Cracked and Settling Slabs

The most common causes of concrete slab settlement are drying and shrinking soils beneath the slab, poorly compacted fill soils, or a washout of soil.  All of which will create a void beneath the slab.  When the concrete is not strong enough to span the void, the slab will eventually crack, break and settle.  If the partition walls of your home or building start to settle with the slab, this is when drywall cracking can occur.  When homes or buildings are being constructed, oftentimes layers of soil are moved around or spread out to lift the grade to a desired level.  After the structure is built, the footings may extend below the fill soils, but the slab could still remain on top.  If those fill soils were loosely compacted, they will eventually consolidate beneath the weight of the slab, interior load bearing walls and vehicles (in the case of a garage or car port slab).  The slab will then begin to crack and break as it settles.

We offer a variety of products for porch/patio foundation repair, including:

• Slab pier assemblies are steel piers that are installed deep into the soil under the porch or patio to transfer the weight of the slab to more competent strata. Once these piers are installed, the porch or patio is lifted back to a level position.
• Helical slab piers are installed by drilling a hole and placing the bracket and screw into bedrock to more stable soil. The brackets on these helical slab piers help support heavy concrete. Helical slab piers are a more cost-effective way to repair your porch or slab rather than replacing it.

All of our foundation repair products are manufactured by only the highest quality manufacturers in the industry. With over 30 years of experience and the best products for foundation repair, you can count on the experts at Atlas Piers to for a repair job that will last for years to come! Contact us today for more information regarding solutions for porches and patios as well as other foundation repair topics!

Hydraulic slab lift piers offer foundation repair contractors the reliability of the classic steel pier while also providing the ease of portable equipment. For the repair of settling or sinking foundations, hydraulic slab piers are becoming an increasingly popular solution.

In most situations, hydraulic slab lift piers are used to lift and stabilize settling foundations and work in much the same way as other types of resistance piers. They are end-bearing piers, meaning that they do not rely on skin friction to produce support for the slab. Instead, the entire slab acts as a reaction force.

Benefits of Hydraulic Slab Lift Piers include:

• Can be used with slabs 4 inch thick or more
• Reliable solution for concrete leveling
• Uses portable equipment
• Evenly distributes weight of structure on piers
• Minimal setup time
• Piers install quickly
• Low cost and time efficient
• Installed indie the structure
• Pier do not rely on skin friction
• Little to no vibration
• Installs to rock or end bearing stratum

Another solution for cracked slabs that Atlas Piers of Atlanta offers is Soil Permeation Grouting and Compaction Grouting.  These techniques are used to stabilize the soil and repair the effects of settlement for many times of structures and surfaces.  The most common application would be for garage slabs, basement floors and patios.

If you are living in a drought area, you may have issues with a cracked foundation. More and more homes are being affected by drought. The drought will cause your home to have a settling foundation and crack because the moisture levels in the soil are diminishing. We have seen affected cracked slabs on grade homes and full basement homes.

Signs that you may have a cracked foundation:

• horizontal cracks, often caused by too much water pressure
• cracked drywall
• vertical cracks that are wider at the top than the bottom
• sticking doors or windows
• cracks radiating from the corners of windows and doors
• porch and patio problems

If you see any of these signs, call the professionals at Atlas Piers of Atlanta. The sooner you get the settlement problem taken care of, the better. The damage to your foundation will become greater and cost you more money if not taken care of at the first signs of foundation settlement.

For all of your foundation cracks in Atlanta, we offer underpinning to stabilize your foundation and transfer the load from the foundation. All of our foundation solutions create little to no disturbance to the installation site, so there is no need to worry about your landscape. We only install the best foundation repair equipment from Earth Contact Products, so our solutions are durable and affordable. Atlas Piers offers a variety of underpinning solutions, such as:

• Push piers, which can be inserted into the ground beneath your preexisting wall. These piers take the pressure your foundation is putting on the loosely packed soil and transfer it to stronger, more stable soil further down. Multiple piers are installed to ensure stability. Steel push piers can be installed with minimal damage to any landscaping you may have around your home.
• Helical piers, which are very similar to push piers and can be installed in any weather. In some cases, helical piers can be more reliable than push piers. Helical piers are screwed into the soil instead of being pushed in, which increased their durability and their ability to bear loads. Helical piers can be installed in tight, hard-to-reach places, making them ideal for all repair jobs.