Honestly, one of the best videos I've seen a company put together, about what they do, how they do it, and how they do it better than the rest. Very nice!
I have spent months watching videos and doing research on foundation and structural integrity to see how I’m going to repair my house. Today, I found your video and it supersedes all the others. All of you are very well spoken, and I appreciate you explaining it so that anyone can understand the process. Hopefully you service Conroe, TX since I don’t see anyone else matching up to your company after this video.
Thank you for your great feedback! We serve all of Texas, and our Pasadena, TX office would be happy to help. You can reach us at 713-473-7156. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
@@du-westservices We may need your services in McKinney, TX. We do not know yet as it needs to be inspected and determined if we need a lift. We will keep you all in mind.
Transparent Engineered Solutions is a member of the National Foundation Repair Association, and their President Bob Brown is an active participatory member. You can reach them at 602-763-1307 and they should be able to provide some better local information on material sourcing. Thanks for the great feedback.
We do not recommend foam injection to level a slab on grade residential foundation that was built with grade beams (almost all of them). We have two polyurethane injection installation rigs and cover the state using them to raise sidewalks and driveways, parking lots, warehouses, etc. The difference between these examples and a residential slab is a house has grade beams which act as a skeleton holding the slab all together. When you inject one of these slabs you are actually lifting on the mat (thin part of the slab) and the grade beam is no longer supported. This is the primary issue. Another issue is the potential to create under slab sewer clogs if the foam seeps into a pipe that has come apart. Finally, with foam injection you are still relying on the surface soils for stability. If the soils ever get wetter than it is on the day the injection is installed you can actually heave a house up higher than you intended.
We have a huge patio against our home that opens up along the perimeter to form landscaping beds between the patio and our home foundation. The problem is that these beds fill up like a swimming pool. There is a solid line taking this water away, however it seems to stay moist several days after a rain. I thought I could add drainage, but I'm not sure this is the solution. Other than removing this huge patio, what would remedy this situation? Do you do this kind of work?
With the situation you are describing adding drainage is typically the right solution. We do this type of work and can be reached at 713-473-7156 to provide a free evaluation. We look forward to hearing from you soon!
There are several factors to consider when selecting a great contractor to work with. The best advice is to go with your gut. If the contractor shows up to provide an estimate late, has a messy vehicle and a messy appearance, and has missing or incomplete information that was provided to the office during booking then that contractor is setting the groundwork for how that project will go. Asking for most or all the money before starting a project is also a red flag. Google reviews are good but can be easily manipulated to make a contractor look better than they are. Word of mouth is an ideal resource for finding a great contractor. Finally, if a contractor can't explain to you exactly what they will be doing and how in a straightforward and easy to understand way that makes you feel comfortable with signing a contract they probably don't know what they are doing very well themselves. You want to feel confident with your decision to do business, not confused, because once the project is underway it's hard to go back.
Thank you for your question. Typically we would not expect moles to have an impact on the stability of your foundation. The load bearing soils under a slab foundation are quite deep, and the foundation is able to span a small area of small soil disturbance without issue.
Unfortunately, just like roofing, there are no licensing requirements for foundation repair in the state of Texas. I can't speak for the rest of the country. Part of the reason for this is that there are no building codes that define specific repair requirements for your foundation. Due to these factors, most municipalities that require permits mandate that either an engineer's report or engineer stamped drawing be submitted by the contractor to pull the repair permit. This leaves the industry open for anyone and everyone to call themselves a foundation repair professional, and it puts a huge burden on the consumer to understand who they choose to do business with. With that in mind, this is one of the reasons Du-West invested in putting this educational video together, so we can educate Texas consumers on what doing it right looks like.
The most clearly explained underpinning video on YT, or anywhere for that matter. Understand foam injection probably not as a permanent solution as resin companies claim. But if only one side of a slab is underpinned, wouldn't in future have uneven settlement of the slab as remaining 3 sides are not strengthened/underpinned ?
