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@@sadeepjohn4448 really depends on a lot. The ACI-117 that most contractors and engineers in my field use allows 1” of differential over a span of 20’ (it’s a little different but those are the adopted numbers we all use). That’s for a residential home. -0.6” isn’t objectively bad, especially over a large span. It’s possible the home was even BUILT that way, so you’d need to find other symptoms before diagnosing it as a “problem”. But -0.6” from the left side to the right side of your front door? Generally a problem, and much larger than that local area (lol). Personally, if it’s -0.6” over the span of the whole home, I wouldn’t be concerned. I would keep my eyes open for any other symptoms and re-measure if anything else ever showed up.

@@markbodal1949what sort of problems or symptoms are you having? There are many excellent engineers in that area, I’d need to narrow it down a bit to specific trades!

@allaboutfoundationleveling6304 *house 1950s spilt level not bi level. *Clay and shale soil. *house built on negative slop *no water in sump pit during rain. Only heavy heavey rain we start to get water coming in at the bottom of the first course of block. * block is cinder block 8" not concrete. Not sure if there is plaster on exterior or any existing water proofing all the way down to the footer. *effervescence on block with some superficial crumbling off *wavey gravey floors above grade

@allaboutfoundationleveling6304 *footing: who knows what condition or depth or width *lolly columns look like they may need to be replaced due to rusting and deterioration at the bottom. *pilister at foundation wall that holds up the main beam looks to be inadequate 4" block and the wall has some inward deflection. No visible cracks only hairline crack.

Thank you so much 🙏🙏

How much do a ram kit normally cost??

Really depends on which company you are working with. SafeBase has an EXCELLENT system, but I believe Saber has the rights to them. They’re probably my preferred on Push Piers. Chance and Dixie have a PHENOMENAL helical pile system, but you’d need Ken Drake (PHENOMENAL dude with a TON of experience), or a Chance rep to discuss. For the basics of basics, with no material, about ten years ago they ran something like $20k-$30k. For the BASICS. But that was a long while ago and MUCH before all this inflation and whatnot. Ramjack has an AWESOME push pier system too, but I don’t know what their equipment costs. I believe they franchise also, so it may not be so simple as just purchasing, but they’re AWESOME.

Howdy! Thanks for the questions! With regards to a piering system in Clay soils, helical piers will generally be more effective, provided they are installed properly with the brackets anchored into the footings. This way, they can resist both compression and tension loads, which will help to hold your foundation down when the clay soil expands. Push piers can be just as effective, but they would need to have an eccentric load with a side bracket as compared to a concentric load, which goes directly under the footing. A pier that is driven directly underneath the footing cannot be pre-drilled, so you end up at the mercy of the Clay soils strength, and in a lighter home that often means the pier will lift early. That is great for lifting, not so great for stabilization. It is also very important to get that soils report done. I usually advise my clients. They should have one done before even getting an estimate because it could entirely change the cost of any repair being provided. A push pier that is supposed to go 20 feet deep might suddenly be going 80, and for helical peers it is critically important to understand the soil properties prior to even designing the pier. There is a significant difference in cost (except some people who bid wildly) When using a one and a quarter inch shaft to go down 15 feet, versus a one and three-quarter inch shaft that goes down 25 feet. It is also important to figure out what the expansion potential of the soils are, because a heavy enough clay, with enough expansion can lift a footing off of a push pier, whether it is side loading or directly under the footing. Ultimately, I’m not a fan of providing a design for Hval peers until you have the soils information so the peer can be designed for your specific project and your specific conditions. The bid design should be more of a benchmark for you to start, budgeting, and the actual design based off of the engineering behind it. I can make a world of assumptions just knowing it’s a clay soil and with the information you provided about your home, and I can be right 85% of the time, but it’s the other 15% that clients often remember and that creates a challenging working relationship. So make sure you know exactly what you are signing in the contract, and be sure to ask the questions about deviations that may arise during engineering. TLDR: generally helicals are better. Make sure contractually the price will not vary greatly during engineering, or it can be a very expensive mistake.

@@allaboutfoundationleveling6304wow, thank you for the detailed reply! Just subscribed :)

@@joejesus9902 Always appreciated, and just glad to help!

