Concrete Solutions For Commercial Foundations In Houston

Expanding your operations or breaking ground on a new site in Houston? If so, you will need the right concrete solutions for your commercial foundations, and that means partnering with an experienced pavement contractor. Expert pavement teams are equipped to manage Houston’s challenging site conditions and identify the right approach to your foundation work. This may include:

Slab-on-grade foundation installation
Pier and beam foundation installation
Foundation repair solutions
Commercial site preparation

Commercial foundations are major projects that require engineering expertise to properly manage. The goal is to ensure a long-term solution for your foundation work and any construction placed on top of your concrete foundations.

The Construction Process for Commercial Foundations in Houston

Commercial foundations must provide optimal stability for any construction, and that starts with preparing a stable concrete pad. If you are developing a raw piece of land, here is what the project will look like:

- Land surveying and soil sampling – If your new construction is being developed on an undeveloped piece of land, your pavement contractor may choose to survey the property first and assess your project’s feasibility. If there is a site plan and drawings already in place, your contractor will confirm if those plans are feasible, given the state of the project site.
  Poor soil conditions are prevalent in Houston and if your contractor suspects that is an issue for your project site, they may recommend soil samples. Clay-rich soils are common in Houston and are extremely difficult to build on. Before moving forward with foundation installation, the concrete contractor will send soil samples to a lab for analysis. Following analysis, the contractor will know the composition and load-bearing capacity of your soil.
- Site planning – By the time your foundation contractor is involved in your project, there may be a detailed site plan in place. If not, your contractor can draw up a site plan for your project if they have an engineer on staff. Before you can move forward with your development and construction project, the site plans need to be approved through the city.
- Land clearing – Once the project has been approved, it is time to do the actual dirt work. This starts with a thorough land clearing pass, which involves removing any vegetation that would interfere with construction, down to the root structures. If there are existing structures on the site (or the remains of any existing structures), you will need a contractor with demolition experience and equipment. The goal is to leave a blank slate that can be shaped and stabilized.
- Site grading – Once the site is clear of any excess vegetation and existing structures, your foundation contractor will shape the property to fit the site’s plans – a process termed site grading. During the site grading stage, your foundation team will use a combination of extractors and grading machines to establish precise elevations and a grade (slope) that promotes optimal drainage. Proper grading is necessary to stabilize each foundation pad prior to concrete placement.
- Site stabilization – Prior to installing foundation pads, each pad site must be stabilized, typically through mechanical soil stabilization processes. This means compaction, which can be performed with a roller compactor or hand-held compaction machinery (like rammers). In some cases, the use of chemical additives may be recommended to improve the soil’s load bearing capacity.
- Foundation installation – It takes a lot of work to get to this point, but once the site is cleared, graded and stabilized, it is time to install the concrete foundation.
  In Houston, the first option in concrete foundation solutions is slab-on-grade, which are foundations installed at a shallow depth and provide an ideal mix of cost efficiency and durability in areas where clay soils are likely present. When installing a slab-on-grade foundation, it is formed and poured directly on top of the base.
  If the building will need additional load-bearing capacity or if the soil is incapable of supporting the building’s weight, a pier-and-beam foundation may be recommended instead. To install a pier-and-beam foundation, a series of steel piers are driven into the ground until they hit a rigid layer, typically bedrock. The concrete foundation is placed on top of these piers and anchored to them for additional load-bearing capacity.

Common Issues with Commercial Foundations and Their Solutions

If your concrete foundations are not properly installed or if the site was not properly prepared, it will not take long before the concrete starts to show problems. If your foundations are cracking under stress, you will likely see one or more of the following signs:

- Exterior cracks – Cracks do not always indicate foundation problems, but they often do. Of particular note are staircase cracks, which are usually visible in the building’s brick facade. They run in a stair step pattern, looking like a series of connected horizontal and vertical cracks that usually split the mortar between bricks. Severe exterior cracking like this is often a sign that the foundation is shifting and applying intense tensile forces on the building.
- Sagging or sloping floors – If the floors inside your buildings are not level, this could be a sign that your concrete foundations are failing due to an unstable base or due to excessive loading. If the problem is isolated, your foundation crew may be able to access the areas where the base is failing and stabilize it to restore foundation integrity.
- Doors that stick or do not close – This is a subtle sign of foundation issues, but if the doors in your building will not close or if they will not easily open, then it may be due to a shifting foundation.
- Water intrusion – If water is regularly seeping into your property, your foundation may be compromised. Water can seep through foundation cracks, but even if there is no foundation damage present, water intrusion will eventually cause the concrete to deteriorate.

Sometimes you will notice the risk factors that lead to foundation damage before there is significant damage to the foundation or building itself. Water pooling around the foundation, unstable soils and overgrown vegetation are all threats to commercial foundations and should be resolved as soon as possible. If your concrete foundation has been exposed to these risk factors, consider scheduling a professional inspection to verify its structural integrity.

These are some of the serious risks of having a commercial foundation installed by a crew that is not knowledgeable or reputable in Houston. Working with an expert crew can mitigate the risks of foundation failure.

Commercial Foundations Require a Concrete Contractor with Decades of Experience

Although every step of the construction process should be expertly handled, it is extremely important to get the foundation work right. Once the building is placed, it is more difficult and much more expensive to correct any foundation problems.

A reputable commercial paving crew does more than simply form and pour concrete – they can assess the quality of your site’s soils, prepare the land, stabilize the soil and select the right foundation solution for your development. The experts will mix, pour and cure the concrete while observing best installation practices, ensuring a long-lasting foundation built for Houston’s challenging soil and weather conditions.