Foundation Piering and Push Piers

Over time, a home’s own weight pushes down on it’s foundation. This can lead to major problems with the foundation and therefore the home itself. Older homes show their age with cracks in the foundation and walls. Systems have been in place since the late 1800’s to prevent a home’s foundation from continued damaged. Push pier is a popular method of piering a foundation and stabilizing a home. When your home is in need of foundation repairs, contact MAGNUM® Piering.

Push Pier System

This system uses high-strength round steel tube sections and a load transfer bracket to stabilize and/or lift sinking or settling foundation. Using hydraulics, these tubes are driven or pushed down through the soil until they reach stable bedrock. Helical piers, on the other hand, use a steel shaft with helical plates welded onto the tube. These plates are used to pull the pier into the ground. Push piers are commonly called resistance piers.

Advantages

Push piers are used frequently because installation is simple. The weight of the structure is used as the resistance when installing the pier so load testing is immediate and the ability of the pier is easy to determine because it is already holding up the weight of the structure. When using push piers equipment is not required. The majority of the time access holes are dug by hand, but in some cases a small excavator is used to dig access holes.

Disadvantages

Because the structure is used to pushed the pier into the ground, if the structure is too light, there is not enough resistance to push the pier far enough into the ground. Push piers are also not a good choice when there is cracking or deterioration of the foundation, or if the weight of the structure is expected to increase. Most single story structures made with wood framing and siding are commonly too light to use push piers. In this case, helical piers are more appropriate.

A homeowner will never be expected to decide which method of piering should be used on their home, but when it comes to foundation repairs, being knowledgeable of every process is essential. All of the piering lingo is often used interchangeably, so it can be confusing. When your home is in need of foundation repairs, contact Magnum Piering for experts in piering foundations.