Whoo. You have quite the history and question! It's difficult to analyze something without physically looking at it or testing soil rpoperties, so there's a lot of assumptions I would need to make to adequately reply to all of your concerns. I'd have to caution you both that I'm not a lawyer, nor a registered engineer, I am just a guy trying to provide helpful info based on the knowledge and experience that I DO have. That being said, the following: 1) Yes, it CAN migrate soil or worsen voidspace between particles, but it can have the opposite affect as well. This is why gound preparation is so important, to control some of that chaos. But like a slab that settles that needs to be sawcut to prevent aggregate lock before lifting it back up - thing's don't rise and fall in perfect harmony. Like any remodeler who understands there's no such thing as straight, level, and plumb on the easiest of jobs =) 2) Depending on the type of clay, it can affect the compaction levels more or less severely. A hard clay or caliche clay is still incredibly strong in its expanded state, even lifitng entire structures instead of just slabs. But the mass itself doesn't just disappear when it expands or constricts, it simply puts water into the particles and creates expansion. The compressive strength would be affected, then, but in many ways based on soil type. 3) If you create a void, soil can move into the void. Things have the tendency to be lazy, succumbing to gravity first, and the easiest paths of resistance second. Now if the soil isn't collapsible or loose, it will have the tendency to tie together and you have less risk of the soil migrating at all, which is why many clays will remain in place while moving the things on top it (staistepping, like slabs). 4) Regarding the erosion question of two years, it's a tough one. Yes it can, couldn't possibly tell you if that's something you're at risk of or if that's happening at your residence. There's far too many factors from soil type to level of moisture to rate of movement of the moisture to gradient to many other things, it's just not something I can say is happening at your residence, and would defer to specialist on that one. 5) I would defer more to a structural engineer to check the soundness of something, but there are tests that can be done for the strength of concrete. 6) Realistically, it may seem like their problems have exacerbate the issues at the home, but it doesn't necessarily make them the CAUSE of the problem. I would ensure they mudjack under the driveway and fix the rock swale, for sure. There was some negligence exercised and it should be corrected (my opinion, not a legal opinion). But soils properties do change over time. It would be very difficult to put that one the cable company as long as correllation is not causation. I'd put some nasty letters in there too hah. 7) With the parameters you offered, remember that organic material will decompose over long periods of time. This may put off gasses or just as importantly create pocket voids and weaker layers of soil that will allow subsidence around the property. It's why we do a lot of treatments for areas built over former landfills. A critical part of stability will be to control the moisture around the property, and ESPECIALLY under heavy structures like your home. For lighter structures, it is ever the challenge to maintain levelness and stability. People throughout areas of Southern California have pretty much accepted cracking sidewalks and even driveways as life. Expansion joints will always help, but expansive soils will always behave as they do. I know not the best evaluation or what you were hoping to hear, but those are my thoughts as best as I can gather them. I hope this helps you to understand and, if I am in error, please feel free to share!!!!

That will vary on the issues you're experiencing and the site conditions for your specific problem. In example, if you're on a hillside and you're experiencing some of the problems laid out in our hillside video, then you would want to do an evaluation of the slope, finding the slip plane, and perhaps a slope stability analysis that includes some testing with an inclinometer. That's ENTIRELY unnecessary on a flat lot ina flat subdivision. With that out of the way, generally you will want either a "Ground Improvement Report" or a "Soils Report" from a Civil or Geotechnical Engineer. The report will include some soils testing which, at its most basic, will tell you the soil type, gradation, moisture content, dry density, plasticity index, expansion index, and record the N values for the relative strength of the soil. In addition, there should be observations of the site conditions, and repair recommendations if necessary. More comprehensive reports (typical of soils reports and required by CBC/IBC) will also include int he evaluation the seismic design category and how that affects the property, and an evaluation of available information through the local jurisdiction with regard to historical landslide/flooding/etc zones in the area. When you consider it all, there's a reason those soils reports get to be so expensive! If you move into the permitting phase, depending on local municipal codes, many cities now also require historical reviews which are MUCH more detailed plans and reports, and require a TON more effort (and cost).

