Underpinning Houses

URETEK underpinning is the modern answer to re-levelling your home.

Why have Uretek raise, re-level and re support your sunken home?

Uretek underpinning is like keyhole surgery compared to concrete underpinning.

Uretek underpinning is not just for concrete slab floors! Uretek can underpin, raise and re-level strip footings, raft slabs and ‘Waffle-Pod' slabs, infill slabs and driveways. All are returned to correct levels rapidly with Uretek.

The Uretek Method of underpinning is state-of-the-art, and like the best modern solutions, it’s SIMPLE: 1,2,3 !

1. Unique, Uretek structural, expanding resin is injected into the ground beneath your home through tiny holes (either 6 or 16 mm diameter). 
2. The Uretek resins expand, to fill any voids and compact any soft ground underpin the footings and then raise the home back to level.
3. Enormous pressure can be exerted and it’s controlled by constant monitoring by laser level.

       The results:

• Wall cracks usually close up as Uretek lifts the foundation back to level. With brickwork then only some re-pointing of mortar joints may be required. With plaster or render walls only some fine patching and repainting may be needed.
• Windows and doors usually work properly again because the building has been squared up.
• Gaps between skirting boards and floors also usually close up.

Uretek underpinning offers you 9 major advantages over old-fashioned concrete underpinning:

• There's minimal inconvenience to the household when Uretek is employed rather than underpinning your home.
• Most residential Uretek projects are completed in only a day or two, sometimes in just a few hours. This compares very favourably with concrete underpinning which typically takes many days if not weeks.
• So with Uretek underpining there is no need to vacate the premises. Nor is there usually much furniture to move.
• Concrete underpinning involves excavation and it’s very messy and dirty. But with URETEK there is no excavation and no weakening of support. There’s no water, no sand or cement dust, no mess.
• There’s minimal, if any, disturbance to your pathways, lawns or gardens.
• The uretek underpining injection is done through tiny, unobtrusive holes.
• Wherever possible Uretek work is done from outside, to ensure the least disturbance to the household (using small tubes, just 16mm in diameter).
• Inside the house injection can be done through even smaller tubes (only 6mm diameter), positioned to be quite unobtrusive, whatever the floor surface.
• Unlike concrete underpinning, URETEK is not rigid and does not transfer the load directly to a different stratum of soil - which could cause differential movement between then unequally supported sections of the building, and, if that happens, much new cracking can occur.

As well as providing the modern answer to concrete underpinning, where required, weak foundation ground can be strengthened with Uretek Deep Injection.

Can we service your area?

Yes, Uretek service is available everywhere in Australia and New Zealand.

You can be confident in Uretek:

• Over the last 15 years we have carried out over 6,000 such jobs in Australia.
• Uretek underpinning was invented in Finland nearly 30 years ago and is now available    in all of the developed nations and most of the developing world… in over 50 countries in total.
• Uretek materials are guaranteed for 10 years.

How do costs compare between Uretek & concrete underpinning?

 If more than just one small corner of the house needs to be raised, Uretek is usually cheaper than concrete underpinning… and Uretek underpinning is much more convenient!

On the other hand, concrete underpinning can be cheaper than Uretek underpinning where only one small corner of the house needs to be relevelled. But concrete underpinning has some other problems, including the potential for cracks to develop in many NEW places in your home, if only one part is concrete underpinned!

It is always important to establish the cause of the problem and to take remedial action before correction. CSIRO publication, BTF18 "Foundation Maintenance & Footing Performance: A Homeowner's Guide" is a very informative guide.

N.B. Australian Standard, AS2870, re concrete underpinning warns, "Underpinning should generally be avoided where the problem is related to reactive clay," & "Deep underpinning should only be considered as a last resort"

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