Time to Think About Your Swimming Pool

Here we are, deep in the midst of February, and I want to talk about your swimming pool. That's crazy, isn't it?

What's even more crazy is ignoring any cracks in your swimming pool, ignoring any paving or decking that looks like it's risen or sunk from the lip of the pool, and ignoring any mysterious leaks in the pluming which serves the pool. More likely than not, the swimming pool is the focus of your backyard and figures greatly into your family's plan for summer fun. It's also one of the largest investments a family makes in their home. So, it'd be crazy to ignore cracks, paving and decking problems, and plumbing problems with your swimming pool.

Why are these clues important and what do they have to do with foundations? Read on and find out.

Cracks in your pool indicate that one or more parts of your pool are moving in different directions and/or different rates than the rest of the swimming pool. This is exactly the same as what happens to your home's foundation: Changes in the moisture content of the soil around and under your swimming pool causes the pool (or parts of it) to shift up and down and side-to-side. Most people don't connect swimming pools with foundation piers, but swimming pools are very heavy affairs and need support. Think about how heavy the pool's structure is, and then add to that thousands of gallons of water, and you have a very heavy item riding on and in the soil.

If you see the paving or decking around your swimming pool rising or sinking below the edge of the pool, what may be happening is that the pool itself is moving, not the paving or decking. As with cracks in the pool, lifting and sinking of the swimming pool are indicative of soil problems.

As for plumbing leaks, these can be caused when the pool shifts and pulls the plumbing fittings loose or apart. Why did the pool shift? It could be that it is riding up and down, left and right, back and forth on soil that is expanding and contracting due to changes in its moisture content.

So, what can you do about this? First off, have a structural engineer look at the pool and determine what's going on. If indeed there's a problem with the pool moving about, then you need to consider foundation piers. Just as foundation piers support your home's foundation and limit its movement to negligible amounts, they can do the same for your swimming pool.

And, as with foundation repair on your home, the proper location and installation of piers under your swimming pool can be done with limited impact on your landscaping, decking, and schedule.

If you have questions about foundation piers for pools, feel free to call us at 972-272-19000 and we'll be happy to provide you with answers.

Get more information by visiting www.AceFoundation.com.

Below is another excellent question from our "Ask Us Anything" page on our foundation repair website.

Danny,

Thanks for the question. Without a deeper structural investigation, it is really difficult to identify the exact problem. You may want to hire an independent structural engineer to look into it for you. If you call my office,(972) 272-1900, you can request a list of engineers to work from.

What I DO KNOW is that houses in this area are ALWAYS in a state of movement. That is directly tied to their dependence on the soil upon which they are built, clay soil. Clay soil is always in transition related to the infusion of moisture or the loss of moisture; when this soil absorbs water, like the melting snow and ice, it expands and lifts the house up with it

When we leave a wet season and enter our infamous Texas Summers, the soil starts to dry out, shrink, and contract in a downward motion. Of course, the house must follow the soil.

Most houses go through this 'slow motion roller coaster ride' without showing any stress signs greater than a few 'hairline' cracks in brick mortar or wall board, at least for their first couple of decades. BUT, they will 'snap, crackle and pop' as they go through the motions and that just may be what you have going on. The above mentioned 'roller coaster ride' is why you hear people harping on the subject of WATERING YOUR FOUNDATION. It is not the foundation which needs the water, but it is the soil around it that does need the water in order to limit the shrinking and pulling away from the foundation. But the opposite is true when we are getting a lot of rain: you want to make sure all excess runoff goes somewhere other than pooling next to your foundation.

I hope this simple answer helps you some. There a lot of other factors which can contribute to the situation such as the number of, size of, and placement of trees and shrubs; the contour of landscaping; the gutters; whether the home was built on fill dirt etc.

Feel free to contact me with any further questions I may be able to help with.

Sincerely,
Alan Ardoin

Get more information by visiting www.AceFoundation.com.

Of Bedrock & Helical Piers; From "Ask Us Anything"

Ellen sent two questions into our "Ask Us Anything" page, so here's here second question and our answer. Be sure to go back and see her first question concerning piers and load bearing walls, if you haven't read that post, yet.

Question

Should a contractor ALWAYS be able to find bedrock if they drill
in helical or steel piers?

Answer

Dear Ellen, another great question.

No, a contractor will not always find "bedrock" when installing Helical Piers or Steel piers, especially in the DFW Metroplex.

For starters, "bedrock" has a specific geological definition and is not found here in our area. This is why the contractor should make the effort to terminate their piers into "load bearing strata". The definition of load bearing strata can be a little subjective but it can also get technical. The main components of the definition, at least for my company, are: the pier should be at least 15' deep and should encounter a strata which produces enough resistance to support two times the weight of the structure it will carry.

Since any type of "rock" in this area of Texas can be at depths from 2 to 100 feet, affordability becomes a factor for the home owner. We have pushed our steel piers as deep as 98' in order to reach a strata that would not allow further advancement of the piers. This is where the helical piers come to the rescue of the budget.

