Repairing the Sunken Foundation for Phillips 66

Commercial Foundation Repair in Houston, Texas!

We have a new project for Commercial Foundation Repair in Houston to share with you today! Buildings big and small can settle. Drought, erosion, oversaturation, and shifting soil will affect the foundation of any sized building.

Who does an $87b company choose for foundation repair?

A guardhouse at Phillip 66’s private hangar near George Bush Intercontinental Airport had started to settle. Located at the property’s front gate, this small 100 sqft building houses the gate controls and gate attendant. It was the attendant’s rolling chair that tipped-off facility managers that something was awry. Any time the chair was unoccupied it would eerily roll toward the north corner. In lieu of the Ghostbusters, Phillips 66 contacted URETEK ICR Gulf Coast to evaluate and provide a foundation repair estimate.

Using Pressed Pilings for Commercial Foundation Repair in Houston

After visiting the guard house and taking elevation readings, our Project Manager found that the foundation had settled substantially at the north corner. It was the lowest point and would require the greatest amount of lift. URETEK prides itself on the innovative URETEK Method; however, this foundation repair called for a more traditional solution—pressed pilings.
Pressed pilings are a foundation repair solution used to lift and support a structure at the grade beam.
The guardhouse repair plan called for pressed pilings to be installed along grade beam at the northeast and northwest wall. Crews began repairs by digging 3’x3’x3’ holes at every piling location. Using the guardhouse as a counterforce and the footer as a push point, pilings are pressed downward, into the soil with a hydraulic jack. When a cylinder is nearly submerged another is placed on top of it and pushed like the last. The goal is to create something similar to an underground column that will support the structure’s weight.

The purpose of pressing pilings is not to lift, but to find the deep, strong soil strata that will support the weight of your foundation. At this point no meaningful lift has occurred, only the necessary preparations.

After all the pilings have been pushed crew members take position at each piling location and, using bottle jacks, start lifting the guardhouse. Crew Supervisor orchestrates the lifting process to prevent foundation cracking and to ensure that weight is distributed evenly amongst the pilings.

Once the guard house is at proper elevations URETEK Method is used to fill the void space created by the lifting. 5/8” holes are drilled through the slab and expanding polymer is injected. The polymer will occupy the void space created by lifting and prevent resettlement.

Finally, the dug out soil is replaced and tamped.

We pride ourselves on choosing the right foundation repair solution for the job—this time, because of the size and scope, pressed pilings was the right solution. After raising the foundation nearly 5” the guard house was level again. Overall, it was a great success.

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Uretek provides Commercial, Residential, Industrial and Municipal Foundation Repair in Houston, Texas. We are a BBB A+ company with over 17 years of experience in the Houston Area. Get a FREE quote today!