The Basement Doctor of Central Kentucky Saves a Sinking Porch in Mc Kee, KY

Challenge

Tracey of Mc Kee, Kentucky, called The Basement Doctor of Central Kentucky because her front porch settled intensely on one corner. This porch and roof were at serious risk of failure, due to the fact that the load-bearing posts on the porch were becoming separated from the roof overhang. If the sunken porch was not raised back to health, the roof could fall apart, resulting in tons of very costly repairs for the homeowner. 

Solution

When we arrived on-site to do the estimate, we discovered someone had tried to fix the porch in the past by laying down extra concrete where there was a gap in the sidewalk pavement. We explained to her the problem wouldn't be fixed with more concrete, (which made the porch heavier and accelerated the sinking process). We would have to install helical piers to guarantee the porch won't sink any longer, and to lift the porch back up again.

We started by demoing the concrete sidewalk and stairs leading up to the porch, as this concrete needed to be removed in order to install the piering system. This was unfortunate, but it didn't take much time for the homeowner to realize that removing their already broken concrete was going to be much less costly than having a problematic roof overhang in the future. After we excavated around the corner of the porch, we then installed 7 piers in the trench. After the piers were drilled down to load-bearing soil, we then hooked on our "L" shaped brackets to the piers, which transferred the weight of the porch to stable soil deep in the earth. We then used hydraulics to extend the piers, which allowed us to lift the porch back to where it was when it was first installed. This process helped the porch posts get back to supporting the overhang. We then backfilled the trench after the porch was leveled out, and the piers were left concealed under the ground. The result was a happy homeowner who no longer has to worry about their potentially roof collapsing. 

Project Summary

Helical Piers: Helical Anchor System