Janusz Construction, Settling in Tom's River

Monday, January 17th, 2011 by Marianne Koiva

Challenge

Janusz Construction, a home improvement company, purchased a residence to renovate and re-sell. The home was built in the 1980’s and is a single-family woodframed structure on a block foundation with crawl space. Janusz Construction recognized the home was displaying some tell-tale signs of settlement, including several cracks throughout the block foundation and windows that would not open and close with ease. Upon further investigation, they found the home had settled 3 inches in the rear left corner. Additionally, portion of the home in the rear has an enclosed sun porch which was also experiencing settlement.

Solution

Janusz Construction contacted Quality 1st Basement Systems to discuss options for stabilizing the home against further settlement and, if possible, lifting it back toward its original position. Quality 1st Basement Systems installed five (5) Foundation Supportworks™ Model 288 Helical Piers with a 10”-12” double-helix lead section along the rear foundation wall to depths of 15’ to 20’. Additionally, two (2) Foundation Supportworks™ Model 288 Push Piers were installed to depths of 10’ to stabilize the sun porch. The piers were installed at spacings of approximately 5’ and were galvanized for corrosion protection.

The installation of the helical and push piers not only stabilized the foundation against further settlement, but also allowed Quality 1st Basement Systems to lift the foundation more than 2 inches back toward its original position. As soon as the foundation was lifted, Janusz Construction investigated the home again and were thrilled to announce that the windows now worked and there was no longer a need to trim the doors to the bedroom or bathroom.