tape on the right hand side, you will see where the foundation was before we lifted and where it is now. The green laser is clearly 1/2" below the original mark on the tape.