Helical Piles

Steel Helical Piles Offer A Known Capacity

By measuring the torque during installation, you will know the load-bearing capacity of the piles, removing any guesswork from the process. It is easy to calculate when a capacity has hit the estimated weight of the structure, with a factor of safety worked in.

The maximum load capacity of ECP’s helical piles ranges from 60,000 pounds to 120,000, providing the strength to tackle almost any job. And the load will be transferred to the piles immediately upon completion of the job.

Installation Easier & Not Weather Dependent

Because the installation of helical piles involves no heavy equipment, it produces little to no vibration, which benefits both the installer and the customer.

Additionally, you can install the piles in any season and in any weather conditions, lessening downtime and providing customers with predictability.

ECP Helical Piles Help You Adapt On The Spot

Let’s face it: When dealing with areas below the surface of the earth, you will occasionally face the unexpected. If the soil conditions aren’t what you expected and the torque readings aren’t providing the numbers you are looking for, ECP’s system allows for simple fixes.

The installer can “unscrew” the pile and either add an additional helical plate to the existing configuration or change to a different ECP helical pile with a larger helical plate area to increase the load capacity. No product is wasted, and downtime is lessened.

Installation Comes With Smaller Footprint

Helical piles allow you to leave any heavy construction or excavation equipment at the shop. Homeowners and businesses will appreciate this because it doesn’t tear up a substantial amount of their property. Installers will enjoy not having to maneuver large equipment in sometimes cramped residential areas.

Helical piles are installed with readily available and nonintrusive hydraulic equipment, allowing them to be installed almost anywhere.

Installation only requires small, hand-dug access holes, minimizing the need to disturb the customer’s property.

ECP Supports Its Installers And Stands Behind Its Products

Earth Contact Products is far more than a shopping site for foundation repair products, dropping the piles at your door and washing our hands of whatever comes next.

We support our network of independent contractors, offering training courses and networking opportunities to help their businesses grow.

ECP’s helical piles also come with an industry-leading 25-year warranty. We believe in the quality of our piles, which we make using American steel, and stand behind them.

Read More About Helical Pile Training

No two foundation jobs are likely to be exactly the same, which is why ECP offers a wide variety of helical piles. We believe in making sure you have the right pile for the job.

The Bar

The bars for ECP’s helical piles come in two different shapes and in different lengths, widths, and thicknesses. This gives you plenty of options depending on load, soil conditions, and other factors.

ECP manufactures two round cornered square bar helical piles. The 150, a 1 1/2-inch bar, has a 7,000 ft. lbs. torque rating and an ultimate capacity of 70,000 lbs. The 175 on the other hand has a width of 1 3/4 inches, increasing the torque rating to 11,000 ft. lbs. and the ultimate capacity to 100,000 lbs.

Along with the two square bars, ECP manufactures three round bar helical piles. The 288 and the 288L are both 2 7/8 inches in diameter. Where they vary, however, is in the wall thickness of the tube. The 288, with its .262 wall thickness has a 9,500 ft. lbs. torque rating and an ultimate capacity of 100,000 lbs. The 228L has a .203 wall thickness, giving it a 5,500 ft. lbs. torque rating and an ultimate capacity of 60,000 lbs.

The third-round bar pile has the greatest capacity of them all. The 350 consists of a 3.5-inch diameter tube with .300 wall thickness, giving it a torque rating of 13,000 ft. lbs. and an ultimate capacity of 120,000 lbs.

Each of the varieties of piles comes in lengths ranging from 5 to 10 feet long with extenders of 3 to 10 feet, giving you the capacity to anchor the piles deep within the soil.

Helical Plates

Each variety of helical piles has options for the number and sizes of helical plates attached to them.

Our helical plates, or helices, range between 8 and 14 inches in width. Each ECP pile has one to four plates of different sizes (8, 10, 12, or 14 inches) attached to it. Most models, however, have two or three piles.

For more information on the different combinations of helices that are available on each model and length of pile, go to our product page and select the products tab under each model.

ECP Brackets

Foundation piles are useless if you can’t attach them to the foundation. And different jobs require piles to be attached to the building in different ways.

For your standard existing home foundation repair, the bracket will be a variation on the ECP eccentric bracket, which has a portion that extends underneath the footing but is attached to the side of the footing or foundation. Most of the options include a 5-degree batter or angle underneath the house. They also vary in aspects such as bearing area and lift capacity.

If you are using helical piles on new construction, however, we offer pile caps or timber brackets that allow the piles to be tied into the structure before the foundation is even poured.

Slab brackets also allow helical piles to be used on sinking slabs.

