The unpretentiousness of the technology for installing metal piles is exactly what it seems at first glance, and of course, their relative cheapness is very attractive to private developers. And if there is demand, there will be supply. Therefore, it is not surprising that in the wake of popularity, not always high-quality products end up on the building materials market.
To avoid unpleasant consequences, before tightening screw piles with your own hands, you must first choose them correctly, which we will help you do. We’ll also clarify a few more important points.
Piles of two types with tips different shapes Source ms-msk.com
It's better to be fully prepared
A screw pile consists of a shaft, which can be solid or composite, and a tip. The essence of its application is to, due to turning forces, pass through weak layers of soil and cling to dense, incompressible layers. It is fixed in the ground thanks to the blades; their surface, and not just the trunk, rests on the ground.
Operating principle of a screw pile Source avocet.ru
If we compare screw version piles with driven ones, the advantages of the former are obvious when compared from the point of view of the complexity of installation, the presence of noise and vibration. Again, in a small facility you can do without drilling or piling equipment. However, not everything is as wonderful as we would like.
Is the screw base as reliable as is commonly believed?
Pile foundations, including screw ones, are laid in difficult hydrogeological conditions when the strip option is unacceptable. And they must be designed in the same way as any others, with calculations based on load-bearing conditions: soil resistance, strength of piles and grillages, settlement from vertical loads. Not only does no one do this during self-construction, but it is also almost impossible to find supports of proper quality:
In pursuit of cost reduction, modern manufacturers remove up to several millimeters of metal from screw piles, which previously served as an anti-corrosion safety margin, and instead provide a cheaper anti-corrosion coating.
The diameter of the blades was also reduced to a minimum, and since the thickness of the trunk proportionally depends on this size, it also became smaller. In a new format, far from ideal, the pile most often used in low-rise construction, has dimensions 300/108 (blade diameter/barrel diameter) with a wall thickness of 4 mm. By the way, such parameters of screw supports in Western countries are simply unacceptable.
Modern (budget) screw pile format Source ecodom-kostroma.ru
Note! According to the technical specifications from 2007 (5264-006-05773342), the minimum barrel diameter is 159 mm and the wall thickness is 8 mm.
However, even today manufacturers guarantee metal piles a half-century service life, although at the same time they have become almost half the price of bored piles - capital, time-tested and very reliable. There must be some catch here!
And this is what it consists of. It is not worth installing metal supports with modern pile parameters if the service life wall material more than those same 50 years (concrete, brick, natural stone). And even a wooden frame, with proper processing and external protection may last longer than this “very reliable” foundation.
Reinforced concrete grillage will last longer than supports Source evroctandart.su
It turns out that building a house on screw piles only makes sense if it is built according to frame technology. This foundation design fits into it just perfectly: the load on the support is minimal, and it does not need to “compete” with the walls in terms of durability. First of all, this concerns light outbuildings, such long term whose services hardly anyone counts on.
The feasibility of such a solution is highly questionable. Source www.hebelblok.ru
How to make sure the quality of piles
It was about the general capabilities of the foundation. Now about handicraft production, which is basically impossible to get rid of in our country. Therefore, before you screw in screw piles on your site, you need to look for products of acceptable quality. There is no ready-made recipe here, but we can give some advice on this matter:
It is unlikely that you can purchase high-quality metal piles at a run-down metal warehouse, since their production is a technologically complex process and requires good organization of labor and material support.
This is how blades for piles are cut Source chelny.zoon.ru
If the piles have a minimum thickness - the notorious 4 mm mentioned above, then the manufacturer is obliged to provide reliable anti-corrosion protection. Do not believe if they tell you about the presence of a zinc coating - by definition, cheap piles cannot have it, and installations for its application are in short supply. In practice, other coatings are used (for example, GF-021 primer), sometimes even of normal quality. But you need to be sure of this.
Advice! Try scratching the surface with a stone. And don’t be afraid to spoil the presentation of the product, it’s not meant to be placed in a sideboard. To tighten the piles, smaller loads must be applied to them, and when passing through the thickness of the soil, they are subject to significant frictional forces. And if you managed to break the coating with a relatively weak force, it’s definitely not worth buying the product.
What else requires close attention are the welds. In good piles there should be a minimum number of them, since corrosion of the seam and the surrounding metal occurs much faster than with solid steel. According to technical specifications, the barrel must be made of a seamless steel pipe, and they can only be joined along the length. The blade must be all metal. If it is not possible to check the quality of the seams, then it is quite possible to control their quantity.
