Straight Line Construction
435 Helical Piles Installed
ASSISTED LIVING FACILITY THREATENED BY FOUNDATION SETTLEMENT
435 HELICAL PILES FOR ASSISTED LIVING FACILITY
PUEBLO, COLORADO The Bonaventure Assisted Living Facility in Pueblo, Colorado contacted Straight Line Construction in 2016 to provide a solution for an existing column. In 2017, the owner of the facility reached out again after observing additional signs of foundation distress on the building’s exterior. Floor level surveys and visual observations pointed to the culprit: settlement of the surficial soils.
PROBLEM With anywhere from 7 to 35 feet of clay soils over claystone bedrock, the ground loses significant strength when moisture content increases. The upper-level clay is mapped as being in the Piney Creek Alluvium formation. For the Bonaventure Assisted Living Facility, the distress and movement came from soil settlement. The foundation had settled up to six inches in certain areas.
PROPOSED SOLUTION Straight Line Construction worked with Chrisman Engineering, Inc. to propose the solution: underpinning the building with the use of helical piles. Ram Jack’s 2-7⁄8 inch piles with a single eight-inch helix on the lead section was chosen for installation around the exterior foundation as well as the interior grade beams at approximately four-foot centers. The piles were designed for a capacity of 25 kips and are being used in conjunction with 5 foot 3-½” guide sleeves and 4021 underpinning brackets to provide the required structural capacity. The interior piles require the use of hand-tools for installation to place them in the desired locations.
OUTCOME The installation of the 435 interior helical piles was completed in March of 2020.
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