Steel Point

Steel Piling Method of Foundation Repair

The Steel Piling Method of foundation repair is a more advanced version of the concrete piling and concrete piling with insert methods. It has resolved a couple of the disadvantages of these two earlier methods but its overall performance as a long term foundation repair method is poor and inadequate.

A piling system relies on pushing concrete cylinders or steel cylinders into the ground near the perimeter of a building foundation. The method used to push or force the cylinders into the ground is to use the weight of the home or building. The Steel Piling method of foundation repair uses this technique. In general, steel piles can be driven deeper than concrete piles because they have a smaller diameter (less than three inches vs. six inches for concrete) and they are less prone to breakage. However, this method of driving piles into the soil presents a risk to the home or building foundation. When the steel piles are being driven into the ground they will reach a "refusal point" which is the point where the weight of the home or building is no longer sufficient to push more steel piles into the ground. When this point is reached then the work crew should stop immediately. Any further attempts to drive piles beyond the refusal point will result in the hydraulic equipment lifting the building and foundation into the air. This could result in very serious damage to the both the building structure and its foundation. In addition, none of the piling systems can be used when there is interior "sagging" of the foundation. The interior of the foundation simply is not thick enough to bear the weight of the house and force cylinders into the ground.

Although steel piles are stronger than concrete piles, they are still subject to misalignment during the driving process. Any number of obstructions, such as rocks or tree roots, can cause misalignment and/or bending of the steel piles. This is an inherent disadvantage of every piling method, including the steel piling method of foundation repair. There is simply no way to confirm that steel piles 10, 20, 30, or 60 feet below the surface are aligned in a vertical column. If a column of vertical piles are misaligned then they have little to no long term value as a support column.

Other disadvantages of the steel piling method of foundation repair include the cost of the steel piers/piles, lack of a soil test, inability to resist uplift, a small footprint, and failure to reach the refusal point. Steel piers or piles are more expensive than their concrete cousins so repair contractors are tempted to limit the number used on a job site. Sometimes the columns of steel piles are spaced too far apart to offer the proper support the foundation needs. And sometimes the work crew simply fails to reach stable soil or the refusal point during the driving process.

If a vertical column of steel piles has not reached stable soil or the refusal point then it is offering little or no support. The piles are "just along for the ride" when the soil is expanding and contracting. Typically a soil test is not performed when a contractor uses this method. Therefore the contractor is "guessing" when he chooses a driving depth for the piles. The steel piles may or may not have reach stable soil or bedrock. Also, the "footprint" of a steel pile is less than three inches in diameter. A concrete pile has a six inch diameter footprint and a poured concrete Bell Bottom Pier has a 22 inch diameter footprint. Therefore, numerous columns of steel piles will have to be driven into the ground to offer the proper support for the home or building foundation.

The steel piling method of foundation repair often uses unconnected steel piles. This leaves the columns of steel piles vulnerable to the annual shrinking and swelling of soil. Since it is a well known fact that soils can swell and shrink as much as ten vertical inches, unconnected steel piles can easily become misaligned during these horizontal and vertical movements of soil (uplift or upheaval). When that happens they have little or no value as support columns.

The steel piling method of foundation repair has some improvements over its concrete piling predecessors but it fails as a long term solution for commercial and residential foundations.

About the Author

Martin Dawson is the co-founder of
Dawson Foundation Repair
headquartered in Houston, Texas. He is a leading authority on repairing failed commercial and home foundations using the time tested and thoroughly researched drilled Bell Bottom Pier method. His company has serviced Texas since 1984, and since 2009 began to expand into other southern states.

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