The helical pier is designed to be installed at low speed and high torque until it bears into a strata which produces sufficient resistance to meet our criteria and then it is terminated. Sort of like when you screw a screw into a piece of lumber and the progress is easy until the screw reaches a harder layer of the wood and halts the process.

For example, where a thick bed of sand stone lies 85' deep and the steel pier would have to be driven that deep, the helical may only need to be advanced 35' deep to find a good strata for support. This is why my company has kept a database of the depths we have driven our steel piers on past jobs. When we are called to provide an estimate for a home owner, we can pull up past jobs nearest to their property and get a good idea where "load bearing strata" is and use that information to help advise the customer.

Again, feel free to forward any other questions you have and I will do my best to get you answers.

Sincerely,
Alan Ardoin.

Get more information by visiting www.AceFoundation.com.

Of Piers & Beams; From "Ask Us Anything"

If you haven't had a chance to check out the "Ask Us Anything" page on our website, then you're missing out. Here's the most recent question and our answer.

Question

1) How many beams would you expect to find under a home that is 63 feet wide and 26 feet deep, plus has a garage 18 by 18 added to the back of one side?

2) Should interior piers be placed under the beams if the foundation is getting raised at least 3 inches?

3) Would one expect to find a beam under a load supporting wall that runs 63 feet from the west to the east side down the center of the home (centered at 13 feet deep)?

Answer

Dear Ellen,

Great Questions! While we are not builders or construction engineers, we have developed some construction-related perspectives due to the multitude of houses we have sought to repair. I am going to attempt to answer your questions based on the presumption that the home of which you speak is built on a slab on grade concrete foundation.

The number of beams one would expect to find and the number of beams present, if any, can be quite different. I would LIKE to find three beams from side to side; one being directly under the primary load bearing wall and another seven (7) feet offset on either side of it. If the foundation is going to be lifted three (3) or more inches then, YES, I would want the piers placed to directly support the beams.

It is not a matter of whether the foundation COULD BE LIFTED if the piers are not under the beams, but IT IS a matter of whether anything less will assure you of a LONG TERM HOLD without breaking the foundation at the point of contact at each pier.

As far as a beam being UNDER the load bearing wall, that is where one would hope to find one. But rarely have we found that to be the case; the most common situation we find is where the load bearing wall sits off from the beam two to three feet.

Some other concerns for you to consider are the pier type and depth, the stress the lift will place on all plumbing and the preparation of gas and electrical connections so they will lift with the house without being broken. Also,if you have not hired an independent engineer to design the scope of work to be attempted then I would highly recommend that.

If you have any more questions we can address please let me know.

Sincerely,
Alan Ardoin.

Get more information by visiting www.AceFoundation.com.

Why Chimneys Fail

There aren't many days when North Texas home owners actually get to build a fire in their fireplaces. This translates into well over 300 days out of the year where the fireplace gets as much respect as last year's treadmill — used to hold lots of stuff but mainly ignored.

But, when we do get 'a Blue Norther' blowing through, many home owners are thwarted in their efforts to enjoy the charm and warmth of a nice crackling fire. Now that they are ready to use their fireplace, many are stopped in their tracks when they notice daylight coming through the firebox or they can feel a cold draft coming in from outside. As their investigation leads them to bundle up and go outside, they are shocked to find that the chimney is falling away from their house and headed toward their neighbor's living room! It is at that moment that they are REALLY GLAD they didn't get to build a fire and risk burning down their whole house.

The bad news is that this happens to many North Texas fireplaces. The good news is that the majority of them can be saved to warm another day. Of course everybody wants to know: "WHY does my chimney not want to play well with the rest of the house?!"

I have seen many different fireplace scenarios over the years, such as the home owner who heard a very loud noise and discovered his entire chimney lying in his yard — it had been struck by lightning. Or the ones that were built inside of the house and were sitting on nothing but the floor for support-- those are not fun. But the majority of them are your standard fireplaces, built on the outer wall and bricked to match the house. In my years of experience I have reached the opinion that there are four primary reasons our fireplaces fail.

First of all, they are built tall, with a lot of weight and sitting on a very small concrete base. It is just a matter of time before the base gives way to the weight.

Second of all, the clay soil under the concrete base is always lifting and sinking as we go through the seasons and this works the chimney up and down and slowly gets it moving away from the adjoining wall.

Third of all, the tops of our fireplaces are constantly being impacted by strong winds which force outward directional movement.

And last but not least, they are almost never built with deep support piers under the base to help counter the other reasons.

Remember the good news: most failing fireplaces can be repaired and saved to "warm another day". What to do,what to do,what to do? You could call several foundation repair companies, but you risk going with a contractor whose enthusiasm exceeds their skill and it is too important of a problem to risk that. Your best bet would be to consult a structural engineer and proceed from there.

Get more information by visiting www.AceFoundation.com.