The next tip again concerns the thickness of the pile wall. It is already extremely reduced, and if you measure this size with a tape measure and find a missing millimeter, refuse the purchase. Because of this, the service life of a house placed on such a foundation can be reduced by 10 years.
On our website you can find contacts construction companies who offer services of any complexity. You can communicate directly with representatives by visiting the “Low-Rise Country” exhibition of houses.
Methods suitable for self-installation
Once you have decided to install a house or other structure on point supports, it makes sense to figure out how to screw in screw piles yourself, even if hired people do the work. At a minimum, they need to be controlled, and for this you need to be comprehensively savvy.
Method 1
Before installing the first screw pile, preliminary marking of all support points does not need to be done, since there will still be discrepancies. The first and second (on the opposite corner) piles will serve as beacons for forming a pile field, between which the mooring cord can be pulled:
To screw in a pile with your own hands, without the use of special equipment, first make a small pit at the installation point and add water there so that the soil softens.
Preparing the hole before tightening the piles with your own hands Source bibliostroy.ru
The pile is installed in the hole, and a steel mounting scrap is inserted into the technological hole at the top of its shaft. You can do this yourself, but to tighten screw piles without a special machine, you will definitely need two assistants - one will hold the pile in a given position, and two more people will ensure movement in a circle.
Preparing the pile for screwing Source bibliostroy.ru
Rotation will be carried out by acting on a pipe placed on a crowbar - it will serve as a lever transmitting a turning force to the barrel. The larger the lever, the easier it will be to turn. To make it easier to rotate, you need to try to lower the pipes down, for which you will have to bend the crowbar a little.
Holding onto the pipes, two people begin to rotate, and the one who holds the trunk controls the verticality of the trunk in terms of level. IN in this case For this purpose, a double-sided magnetic device is used, attached directly to the barrel. But you can get by with the regular level, although it is not as convenient. The vertical is set after the initial drilling - after the pile catches on the ground.
How to tighten and level screw piles manually - using a double-sided magnetic level Source bibliostroy.ru
On our website you can familiarize yourself with the most. In the filters you can set the desired direction, the presence of gas, water, electricity and other communications.
The rotation is continued until the pile rests on a solid layer of soil. In one area, these levels may be different, and the heads, after installation, rise above the ground to different heights.
How to install screw piles with your own hands: the final stage Source bibliostroy.ru
Method 2
The first method is the simplest, but it is quite problematic to manage only with it in cramped conditions. After all, the levers that rotate the pile have a three-meter reach, and if, for example, a fence or the wall of a house to which an extension is being made is in the way, one lever has to be removed. It is difficult to twist with one pipe, and the pile also becomes skewed.
Therefore, we will tell you how to tighten screw piles using an additional device. This is a mobile electrical installation designed for installing piles in hard-to-reach places (it is shown in the photo). Since it requires electricity, which may not be available in the conditions of the construction site, the operation of the installation will be provided by a gas generator.
Portable pile driving machine Source bibliostroy.ru
Its design includes:
Gearbox with planetary gear providing low screw-in speed.
Housing with thrust rod.
Heads of different sizes with four and six edges.
Having installed the head with a flange on the pile, attach an adapter to it or immediately screw the gearbox. The pile is placed vertically in the prepared hole, a rod is attached and rotation begins.
How to screw in screw piles with your own hands using a gearbox - first the barrel is screwed in at an angle Source bibliostroy.ru
First, the pile is drilled at an angle of 40 degrees, which is allowed building regulations. Only after it enters a dense layer of soil does it begin to be leveled, for which several people are forced to apply their weight on the side opposite to the slope. After the position of the pile can be adjusted, one person remains at its shaft to control the level.
Even with mechanized screwing, one person cannot handle it; several people must screw the screw piles Source bibliostroy.ru
Screwing to the required level Source bibliostroy.ru
Note! There are other types of manual equipment, for example: hydraulic pile driver. It's just expensive enough to be profitable purchase for one-time use. It is much easier then to hire a team that will do everything quickly and efficiently for almost the same money.
Video description
The video we suggest for viewing: “Screw piles: how to tighten by hand” will help you better navigate the process of work performed in one way or another:
Trimming piles and forming a grillage
Once all the piles have been screwed in, you can proceed to the next stage of their installation - cutting the shanks. The cutting height is determined by local climate conditions. Where there is snow in winter or water rises high, the basement of the house, which is formed by the tops of the piles, can exceed 1.5 m. But it cannot be less than 20 cm.
