The Problem

Our client, who lives in Seattle, in the Laurelhurst neighborhood has a gorgeous home on one of the hillsides overlooking the sound. The problem is, their hillside was becoming unstable. Many of the homes in the Pacific Northwest, especially those built on hillsides have the same problem. The reason is, much of the soil in the Pacific Northwest is wet. It means that there’s room for movement over time. This can lead to structural damage, and in cases where the situation is not remidied, excessive damage to the home. 

The Solution

We met with our client to understand the scope of the situation. They were looking for a team / a contractor that could mitigate the problem of the unstable hillside. To do this, we worked with a structural engineer and geo tech. The structural engineer tells us where we should stablilize, and how. The Geo Tech determines the type of soil we’re dealing with. Soil in the Pacific Northwest can change in as little as five feet on the same job site. This means we could be dealing with different soils throughout the project. 

Permitting is another critical part of the process. You cannot do anyfoundation work without a proper permitting. We helped our client navigate the permitting process, to make sure everything was in line before work began. 

After the plan was determined and permitting was good to go, we set up scaffolding, allowing us to access different parts of the hillside while we worked. We drove piles, which are metal rods, into the ground. When we reach a load bearing soil, we drive the rod for another minute to make sure we’ve reached load bearing earth. This is how we go about stabilizing the hillside. Typically, we’ll drive the pile into the earth 5 – 20 feet. This is determined by the structural engineer. 

The Results

35 piles later, and we successfully stabilized the hillside. As a part of any job, we guarantee our work. It means you as the home owner, if there are any issues, we fix it. And, you can sell your home, and we guarantee it for the next homeowners life as well. 

In addition, we were able to restore the concrete wall, by shooting shotcreete and creating a new wall for the homeowner.