Tecumseh Fire Hall #6
Challenge
The Tecumseh Fire Hall #6 was built in the 1970's and is around 3000sq. ft. with construction consisting of a block foundation and masonry block walls. Step cracking was noticed on the outside as well as the slab on the inside of the building. Settlement was only observed in the corners of the building. No soil tests were completed prior to the work being completed.
Solution
21 helical piers with retro-fit brackets were selected to stabilize and lift the corners. Each pier to support a design working load of 15kips. The helical pier configuration consisted of 2 7/8-inch OD by 0.276-inch wall hollow round shaft with 10"-12"-14" triple-helix lead sections. With their past experience installing helical piers within the Windsor-Essex County region, Advanced Basement Systems anticipated high soil resistance, thereby selecting the model 288 helical pier. The piers were advanced to average depths of 15 feet in order to generate to installation torques correlating to ultimate pier capacities of at least 30 kips (FOS ≥ 2). Retrofit brackets were set and the design loads were applied to the piers with hydraulic cylinders. Advanced Basement Systems was able to recover over 2" of settlement.
Project Summary
Chall-Eng Services Inc.: Chris Guignion, P. Eng
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