Settling Foundation Repair – Tewksbury, Massachusetts

November 20, 2010

Settling Foundation  Repair:
This forty year old building was rapidly settling along one side, as was manifested by foundation cracks, interior floors sloping, and windows sticking. A previous contractor attempted to fix the problem by removing a portion of the foundation and replacing it with a reinforced, 4 foot deep by 6 foot wide concrete footing with a masonry block wall on top. The now heavier foundation began to settle at a faster rate than the original construction.

Foundation Engineering
A subsurface investigation was conducted to determine the cause of the foundation settlement.  Several soil borings around the settling foundation and found the house was built upon a layer of organic soil, causing the settlement. EFT designed an underpinning system consisting of helical piers and underpinning brackets. The helical piles would screw through the organic soil and anchor into the good soils below.

Helical Pile Anchors:
The newer concrete foundation had to be partially removed to allow the installation of the helical underpinning piles. A skidsteer with a concrete hammer was utilized to demo the concrete. The helical piles extended down to about 20 feet below the foundation. The project was successfully completed in 6 working days.

Contact us to see how we can help with your foundation repair project.