Pier and beam/foundation help in Houston

[huge 3,831]

In the last year my house has been shifting and now all 3 of my doors are off kilter.  Anyone have a recommendation for a foundation outfit in town?

I have talked to someone already at Atlas but looking for another opinion.

[horn4life 3,838]

Kidding, sort of.  I would be trying to figure out why my piers were settling and how I could do it myself.  Seems like relatively simple shit on pier and beam. jack up, Dig out hole,tie a little rebar,  pour footing, pour (fab) pier.  

[huge 3,831]

37 minutes ago, horn4life said:

Seems like relatively simple shit on pier and beam. jack up, Dig out hole,tie a little rebar,  pour footing, pour (fab) pier.  

This isn't using the Super Bassomatic 76.  

[NeverMarryAStripper 22,303]

How do you know if a 20 ton jack is big enough.  It's not like you can weigh your house.

[elfenix 34,752]

35 minutes ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

How do you know if a 20 ton jack is big enough.  It's not like you can weigh your house.

you clearly need to upgrade your mattress scale

[Judge Roybeanbag 11,860]

58 minutes ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

How do you know if a 20 ton jack is big enough.  It's not like you can weigh your house.

It's like you've never heard of a few guys and some synchronized jacking!

[NeverMarryAStripper 22,303]

15 minutes ago, Judge Roybeanbag said:

It's like you've never heard of a few guys and some synchronized jacking!

I definitely wouldn't get any aggy involved

[BearSchlong 8,242]

1 hour ago, elfenix said:

you clearly need to upgrade your mattress scale

golf clap.  Well played.

[williemackgarza 1,826]

I to have a need for foundation repair on a pier /beam house in georgetown

[tokamak 6,687]

We had Bonilla Foundation Repair come out and look at our house a couple years ago. Their reviews everywhere are immaculate and the guy that came out (Mr. Bonilla himself, I believe) was nice as could be. Very helpful and honest seeming. He told us straight up that we didn't need his services and that we should just enjoy our home and call him a few years if something changes.

[SydneyCarton 49,505]

Sounds like you need to find someone who works in hydraulics. 

[horn4life 3,838]

just FYI- because I was looking at a fixer upper with some obivous pier and beam foundation issues. But this video is interesting as it show the process of leveling a cement slab foundation.  just interesting in how they do it.  You need to see the first pier the guy starts to jack into the ground.  He attaches a spear looking tip to the first cement pier and inserts rbar into the preformed piers to keep them aligned.  Anyhow I found it interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEe3dmJtsbY  first couple minutes are a guy digging so scroll forward.

[pearlandhorn 3,343]

Bumping this thread.  We're moving within the next year and going about getting the house fixed up to sell.  House is settling towards the road.  Getting some cracks above windows and ceiling cracks.  Before we put in new floors and fix drywall, figured it would be best to go ahead and get to the root cause of the cracking.  We've got calls in to about 4 or 5 foundation repair companies over the next 3 weeks.  We've called Allied Foundation, Two Brothers, Bonilla, and a few others that I've seen good recommendations for.  Allied came out late last week and said we'd need about $5k in foundation work, would take a day or two, and we'd be good to go.  We've apparently "caught it early".

Anybody have experience with them or any others they'd recommend on us getting a quote from?  Plan to be out of this house within 9 months and are wanting to move north.  Thanks.

[TwiceHorn 32,079]

On 9/2/2019 at 12:31 PM, horn4life said:

just FYI- because I was looking at a fixer upper with some obivous pier and beam foundation issues. But this video is interesting as it show the process of leveling a cement slab foundation.  just interesting in how they do it.  You need to see the first pier the guy starts to jack into the ground.  He attaches a spear looking tip to the first cement pier and inserts rbar into the preformed piers to keep them aligned.  Anyhow I found it interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEe3dmJtsbY  first couple minutes are a guy digging so scroll forward.

Another way to do it is to drive hollow cylindrical sleeves into the ground.  They're easier to push in than a concrete cylinder.

You can then wash the dirt out of the stack of sleeves and fill with concrete.  The trick is keeping the sleeves aligned.

[wildcat09 29,579]

Anyone have any experience with Allied? It looks like they did some foundation repair for a house I'm looking at buying back in 2017, but the owner never signed the contract. I'm wondering how big a pain in the ass they'll be about it.

[Alex Karev 1,067]

Some Insurance companies have coverage for foundation repairs. My State Farm policy does. Not sure of the limitations. 

[Bevo 13,897]

Is the problem typically the joists or the piers? I am getting ready to build and am thinking about putting in steel joists which intuitively seem better due to longevity and rigidity. But if the piers sink, it seems like people would have a continuous problem with stabilizing the structure.

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

45 minutes ago, Bevo said:

Is the problem typically the joists or the piers? I am getting ready to build and am thinking about putting in steel joists which intuitively seem better due to longevity and rigidity. But if the piers sink, it seems like people would have a continuous problem with stabilizing the structure.

The footing is almost always the place where the issues occur, unless the floor joists are undersized/ overspanned.  Any structural or civil engineer should be able to provide a footing design that accounts for loads on the footing, soil bearing conditions, shrink swell, issues, etc.

I like steel, contractors hate steel. I use steel when LVL's (laminated veneer lumber beams can't handle the design load which is usually length related. Steel just doesn't move or sag like wood (even properly designed wood beams will sag over time).  It's nothing to be concerned about except where a beam runs across the middle of a ceiling where a crack can begin to show.

[Superhero 9,025]

On 8/20/2019 at 10:25 AM, horn4life said:

Kidding, sort of.  I would be trying to figure out why my piers were settling and how I could do it myself.  Seems like relatively simple shit on pier and beam. jack up, Dig out hole,tie a little rebar,  pour footing, pour (fab) pier.  

