Photo Album: Test Pier in Huntington Beach, California

In Huntington Beach, Ca, Saber Geotechnical Construction Solutions was asked to come help a homeowner who's property was suffering from settlement issues.  Doors and windows were sticking and interior and exterior walls had cracking which is a sure sign of settlement issues.  This type of settling is usually due to a shift in the soils supporting the foundation as the heat shrinks the clay in the supporting soils. The homeowner contacted Saber to set an appointment to have a project specialist visit the property and give an estimate.  Once the project specialist had completed the evaluation, the homeowner knew it was time to fix the problem.  The method used to fix this homeowners settlement issue would be to install push piers at the foundation footing.  With the push piers by Foundation Supportworks, Inc, installation is easy and the effects are immediate.  Push Piers are easily driven into the ground beneath a home until they hit hard solid supporting soils.  Brackets are attached to the foundation footing to drive the piers in at the right angle and to transfer the lifting from the pier to the home’s foundation. Sometimes, it is required that a test pier be installed before beginning the actual installation process.   Test piers are installed because the engineer is using the information from the pier logs in leu of a soils boring.  Soils borings are when they drill down and perform soils samplings and soil density.  The density information can be taken off of a pier log and verify the capacity of the soils.  Saber’s production crew was scheduled to complete a test pier install at the property to begin the process, for the homeowner.  Once the job is complete the homeowner will notice that the signs of soil shifting, the doors and windows that had once stuck, will no longer be an issue.  As well as, the cracks that had formed due to the shift will most likely have closed up during the lifting process.