Replies

1. 
   IdahoDon | Sep 15, 2005 06:28am | #1

   How would you get the pile driver under the house?

2. 
   ProBozo | Sep 15, 2005 06:31am | #2

   why not dig out a footing, pour a pad...dunno your specifics, but say 2'x2'x18" and put a post or lally on it up to the beam? what are existing posts/piers/footings?

3. 
   Dinosaur | Sep 15, 2005 08:09am | #3

   First thing we need to know is why is it out of level? Has the foundation lost its integrity on one side, or is the ground settling under the foundation?

   Dinosaur

   A day may come when the courage of men fails,when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship...

   

   But it is not this day.

1. 
   jwinko | Sep 15, 2005 10:37pm | #6

   this is houston and is built on a swamp, or close to it. All the older houses have this problem, usually it is corrected with bell bottom piers drilled to a depth of 8 to 10 feet, filled with concrete and the house shimmed on top of the pier. I don't want to tear up my floor and drill for bell bottom piers, I know there is an alternative method that involves driving concrete cylinders under the house, using a small hydraulic pile driver. I need to know the procedure, We can figure it out, but paying for a couple of carpenters and the rental of the machine seems an expensive way to learn.
   thanks
   jwinko

1. 
   Dinosaur | Sep 15, 2005 11:06pm | #7

   Sorry if I seem a bit dense, but I'm having some trouble visualising how you could get an eight- to ten-foot concrete pier under the house to drive it if your working height is as limited as you say.

   It would be a lot easier to dig a hole, set a form base and Sonotube in it, and then pump in concrete to form the pier and footing in one shot. The sonotube can be inserted at an angle and then straightend up, if you're willing to dig a bit of a trench toward the hole. Or it can be inserted in two or three short lengths, and duct-taped back together as it's inserted. If you've got even three feet to work in under the house, this is the way to go. I'd also suggest you get a local soils engineer who is familiar with your area to specify the size of the piers and footing.

   We can figure it out, but paying for a couple of carpenters and the rental of the machine seems an expensive way to learn.thanksUm...you do realize you are going to have to jack up the entire house at some point, I hope? And you're not gonna raise a two-story house 4" without steel lift-beams, cribbing, and big bottle jacks (we're not talking 2-ton Mighty-Mites here...). This project is pretty complex. If the wages for two carps for a day and a $148 rental fee are a problem to you, you might consider postponing this project until you have the resources to follow it through. Just a thought....

   Dinosaur

   A day may come when the courage of men fails,when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship...

   But it is not this day.

1. 
   jwinko | Sep 16, 2005 06:04am | #8

   we have already jacked up the house, using one old carpenter and myself, also an old geezer. we used 15 20 ton jacks, some concrete blocks and treated yellow pine shims. The question was to find someone with experience using a small pile driver and concrete cylinders.
   The house is level. It was build in 1930 and has a perimeter beam. At some point a 2nd story was added and a lot of the weight is on the center beam as well as the 2 adjacent shaker sills.
   It will probably take another 70 plus years for the house to drop significantly out of level, but I would like to put the piers under the center beam so that this doesn't happen.
   thanks for your responses
   jwinko

1. 
   Dinosaur | Sep 16, 2005 06:15pm | #10

   Okay. That information wasn't in your original post. The situation is a bit clearer now.

   It looks like the system you may be looking for is the Cablelock outfit mentioned above. I've never heard of anything like this; it wouldn't work in this area where the problem is not too-soft ground but rather bedrock that has to be dynamited outta the way....

    

   Dinosaur

   A day may come when the courage of men fails,when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship...

   But it is not this day.

2. 
   JohnSprung | Sep 16, 2005 08:56pm | #11

   > we used 15 20 ton jacks, some concrete blocks

   Concrete or cinder blocks are not a good choice to put under a jack.  Wood cribbing is better because it compresses and creaks and groans when the load on it gets high enough.  That tells you it's getting near its limits.  Concrete and cinder blocks give you no warning at all, they just crush instantly into fragments. 

   This is not something that people learn by doing.  It's something the survivors learn by watching somebody else get killed doing. 

    

   -- J.S.

    

3. 
   jwinko | Sep 20, 2005 05:11am | #12

   we put the concrete blocks, solid concrete, under the house, not under the jacks. If you have tried a concrete pad under a jack, it will become many small pieces. Thanks.
   I guess what I am locking for is something like the cable lock system and the mini pile driver, really a hydraulic ram that exerts 25 tons of force. I just want to know the procedure that the cable lock guys use.thanks for all the input.
   jwinko

2. 
   davem | Sep 16, 2005 01:54pm | #9

   in baton rouge, there is a company called cablelock foundation repair. they slip a section of concrete piling over a cable, then place the jack on top of the piling. they jack against the house, and let the piling sink. every time they run out of jack length, they lower and add a section of piling to the cable and jack again. at some point the piling quits sinking and the house starts raising. i guess this is considered bedrock or maybe the friction of the mush is enough to support the house. then they just jack to level and shim. this is done under a slab footing. i dont know if they do it on pier and beam.

4. 
   rcobb | Sep 15, 2005 01:14pm | #4

   Wedges, a sledgehammer and sweat.

   your brother down under

5. 
   JohnSprung | Sep 15, 2005 09:46pm | #5

   I've done some jacking and transferring the load to steel and cribbing, then dug and poured a piece of footing in the middle of a two story house.  Driving piles is pretty unusual in residential construction. 

   There are some silly looking places around here where they've built single story ranch style houses basically on stilts on the sides of steep hills.  Kinda like having an open crawl space that slopes from zero to 40 ft.  I think even they drill deep and pour concrete rather than driving piles.  These are really ugly.  The down hill neighbors see all the structure and cross braces and plumbing under the house.  The DWV is particularly conspicuous.

   As for your case, jacking a two story house is serious dangerous business.  I'd start by asking around to find an engineer who's familiar with soils in your area.  This should be engineered and permitted, not done by guesswork.

    

    

   -- J.S.