Thank you for your compliment, and great question! There are two factors involved here to address. The first would be the expected tendency for one area of the house to continue to move on active soils vs the stabilized area where piers are installed. You do create the potential for differential movement when you have dissimilar foundation supports. We take two main steps to address this. One is, when designing a pier plan we fully underpin the active area with piers. Some companies attempt to only support part of the active area to save costs and try to win more work, but they are ultimately doing their clients a disservice because if the area that is already active is not fully addresses this will undoubtedly create just as much, if not more, stress on the structure down the line. Two is, we often look for what caused the foundation movement in the first place and try to address the cause with maintenance solutions such as root shields, foundation watering systems, retaining walls, drainage, etc. to prevent the active area from spreading any larger. The second factor, and potentially your main train of thought, is if part of the house is lifted does this put extra weight on the other parts of the house and potentially push them down? The short answer is, no, but to summarize concrete slab foundations do have quite a bit of flexibility in them and they deform (bend) long before they transfer enough load to the other end of a house to push it down. Please let me know if you have any other great questions.
We backfill and hand compact the native soil in tunnels. This will leave a small void at the top of the tunnels. Once foundations are lifted by piers there will almost always be a void created under the slab in the area where the piers are installed. This void is left to allow the soil to expand and contract with changes in moisture without heaving up the foundation. Once the job is completed the soil deep in the ground bearing the piling will be what's supporting the slab as opposed to the surface soil.
Great question! We install concrete pressed piles, steel pressed piles, concrete drilled bell-bottom piers, helical piers, and polyurethane injection as foundation repair solutions depending on the structure type and soil conditions. The concrete pressed pile is our most common repair method for residential structures in the markets we serve throughout Texas, but there are some regions in Texas where steel pressed piles are a better solution. This would include if you have rocky soils or a heavy sand layer under your home. If you would like more information or would like a consultation with our team please give us a call at 800-457-2966.
It is primarily due to cost. In the areas where we have active soils (expansive clays in Texas) many custom built homes are built with piers in place to prevent movement, but unfortunately most neighborhood tract homes are not. They still build these new houses today to keep us in business long into the future.
Why are you not using steel pipe like many others? Concrete pilings can break while pushing them. Having this work done is very expensive. For those of us with a lot of general construction experience, I don't see why this can't be a done by the homeowner.
We install concrete pressed piles, steel pressed piles, drilled piers, helical piers, polyurethane injection, mud pumping, etc. depending on the soil conditions and the structure type. To address your question, steel pipe has performance disadvantages in clay soil as steel piles are designed to be an end bearing piling not a friction bearing piling like concrete pressed piles. There are also cost disadvantages to steel piles as well, so while we do require them in soils that necessitate it, they are not recommended for all applications. Secondly, not all concrete cylinders are created equal which is why when we started in this industry we made them ourselves, and today we only buy them from a single trusted plant. That being said, if a cylinder is going to break under compressive loading that will often happen at the top of the pile. This is where the cylinder is being loaded directly by the ram and the cylinder is not encased on all sides by the soil. Finally, working with a trusted contractor like Du-West gains the protection of insurance, the performance of proper installation technique, the experience of lifting and leveling, and the security of a lifetime warranty from a company that is recognized in the industry as top tier.
Vertical movement of just a couple of inches to a concrete slab foundation can cause several issues to the superstructure above the foundation including brick cracks, drywall cracks, and sticking doors. To keep these issues from getting worse, and to provide a permanent repair, sometimes requires foundation repair piers. The most common cause of foundation movement is moisture level differences in the soil supporting the foundation. When clay soil dries out it shrinks, when it is hydrated it expands, and as this process occurs repeatedly it causes consolidation of the clay soil which results in permanent shrinkage. To make matters worse this drying and rehydration doesn't always occur uniformly around a foundation, especially when there are trees, and this difference in moisture fluctuations to the soil can cause foundations to settle at different rates across the slab. Differential settlement creates slopes in the foundation which lead to the damage to the superstructure described above.
