Why Unstable Foundations Do Not Spell The End For Your House
Getting the news from an engineer or architect that the foundations of your home are not in good shape can be very terrifying. After all, the foundations are what keeps your home upright and safe, so to hear that they are in jeopardy is every homeowner's worst nightmare. The good news is that there are many ways to remedy this problem without condemning the house. Underpinning services make up a large portion of this recovery work and there are quite a few procedures that can be done to help stabilise the house once more. Here are three of the most common underpinning services that could help your home.
Underpinning
If the problem with your home is that certain parts of your foundation have started sinking into the ground or are just no longer steady, then you might try underpinning. Underpinning works by either adding in new pins or by extending the current ones far deeper into the ground, giving them a lot more support. Underpinning is often done before new homes are occupied, but it can be done in emergencies to help shore up the foundations and make them stronger as a whole. It also prevents further decay and stops this same problem from happening in the future.
Contiguous Piling
If you have an issue of the surrounding area affecting the structural stability of your foundations, then you can have contiguous piling installed to act as a wall, in addition to a bit of support for the house itself. This is quite a complex procedure that takes a bit of time, but once it is done, it acts like a very strong barricade that is immune to many different events and weather conditions. This is often done for larger buildings, but it can be useful for residential homes as well!
Replacing Old Pins
In the past, it was much more common to see poor materials used even in something as important as the foundations of a house. Wood was instrumental in foundations for a long time and is still used (albeit more sparingly), but when it is used in pins, you risk them decaying far quicker than concrete or metal. That is not an issue, as many older buildings have already had their pins removed and replaced with modern alternatives that are much better suited to survive the climate, whatever it is, that you are living in. From wet and rainy Tasmania to hot and dry Western Australia, modern manufacturing guarantees that newer pins can thrive in most situations.