In accordance with the required height, the ends of the piles are cut after preliminary marking, which is very convenient to do with a laser level.
You can fix this mark very simply: stick masking tape in this place and draw a cutting line directly along it with a marker. It will be very convenient to cut using it, and you won’t need to use clamps.
Transferring the mark to the pile Source bibliostroy.ru
Cutting is performed using a grinder with a metal cutting disc.
Video description
Each builder has his own secrets, but professionals usually carry out cutting as shown in the video:
Concreting
After trimming, before proceeding with the installation of the heads, the cavity of the piles is filled with concrete. Although, some customers doubt the advisability of such an action and insist on leaving the piles empty. However, concreting screw piles is a very important technological step:
If the diameter of the barrel is small, a funnel is installed on the hole to prevent spilling the solution. It is compacted into the body of the pile with an improvised cleaning rod - a piece of reinforcement that allows you to reduce the number of air cavities to a minimum.
Pouring mortar inside the pile Source bibliostroy.ru
You can fill piles with: coarse concrete, mortar without coarse filler and a dry mixture of cement and sand. The last option is most often used in winter construction, when conditions for concrete hardening are unfavorable, and additional costs arise due to the need for heating. Another advantage of this method is that no voids are formed in the trunk.
Important! The method of installing the pile head also depends on the option of filling the pile cavity. When “wet” pouring, the head cannot be welded around the entire perimeter. It is simply tacked with short seams, the length of which does not exceed 1.5 cm. It is completely welded only when the dry CPU is filled with the mixture.
Not filling the piles at all is allowed only if the wall thickness exceeds 6 mm and the head is properly welded.
Video description
For those wishing to get acquainted with the process of pouring piles, we suggest watching this video:
Arrangement of heads and straps
The cap is the end part of the pile, which is usually closed with a cap ring with a rectangular or round plate. It is to this that the channel will be welded if it is necessary to make a base for the masonry, or vertical reinforcement bars if the house is framed and a horizontal timber frame will be attached to the piles:
The size of the caps is selected depending on the diameter of the pile trunk; it should be slightly larger in order to fit freely on the edge of the trunk. They are made of steel, reinforced with four gussets and coated with anti-corrosion primer.
Installation of a metal grillage Source bibliostroy.ru
Reinforcing bars welded to the ends for timber framing Source bibliostroy.ru
The choice of the type of head, and its presence in general, is carried out depending on the design of the walls. Without heads, a base is provided only for masonry. In this case, the piles are tied on both sides along the upper perimeter with a channel and concrete beams are laid on it, or a grillage is poured over the formwork, embedding the ends of the piles into it. Both of these options are shown in the picture below.
Device options screw foundation without using heads Source sibsvai.ru
To build a frame or timber house, the presence of caps is mandatory. They can be welded or removable; the second option is often used for manual installation of piles. In any case, the position of the heads is checked by level, and if there are deviations from the horizontal, measures are taken to eliminate the distortion.
Before welding, along the edge of the pile shaft and the edge of the head, a layer of paint is removed down to the metal and cleaned with a grinder. After welding, the seams are cleaned of slag, and without allowing the metal to cool, a protective coating is applied.
If the height of the base part of the screw foundation exceeds 60 cm, or the pile field is located on rough terrain and the piles protrude from the ground to different heights, a lower frame is also provided to strengthen them. This option is shown in the photo below.
Screw foundation with bottom trim Source fazenda.guru
Video description
The need for tying piles is described very clearly here:
Conclusion
As you can see, in the construction of a foundation made of screw piles there are many issues that require a professional solution. For example, calculating the level to which piles need to be buried. When building without a project, private builders determine the length of the piles approximately, based on the considerations “it’s better to have more than not enough.” Installers invited to the site, in front of whom, again, there is no project documentation, they drill what was provided to them - they don’t care about the rest.
The client does not even know that the depth of the piles is determined not only by the structure of the soil on the site, but also by the torque applied to them. Ultimately, errors caused by a simple misunderstanding of the situation directly affect the bearing capacity of the foundation as a whole.
Can be used as a foundation for a house, bathhouse, fence or pier various types foundations, one of them is pile-screw. Below you will find out detailed information about what it is and how to use it correctly.
A screw pile is a pipe with a blade welded to it at one end. This design must be manufactured in compliance with all technological standards. The screw pile must be:
- durable;
- durable;
- wear-resistant.
