Dallas Basement Foundation: Soldier Piers

We have the opportunity to work with Sustainable Structures of Texas, a high end luxury home builder on an interesting project in Dallas, TX. The home will have a concrete basement, and will be completed in multiple phases.

The first stage of the project was to pour soldier piers. These soldier piers are a special type of pier that essentially function as part of a retaining wall. We drilled 16 ft holes for these piers, and then reinforced them with a rebar cage. Next, we poured concrete into these holes, which formed the round piers. Then, the builder excavated dirt away from the top half of the piers, partially exposing them. After the excavation was complete, we sprayed gunite over the pillars and exposed dirt, forming a unique retaining wall. Gunite is essentially a type of concrete that can be sprayed from a hose onto vertical surfaces. For example, it can be used to create in-ground pools.  In this case, it prevents the dirt between the pillars from caving off while the basement floor and walls are being poured.

After completing the soldier piers, the next phase involves pouring the foundation slab for the basement and garage.