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Concrete underpinning vs GeoPoly: which one you should pick and why
Have you been told by an engineer or builder you’ll need concrete underpinning to stop your house from sinking? The hard truth is that concrete underpinning is now an obsolete technique.
It may have been an acceptable solution for house subsidence 20 or even 10 years ago. But modern technologies are offering other solutions that will help you save plenty of time and way more money.
One of the most cost-effective and reliable is resin underpinning. It’s rendered concrete underpinning an archaic, backwards way of stabilising house foundations and residential structures.
Our resin underpinning solution, GeoPoly™, is without any doubt the solution you should pick over concrete underpinning. Why? Here are our top 5 reasons.
1. Concrete underpinning is INVASIVE and DISRUPTIVE
With concrete underpinning, massive holes need to be dug every 2 to 3 metres under your home. After digging, every last centimetre of those holes needs to be filled with concrete.
In a best case scenario, this could take a few weeks to do. In a less favourable situation, it could take months. To make it more frustrating, you can’t be at home while work takes place because the process poses a physical risk to you and your family.
Stabilising your home using this obsolete technique means you’ll need to find temporary residence elsewhere. If relatives or friends can’t help you with accommodation, you’ll need to stay at a hotel or motel which will escalate your costs even more.
Our resin underpinning solution, GeoPoly™, offers the polar opposite experience. In most cases, it doesn’t take more than a day or two to inject under your home’s foundations. You get true stability fast. And you can even stay at home while we’re at work.
2. Concrete underpinning is UNAFFORDABLE for many
Concrete underpinning can cost between $20,000 to $100,000. If your house is a larger one, the cost may escalate even further. For the majority of Australian homeowners, life is full of monetary demands. Competing priorities make the price of concrete underpinning an insurmountable challenge.
Lifting and underpinning a sinking house with GeoPoly™ typically costs between $4,000 to $8,000. This is a fraction of the price of concrete underpinning and far more feasible.
3. Concrete underpinning CAN'T lift on its OWN
All cement-based products shrink the moment they’re poured. While curing, they release water and reduce in volume.
When you underpin with concrete, the same happens. After the concrete cures, a small gap under your home’s footings will also need to be filled with more concrete. This extra concrete will also naturally shrink over weeks and months. To make the process even more long-winded, further settlement will occur as the cured concrete adjusts to the load bearing down from above. This will cause additional cracks that can’t be reversed without adding even more concrete.
GeoPoly™ doesn’t do this because it behaves in the opposite way to concrete. Rather than contracting, it expands. In fact, it generates enough force to lift structures and resist heavy bearing loads within minutes.
Watch our Geopoly™
in action
4. Concrete underpinning can be DANGEROUS
Here’s the bottom line. Concrete underpinning is risky and can be extremely dangerous.
As foundation soils are dug out from beneath your home, your home’s structural integrity is put at risk. Furthermore, it’s also risky for the workers who are carrying out the audacious task. When digging big holes under a residential structure, anything could happen.
You’ll never hear a concrete underpinner tell you that what they do is dangerous, but this is the reality.
With Buildfix and underpinning your home with GeoPoly™, we don’t dig holes at all. We drill tiny 1cm holes to access the underside of your foundations. These holes get filled later so it will appear as if we were never there. This reduces risk to your home’s structure, your wallet and the people at work, tremendously.
5. Concrete underpinning is RARELY guaranteed
Concrete underpinning constitutes a massive outlay for any company that does it. It’s an enormous investment of time, money and human resources. More often than not, wall cracks return to your home’s structure. Even the people who do concrete underpinning aren’t confident in this technique.
If they’re not confident in concrete underpinning, why should you be?
We’re confident in GeoPoly™ and its ability to lift and underpin homes. Unlike concrete underpinners, we guarantee stability for up to 10 years. If a repair hasn’t worked out, for whatever reason, we’ll come back to complete repairs at no charge.
Still considering underpinning? Stop right there.
If you’re still considering concrete underpinning as a way to stop your house from sinking, hold it right there!
GeoPoly™ is miles ahead. It’s significantly more affordable, isn’t invasive, isn’t disruptive and it’s guaranteed for up to 10 years.
If you’d like to know more about resin underpinning and GeoPoly™, we’d be happy to tell you more or give your home a FREE inspection.
Just give us a call on 1300 854 115 or book a FREE inspection today.
