Browse Forums General Discussion Re: Chemical underpinning and soil stabilization 21May 15, 2015 6:43 pm A good result. It sounds like these guys go the extra mile to achieve a desired outcome. It's nice to hear a good story on these forums occasionally. Stewie Re: Chemical underpinning and soil stabilization 23May 22, 2015 11:26 am Thank you for sharing @harriscfd. Urathane has got back to me with the quote. Re: Chemical underpinning and soil stabilization 24May 22, 2015 12:30 pm @harriscfd, do you have before and after pictures? Re: Chemical underpinning and soil stabilization 25Nov 13, 2015 10:06 am Has anyone else used Urathane Solutions recently? I've just initiated contact regarding some issues with my house. I've already received a lot of info from Mark on reactive soil types, soil water logging/ drying effects and likely causes of excess water. It highlighted some areas where I know we have issues, some that I've already fixed and others that I didn't realise the significance of. I'll be getting one of their people to come an do an assessment soon. Re: Chemical underpinning and soil stabilization 26Dec 30, 2015 9:27 am How did you go with Urathane @murcod? Re: Chemical underpinning and soil stabilization 27Feb 02, 2016 5:03 pm harriscfd Hi, Update. I went with Urathane Solutions quote of just on $29k. it is a large odd shaped house ( 25 yo) on very reactive soil on almost top of hill with a 1.5m cutin The house has cracked in 5 corners plus an large central internal (not on outside wall) fireplace as well as a verandah slab that had dropped. Mark and his team Luke and Michael were great. They were here for the last 2 weeks and managed to inject under all the locations and level all the brick work. Most of the cracks closed almost completely ( really only a hair line left) and in the worst corner the crack closed but the brick work had twisted slightly when the wall had droped so it did not go back square in the corner. They put a pully system on it and pulled it back in place looks almost new and once cleaned up and re rendered will be perfect. The one crack that did not close the corner was stabilised and leveled and the 2-3mm crack left Mark showed me and I have filled with some Urathane they gave me. The fire place inside they drilled about 8x 20mm holes through the timber floor on one side and the tiles on the other side these are about 500-600 apart and put their rods through and pumped under it foundations to stabilise it they patched the holes so under the carpet/timber side was fine the tiles i am replacing anyway but the patched holes look fine for now. if you wanted to keep your tiles you would have to replace the drilled ones. We were surprised how little mess/dust they created inside. The cracks inside did not all close from the walls being done outside so Mark got under the house and found that about 4-5 central stumps 3-4 meters from the walls had moved from the original soil movement so he used 5 ton jacks to lift the beams closing the cracks and then packing the tops of the stumps and letting the jacks down all cracks stayed completely closed whereas some you could put your finger in before. With all this movement a couple of doors had been previously fitted to allow for the past soil movement so they were now very stiff to open/close. The guys took them off then shaved the bottom slight so they all now work perfectly. The verandah proved to be a problem although their injection system lifted it easily the slab got stuck on something and with the electronic measuring system they use to 100th of a mm we could see the slab start to bow slightly in the centre they stopped any pressure and it came back but they did not want to pump anymore. We could not see anything that was stopping it in the very confined space. So to fix the problem to level it without any damage they took the edge bullnose tiles off (only breaking one of about 50 or so) cleaned them for re use and cut the bricks to level with the slab with outer edge brick wall. So they have just left today where all the work was done out side was brick paving they took up the bricks where they worked and put them back when they finished so now there is no indication they have been there. The stuff looks strange when they do it as some bubbles out of places you dont expect as it is following the chanels in the soil and filling all these before they start to lift, this is part of the stabilisation closing the access for future water. As Mark explains in my case over the long term water will make new chanels in the soil somewhere so you have to address the water issues by having adequate stormwater system and a possibly separate grate/sump system and all paving sloping away from the house so water runs away not towards. You can also put down pond liner under the paving up to the house walls to stop water as well. Urathane Solutions who came over from Adelaide ( i am in Mt Eliza Melbourne) guys were excellent to work with and did a great job. They travel all over Australia. so far so good glad its all done.. Now i have to address the stormwater and my cracked