Doesn’t pile driving cause vibration and damage?

We get asked quite often, "doesn’t pile driving cause vibration and damage existing buildings. No it does not and because of our experience in residential pile driving we use equipment well suited to working around houses.

We use adrop hammer to install our piles. Drop hammers have been used for several hundred years and are basically a weight lifted by the crane and dropped on the pile. The other good feature to a drop hammer is it does not hit fast, 6 blows per minute. Power hammers can hit anywhere from 30 – 120 blows per minute and that is where the vibration issues come into play.

In the picture above you can see that we needed to get creative with this home to repair the issue. We actually put a hole in the roof, used our drop hammer to pile into the affected issue and then had a certified roofer repair the hole. The home owners were amazed at how unobtrusive the process was and the outcome was better than imagined.

We can do this for you as well! Call us today! (414) 881-4833

Which Pile is best for you?

There are alot of options when it comes to Piles. We are here to help educate and choose the right one for your situation. Take a look and the general information and please email us with any questions!

Driven piles types are generally, round steel pipe, Steel H beams, concrete piles and treated timber. Each has its own unique pluses and minuses.

The round steel pipe is good for all around pile types. Usually driven with a closed end and the filled with concrete. Steel piles can be spliced so that they can be driven to needed resistance.

Steel H beams are good when heavy loading is called for or when ground conditions require the piles to be driven thru broken concrete, boulders. These are good for the Midwest area and perfect for the Wisconsin ground. These are usually the most expensive however of the steel options.

Concrete piles are generally used in salt water conditions and are not widely used in the Northern US. They would mostly be used along the coast and last a long time.

Treated timber piles are usually the most economical. These are used when there is peat soils or wet conditions. Major disadvantage to timber piles is they cannot be spliced; so good soil information is needed.

As you can see there are alot of great options. That is where a true professional comes in and we are happy to help.  

What type of deep foundation is right for you?

What type of deep foundation is right for you? We are pile driving contractors and get paid to install
driven piling, but there are many types of deep foundations.

Helical piers. Helical piers were originally designed for uplift loads, like anchor points for power poles. In the late 60’s The A B Chance company designed a helical pier for downward loads, foundations, underpinning. The helical piers work best in situations where overhead clearance is tight or space doesn’t allow for driven piles.

Compacted stone or Engineered stone foundations. These are generally good when ground conditions
require more support in the first 5-10 below the foundation. Major drawbacks are the amount of trucks needed to haul poor soils away and then to haul stone back to the site. For the entire length
Geo-pier or rammed stone. These are good when ground conditions permit for the drilling of the holes and compacted stone to be placed. Disadvantages are overburden removal and is usually expensive for house foundations.