Foundation Degradation - Pinetree Shopping Center

Pinetree Square Shopping Center has a total of 18 offices and shops. The owner wanted to have the work done without disturbance to her tenants.

Of course we love the sweet sound of silence and assured our customer that our system has no vibration and there would not be the constant pounding that is associated with the typical pile driving rig.

Atlas Master Companies was selected to restore this shopping center after the Structural Engineer had determined that the entire structure settled between ¾? inch and 3 ½?.

This shopping center was lifted and secured with 21 interior slab push piers and 38 exterior model 300 push piers.

When we began this project Atlas shot a laser on the walls to determine how much the slab and exterior walls had settled. The laser confirmed a 3? difference in elevation. This was located at the uniform shop at the end of the shopping center.Team Atlas worked together prepping the concrete footings and setting up the drive stand & yellow drive cylinders.

Team Atlas installing the lifting rams atop of the piers with the manifold in place to lift multiple piers simultaneously.

Securing the bracket to the top steel pipe section using high strength all thread rods and nuts. Now installing the lifting bracket prepping for the lift! Holes are all cored out with material ready for installation at each hole.

The slab bracket is installed under the concrete slab. We have also displayed a bracket out of the hole to illustrate what it looks like before it is installed. Notice the large bottom lifting plate that will ultimately lift the slab after all of the piers are installed.

The black drive stand with the four legs is used to hold the yellow drive cylinder. 8-inch holes have been cored in the concrete slab to push the steel pipe sections through the soil to suitable material.

Added another pipe section to achieve suitable material (firm bearing Strata)

The lift is being performed using the remote feature of our electric hydraulic pump.

3 inch lift achieved at the interior slab. Holes were in-filled with concrete, floor ready for carpet.

Foundation Wall Anchor - Falls Church, Virginia

This customer had both vertical and lateral settlement along the left basement wall. We installed four model 300 push piers to address the vertical settlement and 5 Plate Wall Anchors to address the lateral movement. This top section shows the technicians installing the 1st 7? long galvanized steel rod with the coupler and one more 7? rod extension. Notice we are using portable hammers with compressed air.

This set of photos show the hole being excavated. Steel rod that was pushed through from the inside of the basement wall now protrudes through the excavated hole approximately 12 feet from the wall. Plate anchor is attached.

The first two photos in theis section shows the installation of the interior wall plate

The last photo above, and the far left, shows after the hole is excavated approx 8 feet deep: the footing is notched for the pier bracket to fit below the stem foundation wall. The next two photos show the drive stand temporarily being bolted to the foundation wall, to hold the yellow drive cylinder, which installs the piers.

This last photo shows the hydraulic equipment removed and the pier installed

Block Piers -Crawlspace Beam Shoring

Block Piers Built the Wrong Way!
Piers are built un-leveled with small wood shims that compress over time.

Block Piers Built the Right Way!
Block piers built level with steel plates (not wood) to transfer the weight of the structure to the supporting new footing. The new block piers & girder beams restored the interior floor back to level conditions.

Cracked Foundation

Virginia Beach, Virginia

In both of these examples, the customers were experiencing serious sinking of the structures, resulting in cracked brickwork and misalignment of the windows.

In both examples, push piers were installed deep under the foundation's sub-stratum.

Steel pier brackets were put in place and then hydraulically lifted to close and maintain the gap.

Cleanup masonry work was performed to even out the brickwork.

Fairfax, Virginia

Leaning Chimney - Arlington, Virginia

This chimney in Arlington, Virginia was leaning away from the wall 2?. We installed two Steel Push Piers 25 feet deep and lifted it back to the wall.

Helical Foundation Lift Repair - Newport News, Virginia

This customer's home foundation was settling causing a gap in the corner foundation shown at far left and misaligning his doors and windows.

The last photo above and the far left one in this section shows the installation of a helical pier drilled down to the sub-stratum of the home's foundation. The next two photos demonstrate the installation of the jacking bracket to the top of the helical pier.

The corner of the foundation is hydraulically forced up to align the home's foundation to proper alignment Demonstrated in the photos in this section.