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Every year in the United States, billions of dollars in damage is caused by constant expansion and contraction of soils, particularly clay soils, due to changes in moisture content. Most people don’t realize that in the United States, the annual cost of damages due to soil movement is greater than all the damage caused by floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes combined. These other disasters are sudden, dramatic events; however, slab foundations in homes are damaged by slow but ever-present movement. Soil does not stop shifting, especially clay earth that swells in volume during wet weather, and then shrinks during dry, hot weather. Even small movements of a few inches are sufficient to cause considerable building and infrastructure damages in homes. Residential foundations are rarely designed and properly installed to sustain the movement of the soil on which it sits. Pushing through soil to contact bedrock (or equal load bearing strata), is the only way to ensure a secure foundation.
The Perma Jack System was invented in 1974 (U.S. patent No. 3,902,326, September 2, 1975) by George Langenbach, the founder of Perma Jack. Many companies have tried to copy our system and have even tried to incorporate parts of our reputable name to attempt imitating our product, but there is only one Perma Jack. Unlike other steel piering systems or pilings, our materials are ASTM rated and made in the USA. Perma Jack never recycles scrapped drill stem pipe from the oil fields, we only use steel that is specifically engineered for this application. All components are made of the high strength material to the same high tolerances for over 40 years. Perma Jack uses only ASTM A513 tubing for pier sections with “tensile” and “yield” strengths unsurpassed in the industry. Yield strength is the most important factor in creating a strong pier section. Perma Jack has never had a pier fail due to corrosion. Failure in other pier systems can be due to poor installation, causing the bracket to slip (rotate outward) at the bottom, bending the pier tubing thus reducing the working load of the pier. By using high yield strength tubing and perfecting the installation method over decades, the Perma Jack System provides the most reliable and longest lasting foundation repair method.
A good contractor should rarely have to repair or replace materials (less than 1%). Of the hundreds of thousands of piers installed nation-wide since 1974, Perma Jack has had 26 piers that needed to be covered under our lifetime transferable warranty due to workmanship. There is also an unclaimed $2,500 reward for a Perma Jack pier that has failed due to materials.
Steel Foundation Pier Corrosion:
The National Bureau of Standards has tested steel pilings and steel piers used for foundation repairs that have been underground between 7 and 40 years. The conditions at the sites varied widely as indicated by the soil types which ranged from well drained sands to impervious clays. It was determined that the type and amount of corrosion observed on steel pilings does not affect the strength or useful life of steel piers/pilings. Some steel piering methods galvanize or coat their piers claiming to extend the useful life of their piers. However, The National Bureau of Standards states that coatings on steel piers does not effectively increase its life expectancy. It may, in fact, due to abrading that occurs in coatings of driven piers, actually decrease its life expectancy.