Driving screw piles for the foundation is especially important when building in wetlands and unstable soil. The use of this technology will also be relevant when constructing a building on an uneven landscape. Small dimensions allow screwing of screw piles without the use of special equipment. Pile-screw structures have become widespread. They are used in the construction of residential buildings, fences, garages, gazebos, etc.
The use of screw piles has a number of advantages:
- There is no need to level the surface of the construction site.
- Building density is not a problem during the work.
- Simple and quick installation.
One of the disadvantages of screw piles is the impossibility of installing them in rocky areas. Also, the foundation made from them is not suitable for brick and stone houses, as well as buildings made of reinforced concrete slabs.
Installation of pile foundation
If the soil on the site has a uniform density, driving screw piles will not be difficult. However, nuances may arise due to stones or roots getting under the blades of the structure. This can lead to deviation from the required vertical or tearing off of the screw pile blade when tightening. It is necessary to pay sufficient attention to the choice of piles for the foundation, the price of which depends on several important parameters, but most importantly, they must be of high quality and durable.
At the beginning of the work, a project is drawn up. It is necessary to take into account the following details:
- soil type;
- weight load on the foundation;
- required number of piles;
- pile placement diagram (the so-called “pile field”);
- strapping material;
- pile diameter.
The last parameter plays the most important role. The stability of the structure and the load-bearing capacity of the foundation depend on the diameter of the piles. You can buy screw piles in Moscow inexpensively from the SvayBur company.
How are screw piles screwed in?
There are several ways to solve the problem. The choice of installation option for products is influenced by their size and soil characteristics. You cannot do without the use of special equipment if installing the foundation requires:
- a large number of piles;
- use large diameter piles (more than 133mm);
- screw into difficult soil.
If the size of the structures is small, you can tighten the screw piles manually. To solve this problem you do not need to use any complex technology. There are special mounting holes in the pile shaft (closer to the edge). It is necessary to insert a crowbar or pipe into them, which must be used as a lever to screw in the screw pile.
First, the pile is placed at the installation site. It must be perpendicular to the ground. Next, two workers, using a lever, begin the screwing process. After several turns, you need to make sure there are no deviations from the vertical axis.
To install piles, you may need the following tools:
- Shovel. Necessary for leveling the soil at the site where the pile is installed and digging a pit (no more than 30cm).
- Level. Used to check for deviation of the axis of the screw pile from the vertical axis.
- Hydraulic level (or level). Used to check for deviation of the product from the horizontal axis.
- Crowbar (or "finger"). Inserted into the hole of the pile for screwing.
- Drill (may not be used). It is used to create a hole in the place where screw piles will be driven.
- Bulgarian. Used for cutting screwed-in piles at the last stage of work.
- Welding machine. Used for welding ends and/or strapping.
Please note that the piles do not need to be screwed in completely. The required margin of length of the products that needs to be left must be at least 20 cm. At the last stage, you need to adjust the horizontal plane of the installed products so that they are evenly located above ground level. Its verification is carried out using tools such as a water level or a level.
Upon completion of screwing in the screw piles, they need to be concreted. To solve this problem, it is important to use a solution mixed with cement grade M500 and higher. The concreting process is needed for:
- protection of structures from the corrosion process;
- increasing the strength of products.
At the final stage of work, a bunch of piles is carried out. To accomplish this, you need to use a metal channel that matches the dimensions of the structures. They must be welded to the piles.
To improve aesthetic characteristics, it is important to worry about how the basement of the house will look. Piles can be covered with plastic, wooden slats, bricks or natural stones. The main thing is that the material you choose is combined with the design of the built house.
In conclusion, we note that tightening screw piles is a fairly simple task. You can solve it yourself. To do this, you do not need to involve a large number of workers and special equipment. Therefore, using this type of foundation is significantly cheaper than constructing a strip or block foundation.
Is it possible to tighten screw piles without the use of special equipment? This is a question that requires detailed consideration. The literature provides step by step instructions to carry out such work, but one can also come across an opinion about the insufficient reliability of supports installed independently.
Having analyzed all the arguments, it is advisable to make a compromise decision: it is better to entrust long piles with large diameters, intended for significant loads, to powerful equipment. This will increase the speed of work and ensure safety. When independently constructing light utility or domestic buildings or fencing structures, you can avoid spending money on renting special equipment and screw in the supports yourself. Piles for such structures are smaller in size, so their installation can be done by a friendly team.
Important: to install screw supports yourself, you will need help. It is almost impossible to cope with the work alone, even with the use of auxiliary tools.