Thanks so much for the kind words! The goal is to get the info out there 🙏🙏🙏

Well this is a good way Hah. Or a private message. Or my email: Kyle.olsen86@gmail.com Or my phone: 909-816-4038 Don’t know if I should put that in a public comment, but can’t hurt too bad haha

My house settled a couple of inches on one side. I contacted two foundation contractors who offered similar solutions (helical piers). Is it even worth going through the city permitting process? The two contractors are reputable and have fixed thousands of houses with similar issues. Thank you for the video

That is definitely the conundrum. On one hand, it’s something that cannot positively be done with absolute certainty without an engineers input. On the flipside, you can spend $80,000 doing soils testing on a single property, and still not know exactly what the soils are, and how to mitigate them. Civil engineering is the most inexact form of engineering that exists. For that reason, there will always be an associated risk. So you have to find the balance between the testing of the soil and value engineering. That being said, everything in San Francisco is expensive 😂😂😂 There are some good foundation repair experts in the area. Many of them use combinations of systems, or they specialize in a single system, such as piering, concrete replacement, drainage mitigation, or polymer injection. Notable companies in the bay area are URETEK, FRC, bay area underpinning, Ramjack, and EagleLIFT. When these companies provide recommendations, it should be backed by an engineers analysis. Some companies opt to use engineers to create plans and reports based off of their findings, without doing an on-site investigation. This can work, but it’s sometimes very difficult and it’s a good standard of practice to have the engineer actually be on site and evaluating the issues. From that point forward, depending on the repair type, either repair specific or site specific soils testing and analysis should be a bare minimum. In example, I could do a soils test to evaluate how deep a push pier would go, but that would only be part of the information needed for a helical pier. That would also provide good information on how deep polymer injection would need to be provided, but it would not provide soils type, which could change the type of polymer, or render the polymer ineffective, if the soil was not porous enough for the polymer to travel. So this is probably just the long-winded way of saying there is value engineering available, but it will still be expensive, and it is always necessary.

Thanks mate! Appreciate the comments!

Thank you 🙏

There’s a lot of considerations before I can answer those questions: is the house experiencing subsidence or settlement? How far down is it? Do you absolutely want to have this thing lifted? What is the soil‘s look like underneath the home? What is the condition of the foundation, is it a deep foundation, or shallow, and is it raised floor or slab on grade? Do you have a basement? How many stories is the home? I can probably piece together some general recommendations if we have that info! But, as always, it would just be a long shot in the dark until further evaluation is performed by a specialist or an appropriating engineer. I know it’s a lot of questions, but I hope this helps! I’d be glad to discuss further!

@@allaboutfoundationleveling6304 Thanks for the speedy reply! The house is built on a crawlspace (no slab or basement) and is a one story house. I have owned it for 13 years and the settling is getting worse each year and now has some substantial cracks in the block wall with the biggest being about 1.5 inch gaps. The house will also need to be lifted at least 2 - 3 inches in some places (due to the sinking). The footing is not deep and the top of the footing is less than a foot from the soil surface. The soil around this area of GA is lots of red clay and gets rock hard when dry and soft and muddy when wet. There is no water getting into the crawlspace. Hopefully that is enough information for you to give your opinion on if push piers are suitable. Thank you!

@@beemikeme going to be a long answer 😅 I need to preface the response with a reminder that I have not physically seen the home, and the eyes of an expert, and or an engineer is highly recommend. So let’s tackle this step at a time: I’m making a lot of assumptions, that the footing is in a structural condition to be lifted, the framing is in a condition to be lifted, and we will also assume that the soil underneath is a red clay. Based on this information, it is unlikely that a resistance pier system like a push pier would be installed very deep. Whether it is concentrically loaded, like magic, piers, or eccentrically loaded like Safebase, SupportWorks, Ramjack, etc., the pier will likely not get pushed very deep due to the weight of the home. This doesn’t mean they won’t WORK, it just depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. The shallow installation will permit the lifting, for sure, but does little for the stabilization. Red clays are usually fairly dense and expansive, so coupled with a light home and shallow foundation I don’t expect you to be able to “push” past it, the home will lift early. I’m going to make another assumption and say the red clay, for fun, is 6’ deep and turns to something less expansive and competent below that. You could also pre-drill through the red clay layer, and install the piers underneath the footings with that means method to extend beyond the red class. While the home would still be subject to heaving of the red clay, the subsidence and differential settlement issues would both be resolved because the home would be lifted back to level. Red clay, sometimes also provide challenges for helical piles, and that a smaller shaft might require higher torque resistance, but most manufacturers have ways to deal with that. Finally, if you were to use appearing system, there are lots of things that might be influencing the subsidence of the building. You will need to make sure to maintain good drainage and grading practices, and he will also need to make sure that it is not the water table that is influencing the clays. If it is, then, once again, a heating issue may become Prevalent even if the settlement issue has been resolved. Sorry, long answer. TLDR: it would be affective for lifting, but stabilization might require further work

