My Uncle's Situation
How 15 years of waiting cost him double.
The Warning Signs He Ignored
Doors sticking. Floors sloping. Cracks in the drywall. His kids used to race marbles across the kitchen floor because they always rolled toward the same corner. Everyone laughed about it. It was the house telling them something was wrong.
My uncle trimmed doors three times over the years. Each time, they'd work for a while, then start sticking again. He blamed the house being old. It was actually ongoing settlement.
When He Finally Called
The crack in his basement wall got bad enough that his wife insisted. By then, one corner had dropped about three inches relative to the rest of the house. Diagonal cracks ran through the basement and up into the main floor. You could see daylight through the gap where the wall had pulled away from the framing.
The contractor measured everything and shook his head. He'd seen plenty of settlement, but three inches with this much secondary damage was toward the serious end.
The Diagnosis
The soil under my uncle's settling corner was poorly compacted fill from original construction. His house was built in the 1960s when fill wasn't always compacted properly. For 50+ years, that corner slowly sank as the soil compressed. The last 15 years of active settlement were just the final stage of a process that had been happening slowly all along.
How Helical Piers Work
What they installed at my uncle's house.
The Basic Concept
Helical piers are steel shafts with helical plates welded on, kind of like giant screws. They get rotated into the ground until they reach stable soil or bedrock. Then brackets connect the piers to the foundation and transfer the house's weight from the failing soil to the stable material below.
Rick explained it to me like this: the helical plates pull into the soil like a screw pulls into wood. Once they're deep enough in stable material, they can support tremendous weight.
Installation Process
My uncle's crew dug small excavations around the settling corners to expose the foundation footing. They mounted brackets to the footing, then used hydraulic equipment to rotate the pier sections into the ground. The machine monitors torque to verify the pier is reaching adequate bearing capacity.
Each pier went down about 18 feet before hitting stable soil. Eight piers total around the two settling corners.
The Lifting Phase
This was the dramatic part. Once all eight piers were installed, the crew connected hydraulic jacks to all of them simultaneously. Slowly, they lifted my uncle's foundation. The house creaked. Existing cracks widened slightly then settled. You could literally watch the gap between the foundation and framing close.
They recovered about two and a half of the three inches of settlement. Not perfect, but close. The contractor said complete recovery isn't always possible or even desirable because it can cause damage elsewhere.
Push Piers vs. Helical Piers
Two main methods for underpinning.
Push Piers
Push piers are steel tubes driven into the ground using the weight of the house as resistance. Hydraulic rams push the pier down section by section until it hits refusal or stable bearing. No rotation, just straight down.
They work great for heavier structures because you need house weight to drive them. My uncle's house was heavy enough, but the contractor preferred helical for his soil conditions.
Helical Piers
Helical piers screw in rather than push in. They don't need the house weight for installation, so they work on lighter structures. The helical plates provide bearing capacity in soil. Installation torque directly correlates to load capacity, giving the installer real-time feedback.
My uncle got helical because of some buried debris in his soil that could have deflected push piers. The helical plates could cut through it.
Choosing Between Them
The contractor makes this call based on your house weight, soil conditions, and what they'll encounter on the way down. Both systems work well for residential underpinning. Price is similar. Performance is similar. It's mostly about what fits your specific situation.
The Installation Timeline
What my uncle's three days looked like.
Day One: Excavation
The crew dug around both settling corners, exposing the foundation footing. Not full excavation like exterior waterproofing, just holes at each pier location. Eight holes, each maybe 3 feet square, down to the bottom of the footing.
They also set up their equipment. Trucks with hydraulic rigs, stacks of pier sections, brackets and hardware.
Day Two: Pier Installation
This was the main event. Installing each pier took maybe 45 minutes. Mounting the bracket, driving the first section, adding extensions until they hit stable bearing, verifying capacity with torque readings. Eight piers, most of a day.
The noise was significant but not overwhelming. The neighbors knew something was happening but it wasn't dramatically disruptive.
