All About Foundation Leveling and Stabilization
All About Foundation Leveling and Stabilization
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Hillside Project Breakdown
This is another video of a project I am finally cleared to discuss! The challenges that went into this hillside project included lateral loading, axial loads of the proposed solutions, culvert and drainage channel issues, and working through multiple city agencies including: the City, the County, Department of Fish and Wildlife, Department of Forestry, Department of Water Resources, Army Core of Engineers, just a litany of red tape and engineering considerations that got us to the solution presented here. It's an excellent case study for finding hillside solutions.
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Does your home have cracks in the walls, roof, or foundation? Do doors and windows stick, or swing freely? Is there obvious sloping of your flooring, or does your floor appear "wavy", or creak at night when you step over areas? Are gaps appearing frames and roof-wall or wall-floor transitions? You can guess none of this is exactly "supposed" to happen, but these are all symptoms of foundation movement.
Now, not ALL of them individually is necessarily foundation movement, it could be the flexing of wood seasonally, poor installation, or a myriad of other things. But if it IS foundation movement, how does one take on the arduous task of analyzing foundation movement problems, or even understanding what engineers and contractors are telling you? Who is pushing an agenda or a product, trying to make their dollar while your GREATEST ASSET - YOUR home - is what's at risk?
Hi, my name is Kyle Olsen and I've got 18 years of foundation leveling and stabilization, from the realm of designing and implementing repairs, coordinating engineers and city inspectors, and yeah even the ugly legal side of things. But let's not go there. These videos are designed to help you understand each facet of foundation leveling and stabilization, whether your home is heaving or settling, and I will walk through the process 100% of the way - without pushing a product or service.
I encourage you to like, follow, subscribe, and share, my first several videos are for Homeowners, Flippers, and Realtors, sticking to the basics and trying to avoid some of the Engineering nuances. In the future, I hope to bring Engineers together for furthering education on some of the products and methods out there.
If you have questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to leave a comment below or message me directly. Want to see another video covering something specific or elaborating on something? Just ask! This channel is all about foundation leveling and stabilization, because we believe that as long you're on the level, you won't go downhill...
zhlédnutí: 41

Video

Retaining Wall Footings
zhlédnutí 56Před rokem
Earlier mentioned in my Hillside Geology video, I mentioned there was something I wanted to elucidate on. Then, I caught inspiration from "Engineering Models" Channel by the University of Waterloo (Thank you again guys, your videos are AWESOME). So I expanded on it toward the end, but this was what I was aiming for - what kind of footing design goes on Retaining Walls? Does your home have crack...
Keep Your Eyes OPEN
zhlédnutí 38Před rokem
When observing a structure, potential project, subsidence in any area, a great question is to ask yourself WHY. Things CAN be as simple as a Rip and Replace method, but if there are underlying problems CAUSING the failure, you're wasting your money buying a temporary fix. So always look for the WHY when evaluating subsidence or differential settlement. This video is an extension of the "Causati...
Hillsides Investigation
zhlédnutí 49Před rokem
After the introduction to hillsides, I wanted to put together a secondary video discussing a couple things to consider. ALWAYS HIRE AN ENGINEER! I intend to explore later other issues such as landslides, hillside creep, and other hazards, this one was more about seismic and do testing. Does your home have cracks in the walls, roof, or foundation? Do doors and windows stick, or swing freely? Is ...
Sticking To Clients Wants and Needs
zhlédnutí 77Před rokem
This video details a couple recent experiences I had where the client's wants and needs didn't quite match what they were being marketed. I hate sounding like a salesman but it's a part of the game as an educator as well, the trick is selling real solutions. But a client has an end goal in mind - a level floor, a closed crack, a long -term solution, something. They have specifics on how to get ...
Liquefaction - Simplified Method
zhlédnutí 108Před 2 lety
Determining the Factor of Safety is a thorough process with many nuances that are somewhat fluid by nature. The most common means of calculating the FOS (or, predicting liquefaction triggering) is through the "Simplified Stress-Based Method", adopted from Whitman 1971, Seed and Idris 1971, and Seed 1985. This video is about the equation used for predicting liquefaction triggering, as I'd learne...
Decaying Footings
zhlédnutí 30Před 2 lety
It's been great talking about underpinning with concrete or steel or HDPF, but what happens when a footing is experiencing failure; specifically decay? When the rebar is rusting and rotting through and the concrete is spalling? Such weak footings must be approached differently and carefully, and that's what this investigation video is about. Does your home have cracks in the walls, roof, or fou...
