Fixing Your Foundation: Underpinning & Piering for Milwaukee Homes & Garages
Cracks in a home’s walls or foundation are always a cause for concern. Fortunately, these cracks aren’t always serious – and when they are, they can be repaired by professionals.
Sometimes, cracks in a home or garage result from Milwaukee’s temperate climate. For example, it’s natural for a building’s wooden frame to expand and contract with seasonal changes. You also might see small cracks that result from water loss in concrete. If your home has been built properly, then hairline cracks from such expansion and contraction won’t compromise its structural integrity.
However, other cracks can be signs of a serious foundation drop or excessive settling. There are a number of factors that can cause a home to sink or tip. Settling can happen when soil erodes. It can also occur because our region’s clay dirt expands and contracts significantly as moisture levels change. A third contributor of sinking foundations is fill dirt compacting unevenly. Finally, some foundations are compromised when weak basement walls are essentially acting as retaining walls for the surrounding earth.
Lifting & Leveling a Settled Home
Foundations with settlement problems are repaired with underpinning (also known as piering). There are different techniques which can be used for foundation underpinning. A licensed structural engineer will visit the site to examine the structure, and collects information about the surrounding soils and other topics. The structural engineer may recommend different foundation underpinning options which can be used to stabilize and support the foundation. In our area, helical piers or steel push piers are the two main types of underpinning.
Underpinning with helical piers is accomplished by extending the foundation in depth or width so it either rests on a more supportive soil stratum or distributes its load across a greater area. The function of steel push pier is the support and stabilization of your structure’s load bearing walls by transferring the weight of the structure from weaker soils onto the steel piers that are driven deep to load bearing soils.
Contact the #1 Recommended Milwaukee Underpinning Company
Accurate Basement Repair is a Milwaukee-grown foundation restoration company. We have southeastern Wisconsin’s only Nationally Certified Structural Repair Specialist on staff. Better than a franchise, we proudly display our Super Service Awards from Angie’s List and maintain an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.
Find out why Accurate Basement Repair is the top Milwaukee piering and underpinning company among private homeowners as well as building inspectors, engineers, lenders and Realtors. Call today for your FREE estimate! We offer foundation restoration, waterproofing, wall rebuilds and other crucial services at competitive prices.
With our dedicated and educated staff and our competitive pricing, we are confident that Accurate Basement Repair will satisfy all of your needs. We’re not just good, we’re Accurate!
Contact us today for your FREE estimate!