Crawl Before You Walk
Baby steps… as contractors we hate the slow, meticulous approach. We would rather bang it out… Get er done! Time is money. But sometimes, when your installing helicals,under a house, in a crawlspace, you literally have to crawl. And watch your (bang) “Ouch”… head.
Project
Post Superstorm Sandy, this 25 year old waterfront residence began to experience settlement. The exterior walls were supported on pilings but the grade beam was not and now needed to be underpinned to arrest the settlement.
The Challenge
The crawlspace could only be accessed through a 4.5’ by 2’ entranceway posing a major impediment for Installation equipment. In addition limited headroom required a segmented piling system that could be installed in sections.
The Underpinning of a Good Strategy
Gary Paterno from GP Piles installed (14) 1.5” square shaft helical piers, in 5’ segments. to 15’ to achieve the 35 kip ultimate capacity. IDEAL Tru-Force underpinning brackets were used to stabilize the foundation and arrest the settlement. A portable hand-held drive assembly, powered by a walk-behind skid Steer, staged outside the crawl space, overcame the the equipment access challenge. 30’ of hydraulic hose connected the off-site power source to the hand-held drive assembly.
Learn more about this and other projects by visiting the Lindenhurst, NY Crawlspace project on our Case Studies page.
