Sinking Chimney Lifted Using Combination of Piers

Challenge

Matt Clark and his crew at Northern Basement Systems have lifted settled brick chimneys in the past. However, the geologic composition of the soils in Colchester posed an unprecedented challenge. The average Push Pier gets driven 30' before hitting load bearing strata. In this particular area, piers were being driven through 165' of sand until hitting bedrock.

Due to the extreme circumstances and depths being reached, the customer had concerns revolving the additional building materials potentially needed to complete the project. This is when Matt Clark and his team figured they could not only save the customer money, but combat the overall depth using a combination of products.

Solution

Matt and his crew installed a Model 288 retrofit helical using a mini excavator and Pro-Dig X9K5 drive head. Due to it's screw like design, entirely different forces are needed to achieve load bearing capacity on a helical pier. Therefore, the team was able to drive the pier at a slightly lesser depth than the push piers.

Once installation was completed, the team set up the lift cylinders and were able to achieve lift. And the homeowners could resume using the fireplace that had otherwise been rendered useless.

Project Summary

Products Used: Model 288 push piers, Model 288 retrofit helical piers, Pro-Dig X9K5 drive head

Dealer: Northern Basement Systems