Materials and tools
To mark a pile field with your own hands you will need:
- roulette,
- leg-split,
- metal rods (reinforcement).
Regardless of the method by which screwing will be performed, it is recommended to choose ready-made piles from a well-known manufacturer. Making supports with your own hands is labor-intensive (with the exception of installing small-sized structures, quite a lot of supports will be required), requires the use of expensive equipment (welding machine) and certain skills. Buying cheap products from an unknown manufacturer or seller reduces the degree of reliability. In addition, supports made of low-quality alloys can become deformed or break during installation.
Important: When choosing piles, you should remember that their length must be sufficient to immerse below the freezing depth and to perform tying on the top of the supports.
To tighten the piles using only your own strength, you will need:
- two pipes acting as levers.
In addition to manual twisting, self-construction also uses a mechanized method, which will require:
- drill,
- geared impact wrench, which is commonly called a “meat grinder”,
- channel (can be used to strengthen the structure and prevent deformation).
Pile field marking
To mark a pile field with your own hands, you should determine the required number of piles. The total load is not difficult to determine, knowing the dimensions and material (its specific gravity) future structure. The load-bearing capacity of standard piles is known, indicated during marking, and, if necessary, it can be found in reference materials. Dividing the first value by the second and rounding the result up for insurance, we obtain the required number of supports.
If there are a large number of piles, it is easier to first draw their location schematically, adjusting the sketch if necessary, and then transfer the markings to the site.
When designing a pile field, it is taken into account that:
- The distance between adjacent supports in any direction should not be less than 3 m (otherwise sagging of the harness will be observed).
- IN mandatory piles are installed at the corners of the structure and along its perimeter.
On the ground, markings are made by installing reinforcement in place of the supports and connecting them with twine (to avoid sagging). During the process, the distance is controlled with a tape measure and the position of the marking elements using a level.
Installing piles manually
To install a pile with your own hands, you will need to make a significant effort. A lever design that can be assembled in several steps will help simplify the work.
- A crowbar is inserted into the holes in the pile.
- Pipes are put on the ends of the crowbar to increase the length of the lever.
Do-it-yourself screwing is best done with at least three people. Two rotate the screw support using levers, the third constantly monitors the position of the pile using a magnetic level. To ensure vertical installation, checks are carried out before starting screwing and then after each 360° rotation.
Installation using improvised tools
For mechanized installation of piles with your own hands, use a drill (with a power of 1.5 kW) and a geared impact wrench.
Elements of this design are connected using bolts. You should choose durable fasteners; for example, hardware sold in car dealerships will do. To prevent the pipe from deforming from the applied forces, you can increase the rigidity by laying a channel.
Since the gearboxes increase the torque from the drill, the pile enters the ground more easily. In this case, screwing the supports yourself is faster.
We should not forget about the need to control the position by level.
Support depth
The pile will serve as a reliable support only if it itself transfers the load to a dense layer of soil and does not sag under the weight of the structure. Therefore, screwing with your own hands, regardless of the choice of installation method, is carried out “all the way,” that is, until the moment when the soil, compacted during rotation, reaches such a degree of density that it does not allow further immersion. If the pile can still be screwed in, work cannot be stopped.
The main mistakes when installing a pile foundation yourself
- Leader drilling (making a shallow hole using a drill to ease the installation of a pile) or digging holes at the site of pile installation is a violation of technology. Such work disrupts the process of soil compaction during screwing, which leads to a decrease in the reliability of the foundation.
- Often, when screwing in with your own hands, the pile stops sinking into the ground before reaching the calculated depth. This means that the support collided with a stone or piece of rock. Such a pile should be left as is (later you will trim it to general level) and screw in an additional support next to it instead. Unscrewing and attempting to re-install is impossible due to loosening and reducing the bearing capacity of the soil around the support. Do the same if the pile deviates from the vertical during installation. To avoid overuse of supports, it is recommended to constantly monitor the position, as mentioned above.
Installation of a pile foundation after installation of supports
After you have installed all the piles with your own hands, the supports are leveled in height using a level. Thus, the upper parts of the supports should form a flat horizontal plane.
Having trimmed the screw piles, they will be filled with concrete mortar, which, depending on the required volume, can be prepared manually or using a concrete mixer. When filling piles with concrete, make sure that there are no voids left. The subsequent stages are started immediately, without waiting for the solution to gain strength.
Heads are welded onto the piles.