We install concrete pressed piles, steel pressed piles, concrete drilled bell-bottom piers, helical piers, polyurethane injection, and mud jacking as foundation repair solutions depending on the structure type and soil conditions. The concrete pressed pile is our most common repair method for residential structures in the markets we serve throughout Texas, but there are some soil conditions and structure types that are best served by helical piers. There really is no one size fits all approach given the diversity of what we repair. I will caution that a concrete pressed pile installed poorly will not be a good repair, but the same can be said for a poorly installed helical pier. In order for our helical piers to be installed properly we have geotechnical testing done on the site to evaluate soil conditions and we evaluate the weight of the structure we are lifting. These factors influence how large the helix is on the pier we have custom manufactured for that site, what minimum depth we must achieve with the pier, and how much torque is applied to the pier during installation. These additional steps to the design phase of a properly installed helical pier and the additional cost to do so is why this method is not the default solution for most residential foundation repair projects in our industry.
I am not familiar with the exact scope of that particular project, but foundation repair pressed pile projects typically range about $5,000 on the low end and go up from there. The full scope and price depends on: how much area of the house has settled, how severe the slope is, whether the house is settling down or heaving up, and how the existing foundation is constructed. Please let us know if we can help.
Honestly, one of the best videos I've seen a company put together, about what they do, how they do it, and how they do it better than the rest. Very nice!
Wow, thank you!
I agree
I’m so proud of my people! Most of us are hard working people ❤ We are not afraid of any job!! Bendiciones a todos los Hispanos trabajadores!!
The Mexican is the true hero’s of foundation repair best I ever seen
I ran across your video searching for what could have caused our foundation problem. I'm so glad I did. I'll be contacting you soon.
Thank you, we look forward to speaking with you soon.
I have spent months watching videos and doing research on foundation and structural integrity to see how I’m going to repair my house. Today, I found your video and it supersedes all the others. All of you are very well spoken, and I appreciate you explaining it so that anyone can understand the process. Hopefully you service Conroe, TX since I don’t see anyone else matching up to your company after this video.
Thank you for your great feedback! We serve all of Texas, and our Pasadena, TX office would be happy to help. You can reach us at 713-473-7156. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
@@du-westservices We may need your services in McKinney, TX. We do not know yet as it needs to be inspected and determined if we need a lift. We will keep you all in mind.
@@MasterTheNEC Thank you, our Dallas office would be happy to help!
Very informative video! I can appreciate the integrity in the your workmanship. Will definitely be giving y’all a call for an inspection.
We are so glad to hear it and are looking forward to serving you soon!
Where can I buy Concrete pressed Piles like the ones you are using? (Live in AZ in the middle of nowhere and have to DIY). Excellent Video!
Transparent Engineered Solutions is a member of the National Foundation Repair Association, and their President Bob Brown is an active participatory member. You can reach them at 602-763-1307 and they should be able to provide some better local information on material sourcing. Thanks for the great feedback.
What is your view on polylevel foam to level the home?
We do not recommend foam injection to level a slab on grade residential foundation that was built with grade beams (almost all of them). We have two polyurethane injection installation rigs and cover the state using them to raise sidewalks and driveways, parking lots, warehouses, etc. The difference between these examples and a residential slab is a house has grade beams which act as a skeleton holding the slab all together. When you inject one of these slabs you are actually lifting on the mat (thin part of the slab) and the grade beam is no longer supported. This is the primary issue. Another issue is the potential to create under slab sewer clogs if the foam seeps into a pipe that has come apart. Finally, with foam injection you are still relying on the surface soils for stability. If the soils ever get wetter than it is on the day the injection is installed you can actually heave a house up higher than you intended.
@@du-westservices Thank you for explaining this.
We have a huge patio against our home that opens up along the perimeter to form landscaping beds between the patio and our home foundation. The problem is that these beds fill up like a swimming pool. There is a solid line taking this water away, however it seems to stay moist several days after a rain. I thought I could add drainage, but I'm not sure this is the solution. Other than removing this huge patio, what would remedy this situation? Do you do this kind of work?
With the situation you are describing adding drainage is typically the right solution. We do this type of work and can be reached at 713-473-7156 to provide a free evaluation. We look forward to hearing from you soon!
How do I find a good contractor?! I’ve always been screwed when hiring people. I feel like they always take advantage of me cause I’m a women.