• Weak soil
• Poorly compacted soil
• Dry or hot weather conditions
• Tree roots or vegetation
• Plumbing leaks
• Improperly directed water/standing water
• Grading problems

Here is a basic overview of the steps that you take during the installation of ECP helical piles:

• Small excavations (usually about 3 feet square) are dug at the foundation to allow access for each pile.
• The foundation footing is notched to place a pile bracket under the building’s stem wall.
• A utility bracket is secured to the footing using anchor bolts.
• Using a hydraulic motor, the helical pile is pushed into the soil.
• Helical pile installation continues until the desired torque is reached in load-bearing soil.
• Once all piles have been installed and load tested, lifting head assemblies and hydraulic lifting rams are placed on the piles and connected to hydraulic pumps.
• The building’s load is then transferred from the failing soil under the foundation to the pile system. The structure is gently and evenly lifted to as close to its original elevation as it will allow.
• The soil that was excavated at each pile placement site is replaced and compacted, leaving the area neat and clean.

Helical piles are long-lasting, depending on the conditions and usage. Some are more than a century old.

Helical piles were first used in England in 1838 with the construction of the Maplin Sands Lighthouse in the Thames River. Helical piles were introduced to the United States in the 1880s. They originally supported lighthouses at sea.

Some of the earliest helical pile systems are still in use today, including those used at the Brighton West Pier in England, which is more than 140 years old.

The earliest helical piles were cast iron. Today’s piles, however, are steel.

One of the biggest advantages of ECP’s steel helical piles is their versatility. The low-impact nature of their installation ensures contractors can place them even in hard-to-get-to areas where heavy machinery might be impractical.

Because the helical plates can shoulder the load once they reach stronger soil, contractors can install helical piles in places with deep bedrock where other foundation underpinning systems might be impractical.

They are perfect for deep foundations, even in difficult-to-access places, such as flood plains, swampy areas, and other challenging soil conditions.

While their primary use is in the lifting of buildings’ foundations or concrete slabs, they have many potential applications. These include:

• Electric vehicle (EV) charging stations
• Boardwalks
• Light poles
• Transmission line poles
• Stabilizing sewers and other pipelines

• Helical screw piles, along with an assortment of other ECP products, helped stabilize a sewer line in Canton, Ohio.
• An Orange, Ca., historical home built prior to 1890 lifted & repaired with helical piles.
• Helical piles & tie-backs hydraulically driven to support a sunken Murrieta, Ca., backyard.
• ECP piles prevent tidal surges from damaging a home in Chatham, Mass.
• Piles used to install 230 kV transmission lines across swampy wetlands in Kingsland, Ga.
• Read additional ECP Case Studies

For many homeowners, foundation settlement is an unhappy surprise. Sometimes, however, engineers can see the problem coming before workers even begin to lay the foundation.

That’s when they turn to foundation repair specialists. And ECP’s range of helical products will have you covered.

Helical torque anchors offer the same advantages as ECP’s helical piles: known capacity, ease of installation, versatility, and adaptability. However, rather than fixing a problem that already occurred, they prevent one from happening in the first place. When building on soil you know is going to be unstable, ECP’s helicals are the way to go.

The technician installs the torque anchors at intervals between the footings. They then tie them into the steel gridwork before the workers pour the concrete. This provides stability for the foundation and peace of mind for the owner.

Read more about ECP’s helical torque anchors and our new construction products.

As some of the case studies above showed, ECP’s range of helical products can lift and stabilize a lot more than just a building’s foundation. That includes concrete slabs.

Much like buildings, slabs are susceptible to settlement. When a slab settles unevenly, it can cause unsightly cracks and tripping hazards. If an owner replaces the slab without fixing the underlying problem, it will just start happening again.

ECP’s helical slab stabilization products have a maximum capacity of 28,000 pounds. Like all ECP helical products, you install them with portable hydraulic equipment, and they have a verified capacity. The installer will drill 7 or 8-inch holes to insert the helical piles and brackets.

Read More About ECP’s Slab Repair Products

Concrete shafts are one of the alternatives to helical piles. In this method, the installer drills shafts deep into the soil. They then pour concrete to provide a more stable base for the foundation to sit on. However, most consider helical piles superior to concrete drilled shafts for deep foundations.

Helical piles hold several advantages over this underpinning method.

1. The torque measurements provide a definitive load-bearing capacity, whereas, with concrete shafts, you must rely on estimates.
2. While piles can be installed in any weather, extreme temperatures can affect how the concrete sets.
3. The amount of large equipment needed and the impact of digging out the shafts to place the concrete both affect the feasibility and the impact on the property.
4. Unlike with concrete, if the building is eventually torn down, the piles can be removed and reused, negating any environmental impact.