Residential project, San Clemente, CA
A hillside home stabilized and lifted with helical piers and tieback anchors.
A two story home on a San Clemente ridge had settled about 2 inches and was also creeping toward the slope behind it. Vertical helical piers and helical tieback anchors stabilized the home and recovered part of the drop.
At a glance
- Location
- San Clemente, CA
- Home
- Two story hillside home with a sunroom at the slope edge
- Problem
- About 2 inches of settlement and movement toward the slope
- Method
- Vertical helical piers and helical tieback anchors
- Lift
- Part of the 2 inches recovered
- Date
- August 2024
On video
01
The challenge
This home sits on the crest of a ridge above San Clemente, with the ocean beyond the rooftops below. The lot drops away right behind the back fence. The home had settled about 2 inches, and it was also moving sideways toward the slope.
The homeowner had already made repairs inside, including self leveling the floors, so recovering every bit of the drop was not the goal. Stopping the movement was.
02
The approach
The home was moving down and also sideways, and the crew used two systems. Vertical helical piers were turned into the ground beneath the footing to carry the home’s weight down to load bearing soil. Helical tieback anchors were installed to hold the home against sideways movement toward the slope.
The crew hand excavated along the rear footing and at the octagonal sunroom that sits closest to the edge, with a compact track loader carrying a hydraulic drive head staged in the rear yard to install the piers. Working room between the house and the hedge line was tight, and the equipment set up in that narrow strip of rear yard.
03
The result
With the piers and anchors in place, the crew lifted the home and recovered some of the 2 inches it had lost. The homeowner’s priority was stabilization rather than a full lift, and that is what the work delivered: a home carried on helical piers and held by tieback anchors, with part of the settlement recovered.
Crew
Project manager and foreman Matthew Valls. Project consultant Tom Bartholomew.
Is your hillside home moving?
A home that has settled, or is creeping toward a slope, needs a look at the footing and the ground under it before anyone talks about piers. Schedule a free evaluation and we will tell you what we find.
From the site
From the ridge to the footing.
What this means for your home
Start with a free evaluation.
This home did not need every inch back. It needed to stop moving, and that was the homeowner’s priority. If your floors have dropped or doors have started to stick, a free evaluation tells you what is moving and what it would take to hold it.
Helical piers and tieback anchors are two of the tools. Which ones fit, if any, comes from the evaluation and not from a guess.
