What Is Rock Strata And How Is It Beneficial For My Home’s Foundation?
7/12/22 By Joshua Lampright
It’s crucial to have the proper foundation in place before you can start building a structure of any type. This is true for both modest family residences and multi-story commercial structures like hotels and shopping centers. To support their weight, they all need a solid and robust substructure. However, despite their capacity to disperse the weight of the walls uniformly across the ground, foundations must also keep water from entering the lower-grade floors.
However, not all properties are created equal. The physical differences in their bedrocks and soils allow for a variety of conditions that will have an impact on the building as a whole. Therefore, before beginning a construction project, it is crucial for engineers and construction workers to have a basic understanding of the geology, topography, and soil composition of the property.
The team will need to carefully examine the ground to determine which form of foundation will be most appropriate for the project based on the type of building they hope to construct. As mentioned previously, one such determining factor is the type of rock that lies underneath the building’s destination. That being said, a team like ours here at Pierman Foundation Repair possesses the advanced qualifications, knowledge, and experience to address these variables and get your foundation repaired right.
Let’s start with the fundamental question many homeowners ask when they hear how well a foundation piering system supports your home by utilizing the “bedrock or load-bearing strata” below your home:
What is Bedrock?
Bedrock refers to horizontal sedimentary rock layers that can typically be visibly distinguished from one another by their different compositions. Each distinct layer, or strata, denotes a time interval during the formation of that sedimentary layer in the earth’s history. The Latin roots of the words strata and stratum indicate “stuff stretched out.” The study of rock strata is the focus of the geology discipline of study known as stratigraphy.
Types of Bedrock
These three groups of bedrock below can apply to bedrock formation.
Sedimentary rock:
Rock fragments, or sediment, get trapped and buried over time when they are transported by air, wind, or water to a basin or depression. Sedimentary rock is created when this loose material compacts. Compared to other kinds of bedrock, the resultant rock is often softer.
Igneous bedrock:
This category includes any glassy or crystalline rocks that are created when molten lava or magma cools and solidifies on or below the surface of the earth. When tectonic forces move and deposit metamorphic or sedimentary rocks into the heated mantle, where they melt and are expelled as magma, the magma cools and solidifies to create igneous rocks.
Metamorphic bedrock:
Under the pressure of the earth’s crust, bedrock can occasionally shift as a result of pressures like heat or reactive fluids like salty water.
The ground under a foundation made of rock has an excellent drainage system for water, and igneous and metamorphic rocks with high bearing capacities include limestone, granite, sandstone, and hard solid chalk.
What Are Load-Bearing Strata?
The foundation of your entire building or structure can be supported by a continuous mass of rock that won’t sink, settle, or move. As previously mentioned, this term is interchangeable with “bedrock.” In addition to being inert, bedrock does not expand or contract like the soils on the surface of the earth. However, in areas with significant erosion, they may become revealed.
When a house is built on sand or clay soil, it may start to move and sink, which can lead to structural issues. When a home is assisted with foundation piering services, the foundation will become supported by piers that contractors drive into the bedrock until they meet strong resistance. This resistance will then support the house above, utilizing the strength of the piers. Some rock, like granite, is sufficiently solid at depths of 20 to 55 meters, giving it the ability to support the weight of great loads brought to it by piers.
Bedrock and Foundation Repairs
Your local contractor will work immediately to stabilize your foundation and, if necessary, bring it back to its previous elevation if you ever experience serious foundation settlement. To maintain structural stability, they accomplish this by digging piers into the solid bedrock underneath the surface of the earth.
The piers are load-tested to determine both the correct depth to dig to and the load they can support after they have met the load-bearing strata and resistance has been established. To calculate torque to capacity, we employ a straightforward mathematical formula that takes into account the weight of the structure, the soil type, and the state of the soil.
Then, hydraulic lifts are fastened to your home. Less pressure is utilized while lifting when pressure is applied simultaneously. The house is then raised off the active soils, and the structural load is distributed to the bedrock columns.
This sounds like quite a process!
The foundation piering process is indeed a big deal, but yields some big results for the structure of your home. The specialists at Pierman Foundation Repair have what it takes to professionally install foundation piers and set your home straight, literally.
Take the first step toward repairing your lifelong home and dwelling of your family by calling us today at (580) 453-0330. Schedule an evaluation of your foundation and our team of professionals will determine the best course of action for repairing or replacing your structure.
Feel free to visit our website for more information about the services we provide and how they surpass the competition.
