Over time, the soil beneath your house can change, causing movement in your foundations. This can lead to structural damage and some other issues.
This is why underpinning is important. It can help to prevent long-term damage and improve the overall stability of your home. It is also necessary if you are considering adding an extension to your home.
Increased Value
Underpinning your home increases its value by making it more durable, resilient, and livable. It protects against long-term damage caused by soil movements and external pressures and can also be used to extend living space and add more rooms to your property.
The foundations likely need underpinning if you notice cracks creeping up walls or obvious tilts in your home’s structure. This is because the movement, sinkage, and compression of house foundations can degrade a building and lead to structural integrity issues that are costly to repair.
House underpinning is also used when the purpose of a building has changed, and the original foundations aren’t deep enough to support the modified structure. This is typically when you want to add another floor to your home.
The underpinning process involves excavating and installing new footings and concrete bearers to increase their depth, which helps prevent movement in the future. It can be carried out using resin injection, wall ties, and helical piles.
Reduced Risk Of Damage
Most homeowners who experience cracked walls, tilting floors, or sunken ground will require some underpinning. The underpinning process involves lowering the current footing and installing new footings or concrete bearers beneath your home.
When undertaken by a professional, the underpinning process will ensure your house is stable and prevent further movement of the foundations.
Why you should stabilize your home with underpinning services? While underpinning can be expensive, it’s a great way to improve the stability of your house and potentially reduce future structural damage. It can also give you flexibility with any potential future renovations you may wish to undertake.
When underpinning a house, the purpose is to support the footings on stiffer, stronger, and less reactive soil than your house currently sits on.
This is achieved by hand excavating pits below a footing and filling them with concrete to create piers that bear at a deeper level. Other methods include needle beams (between temporary foundations) and driven pile systems such as helical or push piers.
Increased Durability
Adding to the stability of your home, underpinning strengthens the foundation by extending footings deep into the ground. This can prevent the structure from sinking or shifting over time, giving you peace of mind.
Underpinning is also a great way to improve drainage in your home. This can help reduce the moisture in your basement, preventing mold and mildew from growing. Additionally, underpinning can expose sewer pipes so you can replace them with more efficient, lead-free options.
Underpinning can help prevent subsidence in your home, a serious structural problem that can damage walls and cause cracking. Subsidence can be caused by soil movement, tree roots, or structural issues, and underpinning is the best way to stop this.
If left unchecked, subsidence can destroy a building and cost you a fortune in repairs. Underpinning stops this from occurring, reducing your stress and saving you money in the long run.
Improved Energy Efficiency
Underpinning can be expensive, but if done correctly, it can significantly improve the value of your home. It can also be dangerous if experienced and qualified tradespeople do not do the work.
Underpinning involves excavating around the foundation of your house and installing support beams, posts, or piers underneath it. This transfers the weight of your house onto soil that is stronger and more able to support it.
Underpinning can be necessary if your house shows signs of movement like floors sagging, cracking walls and ceilings, or misaligned doors and windows. It can also be used before undertaking renovations that could increase the weight of your existing foundation.
Another advantage of underpinning is that it can make your basement a habitable space. Previously, basements were regarded as cold and musty rooms, but underpinning can turn them into living spaces suitable for dining, entertaining, storage, or bedroom accommodation.
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