@@allaboutfoundationleveling6304 I VERY much appreciate your time to answer in detail. I have had 4 different pier companies come out and 3 of them say they'd use helical piers and one said they'd use push piers. The one saying push piers happens to be the cheapest quote. I am unsure of what to do. Based on just what you know about my situation, which pier system would you use?

@@beemikeme going to be a long answer 😅 I suppose my first recommendation would be to properly vet, each of the companies providing estimates. In a clay, soil condition, helical piers are generally a better repair, so it also makes sense that they are overall more expensive. That being said, I am not opposed to using push piers. If the focus of the project is specifically to lift the home back to level, they are a good solution. For long-term stability, no matter which peering system you decide to use, you’re going to need to address the drainage and grading practices around the property to ensure , that water does not influence the expansion and construction of those clay soils to a significant degree. That being said, I would encourage you to double and triple, check the warranty being offered by the peering companies, and that there is nothing hinging on the clay, soil conditions, or the amount of moisture around the property. If they are pulling permits, you will definitely need an engineering report, which will also provide some of those clarifications. If the parent company has a good reputation, or if they have done their job, thoroughly, they should’ve already addressed these hot topics with you when providing you an estimate, and going through their contract. However, based on the scope, clarifications, and having a game plan on getting your peers deep enough if the soil is too hard, I am always comfortable with push piers. But, I also understand them VERY well. TLDR: push piers are GREAT for lifting. Ask pointed questions about clay and water as they pertain to the warranty for long term stability. Get it in writing.

Thank you so much!

A separation crack, where the wall is pulling apart, assuming it is not a bonding related crack, or other minor type of cosmetic crack, indicates that the wall is being pulled apart, specifically. This could mean that another portion of the foundation is settling down, which pulls upward on the SuperStructure, and creates the separation where you are seeing, this type of crack, or it could mean that the foundation underneath that crack is pulling down and out, creating that type of separation. Inversely, if the crack is “pushing out” the drywall instead of separating it, it indicates that there is a type of compression going on. This could mean another portion of the foundation is lifting upward, which would push down on the super structure, and create a compression, tape, crack, or the foundation underneath that crack could be pushing upward, also creating a compression. In addition, it could indicate that the loading of the structure is greater than what structure can support, and it is collapsing in the wall, and creating a compression tape crack, which would be indicated by a perfectly level foundation, or more stress fractures on the slab, pushing down, if the slab is going down as well. In any case, the compression tape cracks indicate some very specific failures, and usually are not related to differential settlement. Some exceptions, of course, could always apply.

Howdy! And thank you for asking! I have had some interest in continuing this series, so once I start uploading again, I will start with a second hillside video that explores more in depth, some of these concepts! Thank you so much for your interest!

​@@allaboutfoundationleveling6304 love your videos / lectures. have learned so much.

That’s definitely what I do it for. I appreciate the kind words, thank you so much. 🙏

Howdy! Thank you for your inquiry, unfortunately, it’s a rather complicated answer. The cost for compaction grouting varies based off of material, and scope. For example, if you were using a cementitious grout or cement, sand slurry versus a cellular concrete or a polyurethane, the price would be vastly different. In addition, if you had to stabilize down 20 feet on a residence due to liquefaction issues versus 10 feet for compaction related issues, the cost again would vary greatly. You would have to then take into consideration soils conditions, soil type, and target lifting. Lifting a two-story structure in two bedrooms, as well as the kitchen and living room, a full 6 inches would vary greatly in price versus lifting a single-story structure in one room only 2 inches. With all of those caveats out of the way, most often compaction grouting will run you between 40 and 60% of the cost of steel underpinning. Generally speaking. It is usually cheaper than concrete piles, or driven piers, as well as foundation replacement, complete R&R, or excavate and re-compact, as well as caissons. There are both significant advantages, as well as some moderate risk associated with this method of remediation, and the cost savings on both contract dollars and construction timeframes often help offset some of them risk.

