Screw Pile Installation: Options If Challenging Soil Conditions Are Encountered

While screw piles can be installed by any homeowner with the appropriate equipment, such as an excavator with an auger, it is advisable that experts undertake that task. This article discusses some options that a skilled professional may consider in case unfavourable soils are encountered at the installation site of screw piles on your residential property.

Extend the Screw Piles

Screw piles are usually made so that they can penetrate the ground to a certain depth. Thus, each screw pile is designed to leave a portion above grade once the length that should be in the ground has been driven into the soil.

However, the installers may encounter the challenge that the soil at your site is unstable and cannot support the screw pile. In such a situation, the professionals may decide to extend the screw piles so that it is possible to drive them deeper into the ground until they reach stable soils.

It may be hard for you as a layperson to determine how much the screw piles need to be extended in order for them to reach the suitable soils for anchoring those screw piles.

Install Extra Screw Piles

Unstable soils may shift in case the weight of the building resting on the screw piles is more than those soils can withstand. Professional installers can avert this risk by installing additional screw piles at the site. The extra screw piles that they install will reduce the pressure exerted by each individual pile on the unstable soil.

A layperson may not be able to decide how many more screw piles need to be added to the ones that had been originally planned for in order to reduce the pressure exerted by each pile on the soil.

Use Larger Screw Piles

The installers may also notice that the screw piles are having a hard time penetrating the soils at your site. This may be because there are hard rocks close to the surface of the ground. In such a case, it may be feasible to remove the screw piles and replace them with bigger ones that can handle greater torque during the installation process.

The options above all involve incurring costs in terms of money and time. Those additional costs can be avoided if you involve the experts from the initial stages of the project, such as during the planning stage. Those experts will then help you to select the correct sizes of the screw piles that will be appropriate for the ground conditions at your site.