Why Choose Resin Injection Underpinning Instead of Concrete?
It could be there are cracks in your foundation, or maybe soil has moved beneath your property. Regardless of the problem, you'll need to seek out the services of an underpinning contractor to avoid experiencing serious property damage. It used to be that all underpinning involved concrete. For over 100 years, holes would be dug beneath the home and concrete poured in to improve stability – when the concrete sets, you'll have essentially created a whole new foundation.
These days, you'll often find contractors offering resin injection underpinning. It's a simple enough process to understand; a mixture of resin and hardener is injected under your home through small holes. It flows into the soil and around current foundations, expanding as it hardens to fill any voids and lift the structure. Here are just a few reasons you should choose resin injection underpinning over concrete.
Greater Speed
One of the biggest complaints with concrete underpinning is how long it takes. Even the process of mixing, pouring and drying the concrete can eat up quite a few hours, but the main issue is the amount of time needed to dig the holes where that concrete is going. Most concrete underpinning projects take a couple of days. Resin injection is much faster. Only very small holes need to be made, and the resin will harden in well under an hour once injected.
Minimal Excavation
Digging large holes for concrete underpinning is disruptive as well as time-consuming. Excavations are messy, and they'll often force you to leave your home or at least move things around until the project is completed. With the resin injection method, excavations are minimal and you can stay right where you are throughout.
No Heavy Machinery
Concrete needs to be mixed at your property, which means you'll need to put up with large vehicles and heavy pieces of machinery. With resin injection underpinning, this shouldn't be such a problem. The resin and hardener come premixed, so all that's needed is a small mobile injection kit. This also helps if contractors need to access any cramped or hard-to-reach areas.
Greater Penetration
People associate concrete rather than resin with strength, so you might be thinking that concrete underpinning is at least the most effective method. In fact, this is rarely true. Prior to hardening, resin has a much lower viscosity than concrete, so it can flow into thinner cracks instead of leaving air pockets. It also weighs less, so it doesn't put as much pressure on the soil below.
For more information, contact a company like Pro-Pin Professional Underpinning.