Micropiles

One thing that makes our soils unique is that our swelling soils can also be very dense and hard. Frequently harder than 40 and even 50 blow-count soil (to read more about soil density and bearing capacity testing, please read this). In many areas (Erie Air Park, Rock Creek in Superior, many neighborhoods in Broomfield, Arvada, Thornton and Denver), there are layers of very dense, expansive soils overlaying more dense, expansive soils. These soils can be very difficult to advance a helical pier through. VMC uses the most powerful portable helical piering equipment commercially available, but this equipment is limited to about 6000 ft. lbs. of torque. While this may sound like a lot of force, it will typically only advance a pier about twenty or thirty feet into 40 blow-count soil, and will not progress into 50 blow-count soil at all. A push pier is worthless in this type of soil. Now, most of the homes in these areas were built on drilled caissons, and if they were built in the last thirtyyears, these caissons are likely 30+ feet deep. If your home’s 30’ deep caissons are failing, replacing them with 30’ deep helical piers even shorter push piers will not provide you greaterstability or a permanent solution. The only way to permanently fix a foundation built on these types of soils is to drill through the upper layers off dense, swelling soils into layers deep enough that they can’t swell and are of constant moisture content. This is why Van Matre Construction has invested substantially into the best micropile drilling equipment. Our drills and pumps can be disassembled, carried by a crew into a basement, and re-assembled allowing us to drill down as far as needed to reach competent soils; we can drill as deep as 150’ into solid bedrock, if needed.