How Adjustable Steel Stumps Could Alleviate Your Long-Term Subsidence Problems
Do you live in an area that is renowned for unpredictable soil conditions? For example, the underlying soil may be predominately clay, and the water table may rise and fall significantly through the seasons. In this case, you may face an uncertain future when it comes to the stability of your home and how its foundation responds to those varied conditions. What steps can you take to deal with this challenge?
The Process of Underpinning
As you may know, engineers and contractors can often adjust a home's foundation if it is affected by subsidence. After due deliberation and calculation, they can often pump concrete into the ground at key locations to make the underlying soil more stable and return the slab to its original position.
Yet while this process of underpinning is commonplace, it's best to take another approach if the problem could well be repeated at some stage in the near future. In this situation, it may be better to remove the original foundational stumps altogether and replace them with something more appropriate.
Looking at the Modern-Day Alternative
When your home was originally built, the contractor might have introduced wooden or concrete stumps to support the slab. These are typically effective but may not be as good as adjustable steel stumps in your situation.
Steel stumps are often more hard-wearing than the alternatives and not as prone to damage. Older wooden stumps could be subject to infestation, while concrete stumps may have cracked, allowing water to get in and lead to deterioration.
Installing Adjustable Stumps
When you install adjustable steel stumps instead, the engineer will simply have to choose an approximate size for the task. They won't need to worry about exact measurements, as once in place, they can adjust the size of the stump accordingly. Here, they will use very precise instrumentation to raise or lower the stump in each location so the foundation is always level. Without this product, you may be faced with constant replacement or the need to introduce bulk concrete whenever a new problem arises.
Making a Shrewd Decision
Talk with your contractors about adjustable steel stumps. You may be able to tackle your long-term problem in one go and simply call on your contractor to make adjustments in the future if needed. While you may face additional costs at the outset to do this work, you could save a lot of money, time, effort and stress when weather conditions cause another issue with subsidence.