There are several factors to consider when selecting a great contractor to work with. The best advice is to go with your gut. If the contractor shows up to provide an estimate late, has a messy vehicle and a messy appearance, and has missing or incomplete information that was provided to the office during booking then that contractor is setting the groundwork for how that project will go. Asking for most or all the money before starting a project is also a red flag. Google reviews are good but can be easily manipulated to make a contractor look better than they are. Word of mouth is an ideal resource for finding a great contractor. Finally, if a contractor can't explain to you exactly what they will be doing and how in a straightforward and easy to understand way that makes you feel comfortable with signing a contract they probably don't know what they are doing very well themselves. You want to feel confident with your decision to do business, not confused, because once the project is underway it's hard to go back.
I have mole in my both yards. And i guess if can cost fundation problems.
Thank you for your question. Typically we would not expect moles to have an impact on the stability of your foundation. The load bearing soils under a slab foundation are quite deep, and the foundation is able to span a small area of small soil disturbance without issue.
Do you have an associate company that serves Southern California?
We are so glad for your interest, but unfortunately do not work outside of Texas currently. Good luck in your search!
Wow what a jingle
Do you have to have a licensed to do this type of work?
Unfortunately, just like roofing, there are no licensing requirements for foundation repair in the state of Texas. I can't speak for the rest of the country. Part of the reason for this is that there are no building codes that define specific repair requirements for your foundation. Due to these factors, most municipalities that require permits mandate that either an engineer's report or engineer stamped drawing be submitted by the contractor to pull the repair permit. This leaves the industry open for anyone and everyone to call themselves a foundation repair professional, and it puts a huge burden on the consumer to understand who they choose to do business with. With that in mind, this is one of the reasons Du-West invested in putting this educational video together, so we can educate Texas consumers on what doing it right looks like.
The most clearly explained underpinning video on YT, or anywhere for that matter. Understand foam injection probably not as a permanent solution as resin companies claim. But if only one side of a slab is underpinned, wouldn't in future have uneven settlement of the slab as remaining 3 sides are not strengthened/underpinned ?
Thank you for your compliment, and great question! There are two factors involved here to address.
The first would be the expected tendency for one area of the house to continue to move on active soils vs the stabilized area where piers are installed. You do create the potential for differential movement when you have dissimilar foundation supports. We take two main steps to address this. One is, when designing a pier plan we fully underpin the active area with piers. Some companies attempt to only support part of the active area to save costs and try to win more work, but they are ultimately doing their clients a disservice because if the area that is already active is not fully addresses this will undoubtedly create just as much, if not more, stress on the structure down the line. Two is, we often look for what caused the foundation movement in the first place and try to address the cause with maintenance solutions such as root shields, foundation watering systems, retaining walls, drainage, etc. to prevent the active area from spreading any larger.
The second factor, and potentially your main train of thought, is if part of the house is lifted does this put extra weight on the other parts of the house and potentially push them down? The short answer is, no, but to summarize concrete slab foundations do have quite a bit of flexibility in them and they deform (bend) long before they transfer enough load to the other end of a house to push it down.
Please let me know if you have any other great questions.
@@johanndutton8370 Much appreciated. I don't have to deal with this massive headache at the moment, but good to know.
What a jingle!!
How do compact the soil in the tunnel?
We backfill and hand compact the native soil in tunnels. This will leave a small void at the top of the tunnels. Once foundations are lifted by piers there will almost always be a void created under the slab in the area where the piers are installed. This void is left to allow the soil to expand and contract with changes in moisture without heaving up the foundation. Once the job is completed the soil deep in the ground bearing the piling will be what's supporting the slab as opposed to the surface soil.
Good video! Do you always use the concrete piers or do you also use steel piers and if so, when would steel be more suitable?
Great question! We install concrete pressed piles, steel pressed piles, concrete drilled bell-bottom piers, helical piers, and polyurethane injection as foundation repair solutions depending on the structure type and soil conditions. The concrete pressed pile is our most common repair method for residential structures in the markets we serve throughout Texas, but there are some regions in Texas where steel pressed piles are a better solution. This would include if you have rocky soils or a heavy sand layer under your home. If you would like more information or would like a consultation with our team please give us a call at 800-457-2966.