Did some checking around with a few of the Civils I work with, and this solution checks out! Depending ont he existing condition of the expansive clay (how expanded it is at the time of repair), the dissolution of water may result in some anticipated settlement, but then again if the issue is a heave caused by expansion then you can expect the structure to settle back to within normal parameters, assuming the initial construction was done properly. Any and all efforts to utilize drainage the mitigate the expansion and constriction can only be a benefit. Thanks for sending me toward a different means of mitigation!

If you’re talking about a contour map, a dish would be created by mapping your elevation line. Each “line” or “contour” is representative of a single elevation, so somewhere along that contour it will tell you what the measurement is. The contour making a complete circle indicates the same measurement around in one circle, so anything inside the circle is higher or lower depending on what the other contours read. Several contours creating a bowl or dish shape is indicative of a heave (if the elevations rise rapidly) or a sharp settlement of the elevations decline. This happens a lot when water lines break and one specific area of a slab is disaffected by the resulting movement.

@@allaboutfoundationleveling6304 thank you very much. I have a big test tomorrow and I know they will ask something similar.

@@TheToufikzeidan Good luck today!

No worries! Got a LOT of info on it through this channel!

It’s great to have you!

So this is a tough Q&A. I appreciate your input and your question, thank you! While most issues with the injection of polyurethane can be worked around, it becomes a question of what is cost effective and what is not. The greatest issues you will find are the following: 1) caliche clays or Libbey-Gulch clays. Essentially any soil that has a really high plasticity, generally over 45, he will run into an issue with polymer. Polymer relies on the permeability of the soil to travel and fill voids, so soil‘s that are non-permeable have issues with travel and therefore coverage. You can tighten your injection spacing, but you will have the tendency to have a lot of blowouts, and the overall effectiveness is questionable. 2) hillsides - when misdiagnosed, a lot of people will try to address settlement issues on the hillside with a standard penetrometer test and they will try to handle the compaction. When hillside creep is affecting the underlying soils at greater deaths, you can stabilize the upper 10 feet, but it will all continue to move as a part of a larger soil mass. This is why engineering and soil testing is so important, as well as identifying hillside creep, lateral movement, and depth of the slip planes. 3) lifting a raised floor foundation stem wall: it is incredibly difficult to lift a raised floor foundation successfully, especially the greater it has settled. With such a narrow footing, it is hard to target the upward force of the polymer onto that surface area in order to facilitate lift. This is an operational issue, and entirely possible enough training, but still very difficult to pull off. Often, you run into overages in polymer while creating a barrier wall to contain the lift. 4) “shooting the shot” - most residential homes can be stabilized with two or three depths of injection, and lift successfully performed. The unfortunate part of overpromising and underperforming is that the Lilly pad approach only sometimes works, isn’t often utilized correctly, and most warranties won’t cover additional movement. 5) unknown soils conditions: I have seen some absolutely crazy things in construction and in foundation leveling in my last 17 years of experience here. Some things are unexplainable, some things and avoidable. Because polymer injection treats the soil directly, you need to have soils information to understand best what you’re doing while performing injections. A lot of people jump into polymer injection with crossed fingers and no soils info, and it’s just a recipe for disaster. Those are the primary reasons that I’ve seen polymer fail, as you can see they are all avoidable, or most of them have some form of work around. This is why the company you work with is incredibly important, and experience and training will speak 1000 words. In general, I recommend the technicians at minimum, the project managers at best, understand what type of polymer to use and when, the temperatures of injection and when it is appropriate to change those temperatures, as well as exterior temperatures or temperature of the soil, and how that affects the individual polymers. Great guys like you and the company that you work with I’ve got all this down, I have every faith in a few of the polymer companies out there!!! Thanks so much again for your question, I value your opinion and your input!

Thanks for the encouragement! I'm hoping to dive very far into this for the technical people as well, likely in a different series of videos! I appreciate you!