Cracks in your concrete foundation, sloping floors, cracks in your plastered walls, windows and doors not functioning properly...is this describing your home? These occurrences are not normal. Typically, these are symptoms of a sinking foundation. Many neighborhoods throughout New England were unknowingly constructed on layers of peat or improperly backfilled soils. Homes constructed on these sites will often settle and will continue to settle until corrective action is taken.

Our goal at Helical Drilling, Inc. is to prevent these foundations from settling to the point that very expensive cosmetic repairs are necessary to restore the finishes of your home. Our company specializes in the diagnosis, repair, and prevention of settled foundations. We provide a unique mix of professional engineering and construction expertise to provide the most cost effective solution for our clients.

Helical Drilling has been specializing in settled foundation repair for over 20 years and we would like to outline our standard approach to diagnosing and remediating settlement in residential homes. We have developed a three step program that has proven to be very effective in diagnosing, prescribing, and implementing the repair of settled homes. The steps are as follows:
 

Step 1: Initial Site Visit
Initial site visit to determine if there is a potential problem. We observe the structure, perform an elevation survey, and record measurements.
 

Step 2: Engineering
If required, we will propose to perform soil borings and an engineering evaluation of the home. Typically three to four borings are performed and the information from the borings indicates why the foundation has settled, if it will continue to settle, and how deep piles or grout will need to extend to reach competant soils. If it is determined that underpinning needs to be performed, then we will prepare an engineered plan of repair along with a firm price proposal. These plans will be used to obtain a building permit which is the first step in the repair process.
 

Step 3 - Perform the Repair
We realize that no one wants to be the victim of settlement problems but these problems do exist. We obtain the building permit and proceed with our proposal work. The homeowner may need to hire a landscaper, a carpenter and other tradesman to complete the repair process.