Mount the harness from a channel or timber.
Alternative options
Often recommended during installation pile foundation use more powerful equipment with your own hands. The so-called pile drivers are transported in the trunk of a passenger car, but they have significant power. Purchasing such equipment at a price of about 150 thousand rubles for private housing construction is unprofitable, especially if you yourself plan to install supports only for fences and light buildings.
If it is possible to rent such equipment, it is worth considering the option as an alternative to installing supports manually.
How to tighten screw piles with your own hands? updated: February 26, 2018 by: zoomfund
How to tighten screw piles with your own hands? This question arises when independently constructing a pile foundation, the correct installation of which determines the reliability and service life of the building under construction. The choice of technology for screwing in screw supports is determined by the developer’s budget, the type of soil and the availability of special devices.
Soil analysis
Pile foundations are used as a foundation for the construction of houses in areas with mobile, clayey or flooded soil, as well as in areas with complex terrain and large differences in height.
Before starting to tighten the screw supports, it is necessary to study the condition of the soil and determine the level of groundwater. To do this, you can use special directories, selecting the necessary parameters according to the location of the construction site.
To obtain more accurate information, test drilling or screwing of the pile is carried out. The first method is more informative, since it allows you to find out the depth of solid soil.
In addition, during test drilling, it is possible to mark and prepare holes of smaller diameter for subsequent tightening of screw supports.
Selection and calculation of pile parameters
When using factory-made piles, you should focus on the type and expected weight of the objects being built. Screw supports with a diameter of 47-76 mm are used in the construction of various fortifications and fences. For the construction of lightweight structures and frame houses piles with a cross section of 89 mm are used.
Screw foundation supports with a diameter of 108 mm can withstand up to 3500 kg and are therefore suitable for most buildings being erected, excluding buildings made of stone. The mass of buildings is calculated based on the overall dimensions of the house and the weight of the walls and other structural elements.
The length of the piles is determined by the level of the base of the grillage, taking into account the characteristics of the soil, the depth of its freezing and the location of groundwater. Important factors Also included are the overall dimensions and weight of the structures being built. Most often, piles with a length of 2-2.5 m are in demand.
How many screw supports are required and what the distance between them should be is calculated in accordance with parameters such as:
- type and properties of soil on the site;
- foundation shape;
- magnitude and nature of the acting load.
Before starting work and test drilling, you should make sure that there are no underground utilities on the construction site.
Tools and accessories for driving piles
Driving screw piles for the foundation can be done manually, using home-made and factory-made small-scale mechanization tools, as well as using special equipment. The choice of a particular option depends on the financial capabilities of the owner of the future property, the availability of assistants and the possibility of travel vehicles to the construction site.
To manually tighten the screw supports for a pile foundation you will need:
- shovel;
- tape measure and level;
- fittings or pegs and twine for marking;
- hammer or sledgehammer;
- grinder and spare circles for leveling piles in height;
- pipes with a diameter of 50 mm and a length of 2.5 m, which serve as levers;
- special marker for marks on pegs or fittings.
The hole for the pile is made using a garden drill, the diameter of which should be less than the cross-section of the screw supports used. It allows you to check the structure of the soil and identify stones and other obstacles if they are present.
Pile driving technology
To install screw piles for a foundation with your own hands, you first need to mark the location of the supports according to the calculations made, using twine and reinforcement. The distance between the piles should not be more than 3 m, otherwise the strength and stability of the foundation will be significantly reduced.
Further activities for screwing piles include the following types of work:
- Drilling holes according to markings. It is carried out using a garden drill so that the depth of the resulting holes is less than the length of the pile. In some cases, the supports are screwed in without preliminary drilling. This complicates the installation of a pile foundation, but avoids loose soil.
- Twisting. The pile is placed in the hole and a crowbar is inserted into it, having previously secured a construction magnetic level to the support. Then they begin to screw the support, avoiding its displacement. When reaching denser layers of soil, levers in the form of pipe sections are used, evenly distributing the force of influence. How many people are required to install the pile depends on the density of the soil and its diameter. Usually a minimum of three participants are needed: two screw the support, and the third controls the vertical level and makes timely adjustments. In the same way, the remaining supports for the foundation are screwed into the corners of the building being erected and along its perimeter.
- Alignment. Upon completion of the installation work, the supports are leveled and cut to height using a level. How much will need to be cut? Typically, piles are shortened by about 10 cm, which corresponds to the length of a technological hole that does not have a load-bearing capacity.
