A sinking foundation isn’t just unsightly—it also represents an instability that can make your home less safe and compromise important functions such as providing insulation and keeping out moisture. If you notice your home is shifting down into the ground, it may be time to call for professional help. You can apply one of two major methods for treating a sinking foundation to your house, which we’ll explore here.
Slabjacking
The first method for treating a sinking foundation is called slabjacking. This is useful for a foundation that’s composed of a plain concrete slab and that lacks a basement. The process consists of drilling holes into the concrete foundation until they penetrate beneath it. From there, a substance is injected into the holes, where it enters the loose spaces in the ground that are causing the sinking. The professional fills the spaces until the foundation and the substance harden, making the ground even once again. This substance may be composed of a limestone grout, a mud mixture, or an expanding foam.
Piering
Foundation piering uses solid metal or concrete beams to address sinking, and it may be used in houses with basements. There are two variations of piers: push piers and helical piers. To install push piers, professionals will dig around the foundation to expose it and attach pier brackets in the affected areas. These brackets have holes through which a hydraulic machine drives the metal piers. The brackets hold the piers in place, and the piers hold up the foundation once they’re buried deep beneath the ground. Once all the piers are driven in, hydraulic jacks are attached to the brackets, pulling up parts of the brackets and allowing the bracket-pier structures to lift up the foundation.
Helical piers, on the other hand, are drilled directly into the ground with a torque motor machine. Then, the bracket heads are added to connect the piers with the foundation, and hydraulic jacks lift the pier structures to level the foundation just as they do with push piers.
