Delivery of the Helical Piles
Progress on the house was on hold as we awaited the arrival of the helical piles from Goliath Tech. After months of waiting, we were told that they would be delivered on Tuesday, then it was put off until Wednesday. The crew from Hauser arrived that day to review and mark the pile placement and help with the unloading. There was excitement in the air as we waited and waited for the truck to arrive.
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| The truck finally showed up after 4pm. It was a huge truck that had come all the way from Ontario Canada. |
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| Our load was the last delivery for this truck and was in the far back with no way to move it out. |
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| Hauser had their bobcat with them and were able to use it to drag the pallets from the truck. Here they are pulling out the motor that will be used to install the piles. They got lucky as it fell right into the front end loader!! https://youtu.be/NpUfGhha6I8 |
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| Now they are getting the piles from the back of the truck. https://youtu.be/jaX0AQ7SBaI |
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| And this is how they got them out of the truck. https://youtu.be/iU8tywmeA_Y |
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| As the large truck finds its way out of the neighborhood, the crew has the weighty task of moving the last of the piles onto the property. Once again the tractor came in handy as these things weigh a ton, figuratively speaking. |
Once all the piles were on the property, the crew went home with plans to return the next day to install the piles. Roy, my contractor from Hauser, was hopeful that we could install the piles in a day or two. I can't wait!! BTW, this is Roy's first experience with helicals.
Here is the time lapse video I took of the day. I didn't have my grandson to help me edit it, so it isn't enhanced. You can always speed it up, if you want. I love watching the clouds come and go.
https://youtu.be/qCYoUxS7sZg
Installation of the Helical Piles
It was another beautiful day in Half Moon Bay. A day full of promise. A day I had waited years for--one of the most important steps in the process of building a house--putting in the foundation. The first workers showed up a little after 9 am, others came later. James from Taynr drove here from Sacramento, Roy from Hauser arrived after checking in on other job sites, and Richard, the expert from Goliath Tech, flew up from Irvine. In spite of all the experienced and responsible people present, the install didn't go quite as planned.
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| The day started with the crew assembling the equipment. Hauser had dropped off their Kubota tractor the previous day. The scoop, which had been useful in unloading and moving the piles, was removed from the tractor. |
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| The scoop was replaced with a TPE, a telescopic piping and drilling extension. Aren't you impressed by my knowledge of technical terms?! |
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| The high torque hydraulic motor was then mounted to the TPE. A gauge was attached so that the torque could be measured while the pile was being inserted into the ground. |
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| A plate was attached to the hydraulic motor, which in turn was attached to a helical pile. They chose the largest pile to install first. The first problem they encountered was the pile would not go through the hard packed base rock. They solved that problem by breaking through it with hand tools. |
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| The pile is finally going into the ground. Looks good, right? |
I don't have any pictures after this because I couldn't watch. I could see the pile wasn't going in straight and it drove me crazy. Later I asked Richard about this and he said it wasn't a problem--that they could fix it with shims. After the first pile, they did do 2 things to make the work go easier. First, they put an auger on the end of the tractor arm and drilled pilot holes through the base rock, and second, they rented a larger tractor to install the piles. Both of these things helped and the install proceeded more quickly.
But as the piles were being installed, it because apparent that parts were missing--including many of the piles. The other important missing pieces were some of the plates used to attach the hydraulic motor to the piles. Since the piles are different sizes, they needed different size plates. This meant that the workers couldn't even install all the piles that were on site.
James stayed after everyone left to do an inventory so he could contact the suppliers and rectify the problems. He says it could be weeks until we get all the parts we need.
The next day 3 workers came back to finish installing what they could.
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| This is how the lot looked when they left and how it looks now--a week later--an abandoned worksite. |
Here are the time lapse videos I took of the 2 days. Day one is especially long because I set the camera to take more frequent pictures. I was thinking that I wanted to get all the detail I could because it was such a special day. I don't know how to speed it up in the editing process, so you will just have to speed it up on your own. The video of the second day goes very quickly because I changed the settings. It was also a shorter work day. Richard is the guy with the hard hat.
https://youtu.be/xHeVexylgW0
https://youtu.be/AuBmbmNBAPI
Needless to say I was extremely disappointed and disheartened. It wasn't just the missing parts that upset me, it was also the quality of the work. I like things plumb and level and the only leveling tool on site was one plumb bob. I was too depressed to write a blog and spent much of the weekend learning more about helical piles. It didn't make me feel better when I read how important it was for the piles to be plumb.
I love the idea of helical piles. They should save a lot of time and definitely save on excavation, dirt removal and concrete. (In case you didn't know it, concrete is very bad for the environment.) Helical piles were first used in 1836 to support a lighthouse in the water. Apparently there is no patent for them, so they are made by many companies with slightly different configurations. Some even have square shafts rather than circular. While they can be used for buildings up to 5 stories tall, they are mainly used for smaller jobs like decks, additions, and fences. I've heard it said that they aren't used a lot because they are very expensive, but it my case they were a lot less costly than the original foundation design.
The sizes of the helical piles are determined by an engineer using the soils report and structural specifications. The soils report for my lot said that the piers needed to be at least 12' deep. All the piles were engineered to be 14' in length with the diameter and thickness of the metal varying by the load they support. The piles come in 7' sections. Once the first pile with the helix is installed, another 7' pile is bolted on and then they are screwed the rest of the way into the ground. The torque is tested to make sure it is equal to or greater than specified. If the torque doesn't meet the specifications, another piece is attached and the pile is inserted deeper. They could go down as much as 100 ft. I guess the engineer didn't anticipate the need to go deeper on my foundation because no extra piles were included.
Once the piles are in the ground, plates are welded to the tops for the structure to sit on. This is a very critical step because they have to be level and in exactly the right spot. In my admitted inexperience I don't see how they can make it work with the piles installed as they are. In particular the first pile is far from plumb. James is also concerned about it and thinks it needs to be reinserted. The other piles are a lot better regarding plumb but it is hard to tell about the placement. I just have to trust that it will all work out in the end. I know James is working very hard to make it happen. I trust him and feel better after talking with him.
Like every other step in this process, things didn't go as expected. It is definitely a learning experience. I'm not only learning about construction, but also patience and tolerance. And it isn't just me that is impacted, it messes with all the contractors' schedules. I feel sorry for them, but as James said, it is one of the challenges of the business they chose to be in.
