Slab Foundation
Foundation – Preparation
Although we cannot guarantee the vegetation will survive we,
- Remove and relocate plants, shrubs, and other vegetation
- Our crew will water and care for them until the job is finished
- Our crew will use plastic and plywood to protect grass and any other surrounding plants
- Our crew will cover the soil with plastic to protect it from the elements
- We stack all concrete piers in one area
It is important to make sure our work site is clean and safe, not only for our employees but also for you, our customer.
Excavation
Alamo Hy-Tech does all excavation by hand. The reason for this is to minimize any problems of damaging of water lines, pipes, or electrical. All locations to be excavated are about 2 feet by 2 ½ feet. If concrete is in the area to be excavated it is broken out or tunneled under for access to the foundation’s beam. The hole is extended under the foundation. All holes are back filled and if any concrete is broken out it is repaired when the job is complete.
All access holes are cover at the end of each day. This is for the safety of our customers and pets. All the soil is covered with plastic to protect it from the weather.
How our Piers are installed………
Alamo Hy-Tech uses a hydraulic ram to install the piling. We take our high strength concrete piling and place it vertically aligned under the concrete beam of the home. Using the weight of the structure the concrete piling is driven into the soil. All concrete pilings are locked into place with our patented Pile Guard. The deeper the piers are driven the greater the pressure required on the hydraulic ram. Our Lead Technician is constantly watching the pressure to watch for refusal (this is the point when the structure will have positive uplift). There is no leveling until all piers are to this point.
Now it is time to level………
Alamo Hy-Tech uses hydraulic jacks to level the structure. The supervisor directs his team to which location of the structure needs to be lifted first. (the lowest part of the structure). The structure is lifted in a uniformed manor. When the lift begins, the supervision provides a cadences count so all jacks are lifting at the same time. The supervisor monitors the structure lift from the outside and the inside of the structure. Alamo Hy-Tech uses a Zip Level to monitor the elevation of the structure.
The crew is moved from location to location around the structure to get
a uniformed lift. This is done repeatedly until the structure is as close to the original level as possible. Alamo Hy-Tech follows these procedures’ to create a uniformed and gentle lift.
The next step is to secure the structure. This is done with steel shims being placed between the high strength concrete pier and concrete beam of the foundation. The hydraulic jack is then removed and replaced with a 2nd concrete pier next to the one that has already been secured. Steel shims are then placed between the 2nd concrete pier and the beam of the foundation. This is repeated around the structure until complete.