- Concreting. To protect the supports from corrosion on the inner surface and strengthen the foundation, they are filled with concrete solution. In this case, the grade of cement should not be lower than M150, and it is advisable to use sand without foreign impurities.
Watch the video on how to properly install supports with your own hands.
If during screwing in the pile has moved to the side and the depth of the pile has not reached 1.5 m, it should be removed and screwed in again. If there is excessive soil resistance, additional load should be provided, pressing from above on the support.
The reliability and durability of the entire building depends on the quality of the foundation. Construction of a house on screw piles can be carried out on unstable soils, in a flooded area, on a site with difficult terrain, in seismically active areas.
This technology is one of the most cost-effective. It is quite easy to install screw piles with your own hands. From this article you can glean information on how to properly install screw piles so that the building will serve for many years without repair.
What are screw piles
Screw piles are made in the form of a metal pipe with a tip and screw blades at the bottom. Can be used on difficult soils. They are not suitable for installation on stony and rocky soils, as they will not be able to penetrate a very hard layer when drilling. 
The lifespan of a house depends on the correct installation of piles The dimensions of the supports depend on the mass of the raw materials from which the house will be built and the load-bearing load of building materials, people and objects in the house.
In addition, the calculation takes into account the average mass of the snow layer that may be on the roof in winter.
The service life of the entire building will depend on the correct installation of the pile-screw foundation.
Screwing screw piles is beyond the power of one person; auxiliary workers will be needed to complete the work.
Where to start
To determine the type of soil, it is necessary to remove the soil from deep layers Before deciding to build a house on stilts, you need to study the condition of the soil and determine the level of groundwater. Such information can be obtained from geodetic construction organizations or from neighbors who are or have been building.
To independently determine which soil layers lie beneath construction site, carry out test drilling. In several places on the site, wells are dug, 1.5 m deeper than the length of the pile. Particles of soil present inside the well remain on the drill blades.
If a flooded area is detected, you need to position the piles for the screw foundation so as to bypass it.
Obstacles to installation
Large stones in the soil mean that the place is not suitable for driving piles Installation of pile-screw foundations is carried out using a hydraulic apparatus or manually.
Do-it-yourself installation of screw piles is done by screwing in the support like a self-tapping screw.
Obstacles to installing a pile-screw foundation may include:
- the presence of large cobblestones (more than 5 cm in diameter) or debris in the soil;
- burial in the ground concrete structures from old buildings;
- the root system of trees will significantly complicate the screwing of piles;
Manual installation technology involves using a long lever to screw in screw piles. If there is a building, fence, pole or tree close to the installation site of the foundation supports, the lever cannot be rotated 360 degrees. This will serve as an obstacle to constructing a foundation on screw piles.
Determining the length of the pile
On stable soils, it is enough to screw in the piles to a length of 2.5 m The length of the supports used to construct a screw foundation will depend on the soil, the depth of its freezing and the level of the grillage.
If there is stable soil on the site, it will be enough to install supports 2.5 m long. On complex terrain with differences in height, structural elements of various lengths will be needed, depending on the height of the terrain.
On unstable soil, the support should be of such length that it reaches stable, compact soil. Its location is determined by test drilling.
You need to screw in the screw structure to the depth where sand and clay lie. Stable soil will ensure that the load-bearing element is firmly anchored in the soil. The presence of a dense fraction is determined by the particles remaining on the blades.
After this, the depth of the formation is measured. Lower a pebble into the well on a rope until it touches the bottom. Make a mark on the string, lift it and measure the length.
In seismically active areas, the length of the well must be at least 4 m. Supports are purchased half a meter longer than the design ones. It is better to cut off the excess later than during the drilling process it turns out that the length of the pile is not enough.
Choosing the right diameter
The diameters of piles produced in production and their purposes are indicated in the table:
| № | Diameter | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5.7 cm | Suitable for installing chain-link fences. |
| 2 | 7.6 cm | They are used as supports for concrete fences, small utility buildings, and country houses. |
| 3 | 8.9 cm | Suitable for construction one-story houses. One such pile can withstand a load of 3 to 5 tons. |
| 4 | 10,8 | Used in the construction of 2-story houses made of light building materials. A support of this diameter can withstand a load of 5 to 7 tons. |
Calculate the total weight of all construction and finishing materials that will be used during construction. The estimated maximum weight of furniture, household items, and people who will be in the house are taken into account. Calculate the mass of the bathtub or pool, taking into account that the tank will be filled with water.
