Sales & Technical: +44 (0)20 8735 5200 | ROI: +353 (01) 695 0726 | [email protected]

Expensive taking down and rebuilding avoided

Client:	Private homeowner
Location:	Moor Monkton, nr York
Approved Installer:	St Astier
Reference No:	CS176

A modern two storey farm house of traditional cavity construction, this property had a single storey extension to the front elevation. This had been rebuilt 10 years previously, following ground movement damage, on the original inadequate foundations.

Consequently, it was now suffering from ongoing subsidence, with internal cracking at the junction of the extension and the original structure. The owners were now faced with the prospect of the extension being taken down and rebuilt for a second time.

A cost-effective and reliable means of supporting and stabilising the extension was needed which would overcome the problem of the poor foundations and secure the cracked masonry.

The Helifix Solution

Helifix Dixie micro-piles provided the ideal solution to the subsidence as they are effective to much greater depths than traditional mass underpinning. They were rapidly installed, with minimal disruption, spoil removal or vibrations, by simply being screwed into the ground.

â— Minor excavations were dug to the bottom of the foundations and nine Dixie micro-piles were installed; five along the extension’s main wall and two on each of the return walls. The required PSI reading and load bearing capacity was met at a depth of 8m.

â— Each pile was fitted with an adjustable L shaped top bracket which was positioned under the foundations before being jacked up to take the full weight of the extension.

â— Both internally and externally, cracks were stitched and the extension’s masonry was reconnected to the main structure by using the Helibeam System. Some 80m of stainless steel HeliBar was bonded into specified mortar beds with HeliBond cementitious grout. These also formed deep masonry beams which reinforced the brickwork and spread the building loads.

The piling was all completed within one week, the extension was fully stabilised and costly rebuilding avoided with only minimal disturbance to the building’s occupants as just minor crack stitching had to be done internally.