Are Slab Piers Safe?

Yes. Well-designed and well-made slab piers are significantly safer than most other foundation support or repair solutions that you might consider looking into. But it’s important to note that the inherent safety of the slab piers doesn’t just lie with how they are deployed, but also on the construction of the piers. So, there are two things you need to look into: construction material and design. 

Reliable Construction Material 

The most important factor you should investigate when evaluating the safety of the slab piers is the material it’s built of. It must be strong enough to hold the weight and stable enough to hold its structural integrity underground, where it would be subject to moisture. Galvanized steel is a popular choice, and it offers the best structural integrity by far. It’s not adversely impacted by underground moisture and can withstand the constant load without bending/breaking. 

Slab piers made up of relatively subpar materials exist as well, but they cannot survive the test of time. They might offer the core strengths of the slab pier but might start to crumble in a span of years. And if you have to redeploy the slab pier solution well within a decade, it takes away one of its most important benefits: longevity. 

Pier Design 

The design is something you’d have to look into for both individual piers and the system as a whole. Even with the best material, you can have mistakes like the suboptimal thickness of the pier, which results in less load building capacity or a shape that unevenly distributes the weight, increasing the probability of the pier bending over time. Then you’d have to look at the system as a whole. How many piers are holding up your foundation, and are they enough to bear the weight for decades? 

Many design considerations might require more mechanical and structural knowledge than you might have, so just to be safe, make sure the slab pier system your foundation repair company is offering you is designed for your home, taking factors like its size, weight, and even shape into account.