South Holland Illinois Concrete Foundations – New

That clay under a South Holland lot moves more than most people plan for. So Concrete Foundations in South Holland have to handle clay that swells and shrinks. We hit this on digs all over town. After a wet spring the spoil stays heavy and slick. But a dry stretch opens cracks in the same yard.

Because the clay holds water, one side of a house can stay soft for weeks. We’ve opened grade beside older basements after a dry summer. We found a gap between the soil and the wall. The clay had pulled back, and support under the footing had changed. People have called us about a hairline in a basement wall after a long dry spell. So we start with the ground, well before we talk about the pour.

South Holland, Illinois gets wet spells that load the clay. Dry spells shrink it again. A new footing has to take that cycle. After the water leaves, the soil volume drops. A footing can end up carrying more of the house on one end. For example, we’ve checked basement floors that settled along an outside wall once the yard dried out.

Footings for Concrete Foundations in South Holland

Heavy clay is what every new foundation or home addition in town has to sit on. So the footing gets the same care as the wall above it. We dig the trench and check the bottom by hand. We won’t pour on loose fill or on standing mud. When the bottom is soft, we dig that material out before the forms go in. Then we set the wall steel and pour.

A room addition brings another issue, since the old house has already moved with this clay. The new wall can shift on its own schedule. We look hard at the joint where the new foundation meets the old one. We detail that joint so the two walls can shift a little without ripping the corner. On Concrete Foundations in South Holland, that joint is where an addition needs the most care. New construction on an empty lot has no old wall to meet. The clay under a new house still swells and shrinks with the weather. We’re family owned and operated, and we’ve been doing this work since 2006. Our About Us page has more on the crew.

Pouring Concrete Foundations in South Holland for Additions

We place the concrete before the trench sides start to cave in. So we stage the truck and the crew for a steady placement. After the pour, we strip the forms once the wall can stand on its own. Then we backfill with care so we don’t shove a fresh wall out of line. People have asked us to fold other concrete into the same visit. A room addition can share that visit with a tear-out on a broken service walk.

Water at the surface still matters after the wall is in. So we pitch the grade away from the foundation. Then roof water and yard water run away from the wall. Downspouts that dump at a corner keep that clay wet for days. We’ve rebuilt grade where that dump was the whole problem. For Concrete Foundations in South Holland, we keep the clay next to the wall from sitting wet all spring. Our photo gallery shows finished walls and flatwork.

We also pour foundations for new construction when the plan calls for a basement or a crawl space. A back addition and a new house both bear on this clay. So we check the bearing and we keep surface water off the footing. Concrete Foundations in South Holland follow that same order on a basement wall or a short stem wall. We write the quote out line by line so you can see the hours. Removal of an old section is part of our concrete foundations work. When the old concrete has to go, we do the removal before the new pour.