fibreglass pool damn reactive soil. Hi, We just got a quote from uretek and found the pricing scheme a little shifty - we were just wondering how you (and the other urethane solutions customers) are feeling about your investment a year-ish later? Thanks! Re: Chemical underpinning and soil stabilization 28Feb 28, 2016 2:47 pm cool2frost How did you go with Urathane @murcod? They came out, had a look, discussed issues that need fixing before progressing further etc. I've been fixing those problems, however, it also involves a neighbour fixing up issues in their yard . Urathane were doing a quote but I told them not to bother rushing it (that was just before Xmas.) Re: Chemical underpinning and soil stabilization 29May 02, 2019 2:35 pm Hi all, Just bumping up this thread, My House (double brick, Victorian) started to crack and become unlevel this summer, I've contacted Urathane and Mainmark to see if they can fix the problem. Waiting for Urathane to come back with a quote and Mainmark to come for inspection (both seem very busy) Just wonder if anyone can shed more light about how resin injection holds up after few years and any new quotes figures to just get an idea Thanks Re: Chemical underpinning and soil stabilization 30May 02, 2019 10:28 pm Currently a lot of trees causing damage due to drying the soil and causing settlement.Might be a good idea to find out what is causing the problem first before you jump straight into a cure.Are there trees near where the damage is ? Can you post photos etc someone on the forum might be able to help. Re: Chemical underpinning and soil stabilization 31May 03, 2019 11:49 am There is fairly large Eucalyptus tree cross the road, I would say around 10-12 meter away from the issue. not sure if it's related? Looking at few houses on the street, it looks like some of the them have the same problem The wall in question is the center/middle wall of the house, right along the main entrance and next to the hallway (7 meter) It's not a new problem as the floor is not level and you can see the centre wall is down by few centimeters We got the house few months ago and the floor was like that but now the plasterboards along the wall is all cracked up After doing some research I found it a bit strange that the centre wall is having the issue and not the boundary walls - and because of access if underpinning is required, I'd prefer chemical underpinning Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Chemical underpinning and soil stabilization 33May 04, 2019 5:48 pm The large tree at the front could well be the issue as we are in a drought in the east and north.Trees are causing a lot of problems at the moment due to dry soil conditions.If this is the case then getting resin injection done may provide a temporary fix but may not solve the long term issue.If the drought continues the soil may settle even after resin injection as the soil dries further from the tree being under continued stress. Party walls are a common source of settlement from tree drying as the roots travel along the strip footing.If the damage is old then this sometimes indicates that the footing has been compromised in the past and is now more susceptible to ground movement. Some of the old Victorian houses have bluestone block, bluestone chip and even rubble footings.These type of footings represent a challenge to underpin.Bearing this in mind resin injection can be the best solution for these old type footings but the cause needs to be identified first to ensure that there is limited movement after the underpinning has been done. What area are you in ? Re: Chemical underpinning and soil stabilization 34May 04, 2019 7:45 pm insider The large tree at the front could well be the issue as we are in a drought in the east and north.Trees are causing a lot of problems at the moment due to dry soil conditions.If this is the case then getting resin injection done may provide a temporary fix but may not solve the long term issue.If the drought continues the soil may settle even after resin injection as the soil dries further from the tree being under continued stress. Party walls are a common source of settlement from tree drying as the roots travel along the strip footing.If the damage is old then this sometimes indicates that the footing has been compromised in the past and is now more susceptible to ground movement. Some of the old Victorian houses have bluestone block, bluestone chip and even rubble footings.These type of footings represent a challenge to underpin.Bearing this in mind resin injection can be the best solution for these old type footings but the cause needs to be identified first to ensure that there is limited movement after the underpinning has been done. What area are you in ? Thanks for your reply. Very informative The house is Brunswick East Victoria. There are no bluestone footings. Looks like a concrete footing with double brick walls. Can I ask what would you suggest to be done first? Is this a structural engineer job to investigate or requires other skills? I’m not very familiar with building as you can tell. Re: