Insulated Concrete Form (ICF) Crawlspace on Helical Pile Foundation

When our customer sought to build a beautiful new home along the shoreline, challenging soil conditions threatened to derail the project. See how helical piles combined with insulated concrete forms (ICF) to deliver the perfect support in record time.

Challenging Soil Conditions, A Tough Location

The shoreline in Cocagne, New Brunswick, offers sensational views that make for a great spot to build a life-long home. Unfortunately, the geography that makes the area so beautiful was also posing a problem for our customer's dream home project.
Their house plans called for an insulated concrete form (ICF) crawlspace with traditional poured concrete footers to support the home. However, their building site required a large amount of fill to raise the ground to an acceptable level.

Not only that, but due to their shoreline location the home needed to be built high enough to avoid flooding risks and meet building code. Because of these considerations, there were concerns the soil wasn't strong enough to support a crawlspace to satisfy these challenges.
That meant our customer was facing the very real possibility of having to make significant changes to the design of their home, or truck-in even more fill to raise the ground level. 
Considering the time, effort, and cost, both those options demanded, it was clear they needed a carefully engineered, forward-thinking foundation solution.  

Helical Piles Provide A Perfect Solution

Our team knew this ICF crawlspace needed a deep foundation solution that would bypass the looser layers of fill and anchor firmly in more solid material. 
So, we contacted our good friends at engineering firm SMP Works to develop a robust and reliable helical pile foundation solution that could deliver the support that concrete footers couldn't.

The answer was to use sturdy 3-1/2" Postech helical piles underneath the ICF blocks, which completely eliminated the need for a poured concrete footer or frost wall. They would be installed along the entire perimeter of the crawlspace, averaging 6' to 8' apart.
Due to the conditions on site, the engineers determined an ideal embedment depth for our helical piles would be around 16' down. This would ensure the piles found solid layers past the deposited fill which had been used to raise the site. 

Finally, to secure the helical piles and ICF blocks together, we would use special pile caps with rebar standoffs that allowed for a quick and easy tie-together.
This solution ensured the crawlspace would: 

How Our Team Installed 45 Helical Piles In 5 Days

With an engineer-approved foundation plan from SMP Works in place, our team set about installing a firm helical pile support for this new home build.
After arriving early one morning to the site, we immediately ran into the first hurdle of the project. 
The surveyor had neglected to mark-out the helical pile locations, instead only noting where the house's corners would be.

Rather than allow this to derail our progress before even getting started, our team carefully reviewed the building plans and compared it with the surveyor's marked corners. Based on that, we marked-out the locations for each of the 45 helical piles.
While this did slightly extend our installation timeline, it ultimately saved days or even weeks of delay that could have occurred waiting for the surveyor to return and mark pile locations.
Once the locations were marked, our team began installing the 3-1/2" helical piles to an average depth of 16'. The process went smooth and easy, with only one more unexpected hurdle to overcome.

According to the foundation plans, we needed to reach a minimum of 16' of depth on each helical pile. However, there were 10 piles that weren't able to install that deep due to underground obstructions.
Our installers quickly contacted the engineering team and explained the situation. Since we record the data on every pile we install, they could review the results in real-time and confirm those 10 piles were safe to use.
To finish things off, we ensured all the piles were perfectly level and secured the concrete adapters on-top. Everything was ready for the ICF contractor to mount the blocks, tie them into the helical piles, and pour concrete.

Results (Why A Helical Foundation Is Perfect for ICF Blocks)

Without a helical pile foundation solution, our customer would have been forced to either change their design or have more fill brought to the site. In either case, it could have added significant time and expense to their new home build.
But that wouldn't be the story for this project.

Instead, thanks to the versatility of helical piles and our engineering partners, we provided a solution that overcame tough conditions and satisfied all building codes. 
Not only did our helical piles ensure the structure met minimum elevation requirements, eliminating the concrete footer and frost wall saved extensive time and disruption.
Now, this house will enjoy long-lasting support through any conditions the New Brunswick coastline can throw at it. The homeowners will never have to worry about the possibility of their foundation sinking or shifting.