Services

​Concrete Slab Foundation Repair

If you’ve lived in Oklahoma for any length of time you know that our weather is erratic; we dabble in earthquakes and tornadoes, drought and drenched, and our ground can go from 15 feet of solid rock to red dirt clay to sandy loam all within a quarter of a mile. Although we Oklahomans take full advantage of our ever changing weather and ground our homes and buildings do not appreciate this movement. We need our homes on firm foundations that don’t sink with the sand! There’s strength in steel! Patriot Foundation Repair pushes a Hydraulic Driven, steel pier to refusal and when properly placed and installed correctly you don’t have to worry about your home moving with the waves of the earth!

Pier and Beam Repair (Crawl Space)

A pier and beam home foundation is the opposite of a concrete slab home foundation. This type of foundation is raised off of the ground and held in place with concrete piers and pads. The most common issue with a pier and beam foundation is improper drainage and ventilation of the crawl space. Because this foundation is raised off the ground, water tends to find its way underneath the home, washing away the ground beneath it over time. It’s imperative to divert water away from the home to prevent this from occurring, but when this happens Patriot will address this by performing a service known as a “reshim.” This requires the restabilization of the current concrete pier pilings and more often than not, replacement of the wooden beams. Wood rots when wet and loses its ability to assist holding the foundation in place. This is where water diversion and proper ventilation come into play. If improperly ventilated other problems persist such as mold and mildew that can lead to poor air quality inside the home and potential medical problems. Patriot will install a sufficient ventilation system to allow proper airflow underneath the crawl space to prevent such issues. Patriot’s repair solutions are engineer approved, just ask them! 

Drainage Solutions

We get asked often what the most common reason is for a failing foundation and it’s a simple answer; improper drainage. Our poor weathermen have got to be scratching their heads at this Oklahoma weather. It might rain for two solid weeks, but be followed by a winter chill and drought! Talk about unpredictable. These rapid changes are tough on foundations when there’s not proper drainage solutions in place that divert the water away from the home’s foundation. As the rain pours and water flows around your home it’s washing away much needed ground that’s stabilizing your home’s foundation causing it to slowly sink and move. You might initially start to see cracking in the exterior of your home, stairstep cracks in your bricks, columns separating from the ground, and cracks in surrounding driveways or sidewalks all of which are tell-tale signs your home is on the move. Next comes the dry weather which brings about ground expansion. Once all the water has settled and dried and the sinking has occurred the ground expands which causes another round of movement. This is not the outcome you want for your home. The unsightly damage has more than likely moved indoors at this point and you might notice new cracking around the corners of your windows and doors, windows and doors won’t open and shut properly, doors won’t lock into place, if its a pier and beam foundation your floors might be very vocal now. All of these things lead to expensive repairs and will only worsen over time if not addressed. Every rain to drought cycle will exacerbate the damage cosmetically and to the foundation.

Patriot’s Foundation Analysts have a trained eye to spot and rectify these drainage problems. French Drains are an excellent solution to divert water away from your home, keeping the ground expansion cycle from occurring. Downspouts are also used to divert the rain water from your roof away from the foundation. We understand that french drains aren’t glamorous, but we will make sure that the drainage solution we provide and install doesn’t just fix the problem, but is aesthetically pleasing to the eye as well.

Concrete Slab Foundation Repair

We’ve come to learn that foundation repair comes with a certain stigma which can be summed up in one word, fear. Most people don’t understand how foundation problems are addressed and are assuming the worst, especially when it comes to foundation repair costs. It’s our goal at Patriot to ease the minds of our customers by educating them throughout the repair process. Knowledge is power and when we take away the fear of the unknown by educating them we all walk away happy. Usually, we find the cost is far less then what they’ve predetermined in their minds as well so double happiness.

Foundations must be accessed by either the slab or crawl space. Depending on the scope of damage new piers may need to be installed around the exterior of the home or the interior as well. An average repair consists solely of exterior steel piers. 

Concrete slab foundations are repaired with a hydraulically driven steel pier that is pushed to refusal. We use no heavy machinery for any repair solution; we excavate the ground around the exterior concrete footing by hand digging targeted areas in order to minimize the disruption to the surrounding landscape. In order to achieve the desired result this is the most effective and safest way to address the repair. 

Once we’ve excavated the targeted areas for pier placement we leverage the weight of the structure against the steel pier and hydraulically drive it down, stacking pipe as needed, until we reach bedrock or refusal. Ensuring we’ve pushed until refusal is paramount to the outcome of the repair. This part of the process must be handled with the utmost care and attentiveness. If this is tried without proper knowledge you can cause more harm than good. Overlifting can send ripple effects of damage throughout the home such as windows busting, new cracks appearing, and tile cracking and busting. Underlifting defeats the entire purpose of the repair which is to prevent movement of the foundation.

Now that all piers are in place and pushed to refusal you will see that cracks that were visible before are visible no longer. Your doors and windows should work properly once again. Yay, success! Next, we stabilize the footing, mortar the tuck point, and close up the holes. We’ll replace any shrubs or bushes there were removed, clean the area, and perform the final foundation inspection.

When interior piers are required it tends to be a bit more invasive, but Patriot goes above and beyond to care for your belongings while we hydraulically drive the interior steel piers utilizing the same methods as the exterior steel piers. Some homes will require both interior and exterior steel piers depending on the ground solid and topography and scope of current damage.