Take into account the load of the snow layer that may lie on the roof in winter. This indicator is calculated on the map depending on the region:
Calculation of the number of piles
The number of supports that will be needed for the foundation will depend on the project and the load-bearing load of the house.
Regulatory requirements:
When carrying out construction in a climate zone with strong winds, the distance between supports is reduced to 2.5 m.
The number of piles is calculated by the formula: add up all possible loads, and the resulting value is divided by the load-bearing load of one pile.
Rules for placing piles
Piles are placed at the corners of the future structure and in the center load-bearing structures Before installing the piles, you need to mark their location on the site. To do this, they initially draw on paper a plan for the placement of supports, guided by the design documentation.
The house plan is divided into rectangles, and the size of each plot is calculated. A pile is placed at each corner of the rectangle and in the center of all supporting structures.
After the location of the supports in areas with the maximum load-bearing load has been determined, the remaining distance between the elements is divided into equal segments. Depending on the estimated number of supports, they are evenly distributed around the perimeter. For more information about the layout, watch this video:
If the project includes columns or a fireplace, there must be a support under them.
Marking on the ground
Transfer the plan for placing supports from the drawing to the area.
Installation locations are planned wooden beams with a pointed lower end (for easier penetration into the ground), string is pulled between the stakes along the entire perimeter of the building and diagonally.
It is necessary that the marking of the perimeter and diagonals of the foundation made of screw piles be located strictly according to plan.
Do-it-yourself pile installation
To tighten the piles you will need several pairs of working hands In small areas, installing a pile foundation using special equipment is unprofitable; it is much more profitable to tighten the piles yourself.
To do this, you will need a device consisting of a piece of pipe. It should be slightly larger in diameter than the cross-section of the screwed-in support. This pipe must have holes for connecting to the screw structure with bolts and two eyes for installing levers.
You can screw in one support yourself within an hour, depending on the type of soil in the area. You can twist load-bearing elements up to 400 cm in length using the strength of several assistants. Two people will screw in the screw structure, and one should ensure that the vertical plane is maintained using a magnetic level. Detailed instructions watch in this video:
Tools
You will need devices for tightening screw piles:
- thick-walled pipes with a diameter of 5 cm and a length of 250 cm will be used as levers;
- tape measure, magnetic level;
- shovel, crowbar, sledgehammer, hammer;
- chalk or marker;
- wooden pegs or reinforcement rods;
- grinder for cutting piles to height after completion of foundation installation.
Installation technology
Check the vertical level of the pile after each turn To find out how to install screw piles, you need to study the installation technology. The work is carried out using a twisting device made by hand.
The question often arises of how to tighten screw piles with your own hands so that they do not deviate from the vertical level.
To do this, you yourself need to strictly control the actions of your assistants and the compliance of the screwed-in element with the vertical plane after each 360-degree turn.
After preparing and marking the area, the supports are treated with anti-corrosion compounds. According to the technology, screw piles are first installed in the corners.
Rules for installing piles:
When building a house on pile-screw foundation you need to strictly adhere to the technology for installing screw piles.
Installation equipment
The use of special equipment for screwing screw piles alone simplifies and facilitates the work, but allows for some errors.
Portable devices have been developed that can be transported in a car.
Instructions for operation of the gasoline-hydraulic station UZS-1:
- a hydraulic rotator is inserted into the support barrel, its shaft with a screw structure is secured with a stopper;
- install the structure with the mechanism installed in it at the marked place;
- a lever is attached to the hydraulic rotator, the end of which is fixed on the ground;
- They turn on the station, it begins to screw in the support.
The unit is started and turned off using a lever. Such stations are suitable for screwing in structures with a diameter from 79 to 113 mm at individual construction. Install screw piles for multi-storey buildings it is impossible, they will not withstand significant load-bearing loads. See this video for more details:
For faster tightening, you can attach a drill to the structure Another method for mechanized installation involves using a drill and a geared impact wrench.
The structure is fastened with bolts.
A significant force will act on the pipe, so a channel is laid to strengthen it and prevent it from deforming.
The drill is connected to voltage, rotating, it screws in the screw structure. It is necessary to strictly control the vertical level when diving.
A screw support will be reliable only if it transfers the load-bearing load from the house to dense, stable soil and does not sag under the influence of gravity. Screw it in all the way until it reaches the soil of such density that it does not allow it to sink lower.
Regardless of the chosen installation technology, tightening screw piles with your own hands should be done strictly in a vertical plane using a level.
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