New Construction Helical Piers
Thinking about building a new home on question soil? No Problem! With a detail geotechnical report, helical piers can be engineered to provide a deep foundation to provide support to your new home and prevent settling. Helical piers can be installed quickly during any time of the year and are a cost-effective solution to and over excavation or drilled concrete piers.
So, what is a helical pier?
Helical piers are sometimes also called Helical piles, Screw anchors, Screw piles, Helical anchors, and Ground anchors. Helical piers are large, galvanized steel foundation pipes that look something like a screw. Typically, Helical piers are mostly used for new construction structures. However, sometimes they are used to lift existing homes and buildings. Helical piers install beyond the active soil layers down to load bearing soil to support the weight of the new home.
Because Helical piers are mainly for new construction, there are no large excavations. Helical piers do not turn out any soil spoils to have to be hauled off and can be loaded immediately after installation.
Installation Process
Helical piers are installed using an excavator or skid-steer with a hydraulic helical drive motor attached to the machine. The machine will apply down pressure on the helical while the hydraulic helical drive motor advances the helical in the ground by screwing in the helical in a clockwise rotation. The helical pier will typical advance 3” into the soil per rotation.
A high calibrated torsion monitor does exactly what it sounds like, it monitors the torsion on the helical pier and records all of the values. Once the engineered target torsion is reached, the helical pier is terminated by cutting off the pier to the correct grade and a new construction cap is installed.
Once the helical pier has the new construction cap, the helical pier is ready to have the new foundation poured on top.
Helical Pier Benefits
- Helical piers are available in many different shaft sizes and helices configurations to accommodate small/light buildings all the way up to industrial buildings and parking garages
- Year-round installation
- Quick installation
- No soil spoils like with concrete piers
- Can be loaded immediately, no cure time like with concrete piers
- Great solution for unstable soils or soils with high groundwater levels
- Galvanized steel for long performance in corrosive soils
Helical Piers versus Concrete Piers
For years, concrete piers were a go to solution for building on top of less-than-ideal soils. Many times concrete piers cannot reach suitable soil depths or cannot be installed due to high water tables. Time sensitive projects may be delayed with concrete piers due to cure times and soil removal. Galvanized helical pier do not face these problems. Helical piers can go to incredible depths while still providing the engineered stability. Depths can range from 20’ all the way to 150’! Helical piers can be loaded immediately as there is no concrete cure time or soil removal necessary. Galvanized helical piers can be installed in soils with high water tables and soils with corrosive properties.
How much do Helical Piers cost?
Since engineered Helical Piers can have so many configurations, it is impossible to give a generalized price. Pier size and number of helices is dependent on what they will be supporting. Helical Pier depth is also a large factor on price. Where you live will have a great impact on pier depth.
For accurate helical piles cost information, contact a professional foundation repair contractor in your area. If you’re in our service area – we typically serve homeowners within a 75-mile radius of our office at P.O. Box 80374 Billings, MT 59108. Contact us for a free inspection and estimate.