Prepping the area
The home builder already marked and prepped the area. All the DryZone guys had to do was install the piers. This made the entire project flow much easier and faster. Each of those boxes will get a helical pier, 8 in total around the house. This process is a must if you are thinking about building a house at the beach. Otherwise you could end up with major foundation problems.
Project Foreman Kenny Sharpless on the mini excavator
Kenny has been with DryZone for years, and has even more experience with construction and heavy machinery. He can drive our mini excavator into almost any tight spot. DryZone uses a smaller excavator for just that reason, its easier to maneuver and can fit where larger machines can't.
Checking the clearance on the drive head
Our crews are always very careful not to bump and move things unintentionally. They move very steady and check on each other so as not to have an accident. In this picture, Jose is acting as Kenny's eyes so he doesn't bump the house with the long drive head.
Installing the helical piers
Each pier is almost like a giant screw. They are driven into the ground a lot like a screw into a piece of wood. In fact the easiest way to get an understanding of how they work is to think of driving a long screw into a big piece of wood. It starts off going in very easily, then it gets tighter and harder to screw as it gets deeper. This is the principle behind helical piers. We keep crewing them in until our gauges read a strong resistance. We don't want the house to sink, ever.
Checking that the piers are going in straight
With each pier, the crew members check to be sure they are going in straight and level. Minor adjustments can be made to ensure that they are installed to our high standard.
Reading the gauges and checking the hoses
Jose will periodically check on the hoses for leaks and read the gauges to see so deep the piers are going. The gauges will let the foreman know when to stop pushing and just how deep the pier went. This helps DryZone to better estimate future jobs since we cover a large area. We can see exactly how deep the piers went in that area and any future jobs should be pretty similar in nature.
Different style of bracket
You might have seen our other helical pier projects on the website and noticed a different bracket. The new construction bracket is flat and designed so that the hole can be filled in with concrete for a good solid footer.