Chemical underpinning and soil stabilization 35May 05, 2019 9:15 pm It might look like concrete but I would suspect a bluestone type footing.I would get a geotech or soil testing company to do a footing probe and borehole close to the party wall at the front .I would get moisture tests done on the samples and you could also get identification of the roots if found to confirm if it is the large tree at front. Re: Chemical underpinning and soil stabilization 36May 11, 2019 10:43 pm Hi. Thought I would jump on this one too as I am currently looking at buying a place in Hobart that has had Mainmark's Teretek system used on it. The house is a 1983 build brick veneer on brick foundations on a predominantly plastic clay soil (undifferentiated alluvial). Apparently the vendor spent $60 grand on work to repair (plan of works attached) but another structural engineer didn't think it was going to do the job. Not sure if him missing out on the job two years ago to Mainmark is a contributing factor to his view though but he recommended a different method and in his view the drainage was the contributing factor to the shifting. Mainmark however didn't think it was and no drainage works were performed. I'm getting a geotechnical engineer to inspect the property next week as my main concern is finding out why it happened in the first place. I think drainage is an issue and a perimeter wall in the backyard is cracked and on the verge of collapsing due to suspected pooling of water, plus what the other structural engineer said. The house looks good now and you can see where the Teretek has done its job, however I am worried that further seepage underneath the resin injection sites (I'm not sure how deep they go down) will result in further shifting and won't be covered by the 50 year guarantee as it won't be a failure caused by disintegration or shrinkage of the resin. I'd appreciate any thoughts, especially on the amount that was spent, drainage and any interactions with Mainmark. Thanks! Jono Like ⋅ 1 comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Chemical underpinning and soil stabilization 37May 13, 2019 3:52 pm jono85 The house looks good now and you can see where the Teretek has done its job, however I am worried that further seepage underneath the resin injection sites (I'm not sure how deep they go down) will result in further shifting and won't be covered by the 50 year guarantee as it won't be a failure caused by disintegration or shrinkage of the resin. Interesting to see the before and after numbers. Around bedrooms seems to have the better improvement than the other areas. I've just calculate the average and it seems be around 46% improvement overall Do you know what exactly is in the 50 year guarantee? and how do they measure that? It might be just saying the resin exists in the soil but really referring to any shrinkage or subsides in the structure! Can I ask how roughly how many meters of wall was covered in Teretek project? from my understanding they drill a hole every 60 centimeter or so. Re: Chemical underpinning and soil stabilization 38May 13, 2019 5:10 pm The guarantee covers any further shifting due to the failure or shrinkage of the resin which is why I was concerned about further shifting underneath the resin injection sites. Not sure how they measure it. Not sure how many metres of wall but the house area is approximately 200 square metres. For $60 thousand I'd expect they drilled quite a few! Re: Chemical underpinning and soil stabilization 39May 13, 2019 5:21 pm Resin injection is one of the most cost effective underpinning methods so 60k if it is true means there must have been major major issues. They can guarantee the product but can the guarantee the soil around the injected product.So if the initial problem was settlement caused by tree drying and after the injection the tree keeps on drying the soil then settlement will continue.The original problem has to be stopped otherwise the resin injection is a temporary fix.I think the system is a very good solution to remedy settlement but once the cause of settlement is identified and removed. Re: Chemical underpinning and soil stabilization 40May 15, 2019 7:47 pm Had a geotechnical engineer look at the place yesterday who has recommended some drainage options. I found that an internal door didn’t close properly and there was a 1-2mm going up from the top-right of the door arch. Mainmark said that it inlay be the footing underneath sinking as they only did the perimeter of the building. Doesn’t fill me with a great deal of confidence! Perimeter may be fine but what about the internal foundations? Hi Building Expert, Thank you for the feedback, much appreciated, there is also a code of conduct for building surveyors which they need to follow as well. I am looking… 4 1966 Thanks for your reply. I will just wait and see I guess. Trying to get some more information from our builder. 9 11735 I am not sure whether Perth has its own way of doing things in regards to this. Most of Perth has class A (sandy soil), except for some areas near rivers or hills. 2 8270 |