Helical piles provide the best solution for achieving the needed elevation and proven resistance to damage from heave. Galveston Piling Company, on the recommendation of Southeast Texas Engineering, installed 23 Cantsink helical piles. The home was built directly on the piles, to address the compressive loads. Few battered piles were included to address the lateral load forces. Cantsink helical piles can be quickly and cost effectively installed to depths below the nine feet to 14 feet of expansive soil where heave occurs. The slender shafts of helical piles perform better than traditional methods using timber or concrete with self-verifying compression and tension loads. Furthermore, the use of helical piles eliminated the vibration impact to neighboring structures typical for driven beams, and reduced the need for removing spoils.

Twenty-three Cantsink 2 7/8-inch OD pipe piles (ICC certified) with galvanized finish were used, totaling more than 600 feet in all. Installation was accomplished using a standard skid steer machine with a minimum torque drive head of 6,000 ft.-lbs. String lines and laser levels can be used to locate the piles for supporting the triple 2×12 beams specified in the engineering plans.