08.03 2022

WHEN AND HOW IT IS NECESSARY TO ELIMINATE THE SETTLEMENT OF THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE HOUSE

Settlement of the foundation is a phenomenon that occurs within 3-5 years after the completion of the construction of the building. Exceeding the allowable standards of subsidence due to violation of operating conditions, there is a threat of damage and destruction of structural elements of the house. In this case, the sediment is considered sedimentation, which must be eliminated.

A sign of foundation subsidence is deformation and damage to structural elements of the building. Cracks may appear in the walls or in the foundation, the floor slabs of the first floor may sag, door and window openings may skew, etc.

When cracks and other deformations are detected, an inspection of the building is carried out and it is clarified whether only the wall cladding layer is affected or whether there is damage to the load-bearing structures. If there is damage to structural elements, and the cause of this damage is excessive settlement of the foundation, it is necessary to carry out repair work not only to eliminate the damage itself, but also to eliminate the cause of their appearance.

Classic strengthening of the foundation

The traditional way of restoring the structural characteristics of the building is to strengthen the foundation. In itself, the concept of “strengthening the foundation” is very broad. For example, if at the stage of designing a house, according to the results of the calculations, it turned out that the accepted width of the foundation is insufficient and the building gives more load than the soil can withstand, then it is necessary to recalculate the project with an increased width of the foundation, i.e. “strengthen the foundation”.

It is possible to increase the width of the foundation on the finished object, which involves extensive earthwork and concrete works. Strengthening the foundation of a built house involves a very time-consuming and lengthy process. To increase the width of the foundation, it is necessary to dig it around the perimeter of the entire building. However, it is impossible to do this at the same time due to the risk of destroying the entire structure. With the traditional approach, work on strengthening the foundation is carried out in stages, in small sections. At the same time, it is necessary to understand that the concrete, which is used to increase the width of the foundation, gains strength in 28 days.

Innovative soil strengthening

Geopolymer technologies GeoResin allow solving the problem of strengthening the foundation in a different way. The foundation is a structure that transfers the load to the soil. Subsidence of the foundation begins in those cases when the pressure on the soil is greater than the standard. The task of stopping and eliminating subsidence of the foundation can be solved not only by strengthening the foundation, but also by strengthening the soil. In this case, the foundation will remain as it is, and no work needs to be done with it.

The fact is that the foundation and soil are not separate elements, but work in pairs in the form of a soil-foundation system. As soon as the bearing capacity of the soil is increased to the required values, the foundation will start working normally. And as a result, it will be possible to talk about the fact that the “strengthening of the foundation” has occurred.

Features of geopolymer injection

Stopping and elimination of foundation settlement due to soil strengthening is performed by injecting GeoResin geopolymer resins. In this case, there is no need to carry out earthwork and concrete work, and all procedures for restoring the characteristics of the structural elements of the building take about two to three days.

In order to inject geopolymers, it is necessary to drill wells for pipes with a diameter of 12 mm, through which geopolymers will be injected. In some cases, it is possible to insert two or three tubes into one hole for supplying geopolymer material to different depths. All procedures are performed using small mobile tools, without the involvement of large construction equipment.