Underpinning basement walls. Sound like a DIY episode where the presenter is going to plunge under a roof wearing a hard-hat? So buckle up because you’re in for a real adventure. No, not the kind where you have to get out of your comfy chair. But one in which you dig deep and find out what stops buildings from being fancy leaning-tos.
Imagine that this is your old house. You’ve got an old, charming house. There are creaky floors in the basement and walls with a history. Recent creaks are more like calls for help. What about those walls, too? It’s literally breaking apart. Now is the time for you to act.
Underpinning? Consider it like giving stability to your building. The same thing as realizing you need new shoes to keep on running. Building foundations are strengthened to ensure that they can resist whatever Mother Nature might throw their way.
Why would anyone do that? If you decided to have a separate room in your house for the cat, you might want to consider adding another floor. If your existing foundation protests with a “NOPE,” it’s likely that you will need to add another story. Perhaps the ground has decided it wants to move, because its soil is just restless. These scenarios scream for some underpinning magic.
Different approaches are possible. Think of mass concrete as an old school way to beef up your building. Or, you can go fancy and install underground stilts in your building with beams & base. When you are dealing with difficult soils or in tight areas, mini-piled subpinning can help. This method can get to depths which other methods simply cannot.
This is not like repainting your living area on a random whim. The planning is crucial because you’ll be affecting the foundation of your building. This is your only chance to keep the foundation in place of your house. This is where engineers come into play. They do some math, poke around, and try to find a way not to make your building’s foundation a nightmare.
You’ll be surprised by what you find! Discovering that an old sewer line runs right through the place you wanted to work is a great surprise.
Why do we need to care? Security isn’t just fun, it’s important. It’s pretty awesome to me that a house can keep itself upright. As we make sure to not tip our buildings, let’s also thank the people that think of this daily.
We’ll keep it short because, lets face it, nobody reads long-form articles any more. This unsung construction hero is called underpinning. Our buildings are kept upright. Renovations and ambitious construction projects don’t turn into disasters.
You should also remember that good foundations do not only apply to building structures, but they are essential for life as well. Good foundations not only serve buildings. They also support life. Now that’s digging down! When it comes to stories, they sometimes require some assistance in staying grounded.