Client Discussion-FLFS-SOG-HDPF
zhlédnutí 38Před 2 lety
I had the pleasure of having a client be willing to talk with me in regards to my CZcams Channel. He did the whole process, engineering, talking to contractors, selecting repairs, and doing the work. So I was uniquely interested in having him explain his journey, so I hope you guys all enjoy it as much as I did! Does your home have cracks in the walls, roof, or foundation? Do doors and windows ...
Liquefaction Intro
zhlédnutí 17Před 2 lety
Liquefaction is a phenomenon that has disastrous consequences for the unsuspecting or the unknowing. Port authorities as much as residential homes, breezeways, or walkways that are next to seawalls are subject to sinkhole failures, improperly embedded piles supporting bridges or structures could fail, dams levees and spillways could slump and be overpoured. Before exploring the mitigative techn...
Hillside Example
zhlédnutí 66Před 2 lety
This was fun. It's just another video about investigation and analysis, but I had a REALLY COOL client who shared my last name, and in a sort of surreal feeling moment, I had my girlfriend serenading us with classical music on a grand piano (his beloved deceased used to play that piano and he requested), while myself, the client, and his relative who is a Civil Engineer discussed hillsides and ...
Testing
zhlédnutí 28Před 2 lety
Jumping into the technical part (albeit not TOO technical) of this video series, we will be exploring the technical details of foundation underpinning, including Design Loads, Ultimate Loads, Factors of Safety, etc for steel underpinning systems and the technical info for polymers. With that info, it's important to understand product testing. "Testing" a product is not nearly as important as "T...
Hydrostatic Pressure
zhlédnutí 40Před 2 lety
The pressure exerted by a fluid at equilibrium at a given point within the fluid, due to the force of gravity. Hydrostatic pressure increases in proportion to depth measured from the surface because of the increasing weight of fluid exerting downward force from above. Think of the way a cup is "sucked" down and held onto a wet table. The way this sows chaos into lifting foundations, concrete sl...
Swimming Pools
zhlédnutí 22Před 2 lety
Swimming pools are always a fun project type when looking at Residential homes. They have all of the same problems of a home, but are generally closer to a slope face, thereby more at-risk to be affected by lateral movement or slope creep, their piping systems can rupture to cause water issues, surrounding drainage can affect the soil, and they are HEAVY. This video explores some of the ideas l...
Design - SOG - FLGS
zhlédnutí 25Před 2 lety
Hey guys! Just kind of the next design video. I hope to continue walking through these which should take you through my mind as an inspector, a lot of the information I would be relaying to a Homeowner to help them come to an educated decision, whether that includes what my company does or not. Because I have found if you turn down a job for a better repair, your honesty creates word-of-mouth m...
Chaos Projects
zhlédnutí 20Před 2 lety
This is just a fun video, it's about some jobs that make no engineering sense, like pushing 5,000psi on a beam every 5'OC with only 13kips loading and getting NO lift, or pushing steel tubes straight down - until they come up in a neighbor's backyard. Floating a shipwreck off a rock jetti during high tide (which is a COOL project but full of chaos), just fun stories that have happened over the ...
Contracts
zhlédnutí 19Před 2 lety
Contracts
Drainage Recommendations
zhlédnutí 77Před 2 lety
Drainage Recommendations
Design - FLFS - SOG - 2 of 2
zhlédnutí 25Před 2 lety
Design - FLFS - SOG - 2 of 2
Design - FLFS - SOG - 1 of 2
zhlédnutí 23Před 2 lety
Design - FLFS - SOG - 1 of 2
Clay Soils (Intro)
zhlédnutí 6KPřed 2 lety
Clay Soils (Intro)
Crawlspaces Intro
zhlédnutí 34Před 2 lety
Crawlspaces Intro
Symptoms
zhlédnutí 52Před 2 lety
Symptoms
Permits
zhlédnutí 51Před 2 lety
Permits
Hillsides
zhlédnutí 85Před 2 lety
Hillsides
Field Exploration
zhlédnutí 32Před 2 lety
Field Exploration
Accomplish List
zhlédnutí 15Před 2 lety
Accomplish List
Process of Leveling a Home
zhlédnutí 39Před 2 lety
Process of Leveling a Home
Push Pier vs Helical Pier
zhlédnutí 249Před 2 lety
Push Pier vs Helical Pier
Caissons
zhlédnutí 33Před 2 lety
Caissons
Compaction Grouting Risks and Benefits For Residential Homes
zhlédnutí 43Před 2 lety
Compaction Grouting Risks and Benefits For Residential Homes