Customers often ask about installing exterior foundation piers as opposed to interior foundation piers. As you can probably guess, pilings that are installed beneath your floors (for example, directly under your kitchen), are called interior piers. The ones placed around the perimeter of your foundation are called exterior piers. While the pilings themselves may be identical, some are placed inside a home while others are utilized on the outside.
Is It Easier To Install Exterior Foundation Piers vs. Interior Foundation Piers?
Yes, for the most part, placing pilings around the perimeter of a house foundation is easier to do than installing them inside the house. This is particularly true of slab foundations. That’s because when installing foundation piers inside a home, workers must crack the concrete slab to make repairs. You may require 1-2 interior piers, or your foundation repair project might necessitate as many as 10-15 or more. Of course, it’s quite possible that no interior or exterior foundation piers will be needed at all.
Which Piers Are Messiest To Place?
Interior foundation pilings are generally messier to install than exterior foundation piers. Keep this in mind: If you have carpeting in the area where interior piers are needed, it must be pulled up before the foundation repair task can begin. Or, if you have tile floors or wooden floors, holes approximately 2’ X 2’ must be cut in those areas inside your home where the piers are being placed. Once the holes have been cut in the slab (using a jackhammer), dirt will be excavated and placed on a tarp positioned beside the holes. When the project has been completed and the interior piers have been installed, carpeting can be put back in place or new flooring can be laid.
Unlike the process for installing exterior piers, using interior pilings to fix your foundation often requires moving furniture, too. If you need these structural supports all throughout your home, you’ll need to relocate the furniture to another area of your house while your foundation is being repaired.
So how do you know which type of piers to install? The only way to tell if you need exterior foundation piers vs interior foundation piers is to contact a professional such as a structural engineer or a foundation repair company. They can check your foundation and let you know what, if anything, must be done. If you have foundation problems, call an expert right away.