Agradezco a esa gran compañía que me dió trabajo por mucho tiempo !!!🙏🙏🙏🙏
Como saber si la fundacion dd mi casa quedo bien@@joseviera9146
Why don't they put these cylinders under foundation when building a house?
It is primarily due to cost. In the areas where we have active soils (expansive clays in Texas) many custom built homes are built with piers in place to prevent movement, but unfortunately most neighborhood tract homes are not. They still build these new houses today to keep us in business long into the future.
Why are you not using steel pipe like many others? Concrete pilings can break while pushing them. Having this work done is very expensive. For those of us with a lot of general construction experience, I don't see why this can't be a done by the homeowner.
We install concrete pressed piles, steel pressed piles, drilled piers, helical piers, polyurethane injection, mud pumping, etc. depending on the soil conditions and the structure type. To address your question, steel pipe has performance disadvantages in clay soil as steel piles are designed to be an end bearing piling not a friction bearing piling like concrete pressed piles. There are also cost disadvantages to steel piles as well, so while we do require them in soils that necessitate it, they are not recommended for all applications. Secondly, not all concrete cylinders are created equal which is why when we started in this industry we made them ourselves, and today we only buy them from a single trusted plant. That being said, if a cylinder is going to break under compressive loading that will often happen at the top of the pile. This is where the cylinder is being loaded directly by the ram and the cylinder is not encased on all sides by the soil. Finally, working with a trusted contractor like Du-West gains the protection of insurance, the performance of proper installation technique, the experience of lifting and leveling, and the security of a lifetime warranty from a company that is recognized in the industry as top tier.
That house looks fine. What caused this?
Vertical movement of just a couple of inches to a concrete slab foundation can cause several issues to the superstructure above the foundation including brick cracks, drywall cracks, and sticking doors. To keep these issues from getting worse, and to provide a permanent repair, sometimes requires foundation repair piers. The most common cause of foundation movement is moisture level differences in the soil supporting the foundation. When clay soil dries out it shrinks, when it is hydrated it expands, and as this process occurs repeatedly it causes consolidation of the clay soil which results in permanent shrinkage. To make matters worse this drying and rehydration doesn't always occur uniformly around a foundation, especially when there are trees, and this difference in moisture fluctuations to the soil can cause foundations to settle at different rates across the slab. Differential settlement creates slopes in the foundation which lead to the damage to the superstructure described above.
If nothing else convinces you- giving the owner time to tell his story- should
Thank you for the great feedback!
And everybody loves it when your house gets destroyed
Concrete piling are worth crap. Get some helical piers and do it right!
We install concrete pressed piles, steel pressed piles, concrete drilled bell-bottom piers, helical piers, polyurethane injection, and mud jacking as foundation repair solutions depending on the structure type and soil conditions. The concrete pressed pile is our most common repair method for residential structures in the markets we serve throughout Texas, but there are some soil conditions and structure types that are best served by helical piers. There really is no one size fits all approach given the diversity of what we repair. I will caution that a concrete pressed pile installed poorly will not be a good repair, but the same can be said for a poorly installed helical pier. In order for our helical piers to be installed properly we have geotechnical testing done on the site to evaluate soil conditions and we evaluate the weight of the structure we are lifting. These factors influence how large the helix is on the pier we have custom manufactured for that site, what minimum depth we must achieve with the pier, and how much torque is applied to the pier during installation. These additional steps to the design phase of a properly installed helical pier and the additional cost to do so is why this method is not the default solution for most residential foundation repair projects in our industry.
How much did that job cost?
I am not familiar with the exact scope of that particular project, but foundation repair pressed pile projects typically range about $5,000 on the low end and go up from there. The full scope and price depends on: how much area of the house has settled, how severe the slope is, whether the house is settling down or heaving up, and how the existing foundation is constructed. Please let us know if we can help.
Whats going to happen when everyone votes for Trump 😊