You're not kidding. My old house had pier/beam foundation, and I could always feel a soft spot when I walked down the hallway. I crawled under the house and saw this

Apparently water had gotten under the house and eroded the soil under the pier.

I got a handyman and his son to come over. They used two hydraulic jacks to lift the beam above this pier, dug a hole, put in a basic rebar cage and placed a new footing. He used wood shims (!) between the post and beam to get the floor level.

I was honestly surprised how easy it was. We moved, but I would have gone back and used a few of these instead short wood posts.

[Bevo 13,897]

2 hours ago, Superhero said:

You're not kidding. My old house had pier/beam foundation, and I could always feel a soft spot when I walked down the hallway. I crawled under the house and saw this

Apparently water had gotten under the house and eroded the soil under the pier.

I got a handyman and his son to come over. They used two hydraulic jacks to lift the beam above this pier, dug a hole, put in a basic rebar cage and placed a new footing. He used wood shims (!) between the post and beam to get the floor level.

I was honestly surprised how easy it was. We moved, but I would have gone back and used a few of these instead short wood posts.

It seems to me that houses should be built with those gadgets. It would sure simplify things. These are the joists that I think they should be attached to so you wouldn't have to worry about sagging or creaking. And as onboard has mentioned, the crawl space should be conditioned so that water isn't a problem. Water is going to foster bugs and rot in the foundation.

 

Edited February 9, 2021 by Bevo

[horn4life 3,838]

3 hours ago, Superhero said:

You're not kidding. My old house had pier/beam foundation, and I could always feel a soft spot when I walked down the hallway. I crawled under the house and saw this

Apparently water had gotten under the house and eroded the soil under the pier.

I got a handyman and his son to come over. They used two hydraulic jacks to lift the beam above this pier, dug a hole, put in a basic rebar cage and placed a new footing. He used wood shims (!) between the post and beam to get the floor level.

I was honestly surprised how easy it was. We moved, but I would have gone back and used a few of these instead short wood posts.

 

Looks like they dug a trench to create drainage and that the edge of the pier drifted into the flow.  All I know is if I owned a pier and beam house, I am am going go not spend the couple grand if I can get my fat ass up under the crawl space.  The one thing I would be picky about is if I am going up underneath, I want to get it actually fucking level. 

[Bevo 13,897]

2 minutes ago, horn4life said:

Looks like they dug a trench to create drainage and that the edge of the pier drifted into the flow.  All I know is if I owned a pier and beam house, I am am going go not spend the couple grand if I can get my fat ass up under the crawl space.  The one thing I would be picky about is if I am going up underneath, I want to get it actually fucking level. 

Pier and beam is a better way to go because if interior walls or plumbing need to be changed, it can be easily done. The footings need to go deep enough though and moisture under the house has to be controlled. Do they do standard pier and beam in Cali, or do they connect the footing with the joist using huge spring loaded devices to survive earthquakes?

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

Crawlspace is better for some reasons like plumbing, HVAC, Typically warmer floors.  It sucks for rattlesnake abatement.

[Incredulity 11,876]

23 minutes ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Crawlspace is better for some reasons like plumbing, HVAC, Typically warmer floors.  It sucks for rattlesnake abatement.

Come on, that’s what the pet mongoose is for.

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

34 minutes ago, Incredulity said:

Come on, that’s what the pet mongoose is for.

Well the crawlspace is a great den for a mongoose or three.  

[Superhero 9,025]

1 hour ago, horn4life said:

Looks like they dug a trench to create drainage and that the edge of the pier drifted into the flow.  All I know is if I owned a pier and beam house, I am am going go not spend the couple grand if I can get my fat ass up under the crawl space.  The one thing I would be picky about is if I am going up underneath, I want to get it actually fucking level. 

There was a board formed concrete continuous footing around the house. It had a few vents, and that's where the water came in. There must have been a broken irrigation pipe for that amount of water to get into the crawlspace.

Surprisingly there weren't any animals in the crawlspace so that's a plus. OTOH, it was a bitch getting into space through a small "well", and there were hundreds of nails ready to shred my scalp.

The handyman and his kid did the work in about a day and charged me $400. They're probably not licensed to do foundation work, but it seemed like they had done this many times before and knew exactly what needed to be done.

[Gil Bang 26,240]

3 hours ago, Bevo said:

Pier and beam is a better way to go because if interior walls or plumbing need to be changed, it can be easily done. The footings need to go deep enough though and moisture under the house has to be controlled. Do they do standard pier and beam in Cali, or do they connect the footing with the joist using huge spring loaded devices to survive earthquakes?

There are raised foundations here (including mine), but most homes built in SoCal in the last few decades are slab.   Those in areas that have soils issues are post-tension slabs.   If I were building new, I'd probably used post-tension regardless of the soil conditions. 

And BTW:  I'm looking at doing upgrades to my foundation, for earthquake purposes.  I'm wondering if I need to consult an engineer, or just get a shitload of simpson hardware and tico nails and get to work. 

Edited February 10, 2021 by Gil Bang

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

40 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

There are raised foundations here (including mine), but most homes built in SoCal in the last few decades are slab.   Those in areas that have soils issues are post-tension slabs.   If I were building new, I'd probably used post-tension regardless of the soil conditions. 

And BTW:  I'm looking at doing upgrades to my foundation, for earthquake purposes.  I'm wondering if I need to consult an engineer, or just get a shitload of simpson hardware and tico nails and get to work. 

Nah it's all about mass dampening man (and ball bearings of course). You need an 8 ton mass dampener installed in your roof.  The dampener cradle will weigh in at about 6 tons with a couple 8' x 8' x 4' thick footers. Your house ain't going nowhere.  

Simpson framing clips, and Tico clips... fuck that noise.