Residential project, Colton, CA

Push piers under the footing and polyurethane foam under the slab for a duplex that had settled and cracked.

A Colton duplex had settled enough to crack its stucco outside and its drywall inside. The crew installed push piers under the footing and injected polyurethane foam beneath the slab.

At a glance

Location: Colton, CA
Structure: Duplex
Problem: Settlement with exterior stucco and interior drywall cracks
Method: Push piers and polyurethane foam injection
Crew: Phil Laney, project manager on this job

Push piers and foam injection under a settling Colton duplex

This Colton duplex had a long diagonal crack running through the exterior stucco below one window and a crack across the interior drywall. With the flooring out, the crew took floor elevation measurements across the slab. Those readings show where a floor has dropped and by how much.

Along the outside of the building, the crew excavated to the footing and set push pier brackets under it, driving the steel piers with hydraulic rams. Two brackets sit beside a doorway in the photographs. Injection ports were driven beneath the footing as well, and foam can be seen expanding out of the trench beside a pier bracket.

Inside, the crew injected polyurethane foam through small ports in the slab. The foam expands as it goes in and fills the space beneath a slab that has dropped.

Phil Laney managed the project. If your home shows the same kind of cracking, schedule a free evaluation.

Crew

Project manager on this job: Phil Laney.

Seeing cracks like these at home?

Stucco cracks outside and drywall cracks inside are common signs of a settling foundation. Schedule a free evaluation to find out what is happening under your home.

Push piers

From the site

Cracks, measurements, piers and foam.

Long diagonal crack in tan stucco below a window, with a trench dug along the footing — A stucco crack had opened on the exterior wall from the footing up toward the window.

Diagonal drywall crack running from a window corner down through an electrical box — Inside, a crack ran across the drywall below the window, seen here with the flooring already out.

Yellow digital floor level gauge resting on a bare concrete slab — Floor elevation measurements across the slab show where the floor has dropped and by how much.

Worker in safety glasses drives an injection port tube under the footing with a rotary hammer — An injection port is driven beneath the footing so polyurethane foam can be placed under it.

Two push pier brackets with hydraulic rams and hoses in a trench beside a door threshold — Two push pier brackets, rams still attached, in the trench beside a doorway.

Polyurethane foam expanding out of the trench beside a steel push pier bracket — Foam injected beneath the footing expands out of the trench next to an installed bracket.

Crouching worker in safety glasses and gloves injecting foam through a port in the interior slab — With the flooring out, the crew injects polyurethane foam through small ports in the slab.

Worker bent over an injection gun at a slab port near an interior wall — Injection continues port by port across the room.

What this means for your home

Start with a free evaluation.

Push piers carry the weight of a settled footing down to soil that can support it, and polyurethane foam fills beneath a slab that has dropped. Whether a home needs one, the other or both depends on what is moving and where.

If you are seeing cracks like the ones on this duplex, schedule a free evaluation.