Day Three: Lifting and Finishing
Morning was the lift. Hydraulic jacks on all piers, synchronized lifting, watching the gaps close. It took maybe two hours including setup. The crew monitored everything, made adjustments, verified the lift was uniform.
Afternoon was backfilling the excavations, cleaning up, and final inspection. By end of day, you'd barely know they'd been there except for the fresh dirt in the yard.
Costs and What Drives Them
Why my uncle paid $22,000.
Per-Pier Pricing
Each of my uncle's piers cost about $2,500 installed. That's typical for residential helical piers, maybe $1,500 to $3,000 depending on depth, access, and local labor rates. Eight piers at $2,500 each is $20,000 just for the piers.
Additional Work
My uncle's price included some crack repair in the basement and drainage improvements. The contractor explained that underpinning without fixing the water problems that contributed to soil failure was pointless. The extra $2,000 addressed root causes, not just symptoms.
What Made It Expensive
Severity. My uncle needed eight piers because settlement was severe and had spread to affect two corners. If he'd caught it at one inch, affecting one corner, he might have needed four piers. Half the piers, half the cost, maybe $10,000 instead of $22,000.
The contractor couldn't emphasize this enough. Early intervention costs less.
What He'd Have Paid Earlier
The contractor estimated that 10 years earlier, with about one inch of settlement on one corner, the repair would have been $8,000 to $10,000. Four piers instead of eight. Less secondary damage to repair. Easier access because nothing had shifted as dramatically.
My uncle paid roughly double for waiting.
When Underpinning Is Needed
Situations that require this level of repair.
Active Settlement
If your foundation is currently sinking, underpinning stops it. The piers transfer load to stable soil, so it doesn't matter what the surface soil is doing. My uncle's settlement was ongoing, proven by his door trimming history. Piers stopped the movement.
Poor Bearing Soil
Weak soil, poorly compacted fill, high organic content, high water table. If the soil under your foundation can't support the weight, you need to get past that soil to something that can. That's what piers do.
Significant Recovery Needed
Unlike wall anchors that gradually straighten, piers can lift a foundation immediately. If you have significant settlement and want to recover level, piers can do that in a day. My uncle recovered two and a half inches of his three-inch drop.
Adding Load
Sometimes an addition or renovation adds weight that the original foundation wasn't designed for. Underpinning can increase capacity to handle new loads. Less common but legitimate use.
What to Expect
Preparing for underpinning work.
Before They Arrive
You'll need a structural engineer's assessment and possibly a geotechnical report. These determine how many piers, where, and how deep. Permits are typically required. Your contractor handles most of this, but it adds time before work starts.
During the Work
Expect some disruption. Excavation means dirt piles in your yard. Equipment is noisy. Workers are in and out. But it's not as dramatic as you might fear. My uncle's family lived in the house during the three-day installation without major inconvenience.
The Lift
Your house will move. You might hear creaking and popping. Some existing cracks might temporarily widen before settling into new positions. It's unsettling but normal. The contractor monitors everything to ensure lift is uniform and controlled.
After Completion
Some finish work is usually needed. Cosmetic repairs to walls and ceilings. The excavations get backfilled but your yard might need restoration. Give the house a few weeks to fully settle into its new position before doing major interior repairs.
The Lesson
What my uncle's experience taught everyone who watched.
Don't Wait
Every symptom my uncle ignored for 15 years was the house telling him something was wrong. Sticking doors. Sloping floors. Growing cracks. He normalized them instead of investigating. By the time he acted, the damage had multiplied.
Cost of Delay
$22,000 instead of $10,000. That's real money lost to denial. The symptoms didn't go away. They got worse. The repair didn't get cheaper. It got more expensive. Every year of waiting increased the eventual cost.
Recovery Limits
My uncle got back two and a half inches of his three-inch settlement. Pretty good, but not perfect. His floors still have a slight slope. Some cracks are permanently visible. Earlier intervention might have meant complete recovery.
It Does Work
Despite the drama, my uncle's house is stable now. The piers are doing their job. Three years since installation, no new settlement, no new cracks. The repair worked. It just cost more than it should have because he waited too long.