![deck floating foundation deck floating foundation](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41wm2m3Zg6L._AC_.jpg)
A demolition hammer needs to be used in conjunction with a specialized driving bit, shown below, to drive the pins into the earth. To help keep the pier steady, the pins need to get tapped in to the earth a little bit with a drilling hammer or sledge hammer, but they're not supposed to be fully driven in to the earth that way. The photo below shows one of the piers being installed after digging out a little bit of rock and dirt, the pier gets placed in the earth. They tore their deck down last month and had it re-built, this time with a Diamond Pier foundation system.
![deck floating foundation deck floating foundation](https://www.alairhomes.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2015/03/floating-deck.jpg)
My next door neighbors had a deck that heaved so badly last year that the patio door wouldn't even open, and their deck stairway became downright scary to use because it was so badly tilted. I spoke with two building officials at the City of Maple Grove who said that in all the cases that have been closely followed for the last five years, there was only one documented failure of a single footing, and it was more due to 'user error' than anything else the homeowner had a downspout discharging right next to the footing (no-no). Of the nine deck installations listed in Diamond Pier's frost performance reports, four of the nine examples took place in Maple Grove. As I mentioned in my blog post on frost heave and deck footings last week, frost heave can be a serious problem with decks here in Minnesota.ĭiamond Pier foundation systems were introduced in to the residential market approximately ten years ago, and have been used in various cities here in Minnesota since 2007 to help gain ICC approval. When I first learned about this foundation system I could understand how this might be able to hold a lot of weight, but my real concern was with frost heave. Long steel pins get driven through the holes at 45 degree angles, and these pins make the small chunk of concrete as strong as an 18" round footing, assuming it's the smallest Diamond Pier made, the DP-50.
Deck floating foundation install#
OK, I don't really think standard footings are going to become a thing of the past just yet, but there's a cool new product in town that's making deck footings way faster and easier to install it's called a Diamond Pier® Foundation System.Ī Diamond Pier is basically just a small piece of concrete with four holes in it. Goodbye old-school deck footings everywhere. And Goodbye waiting for footing inspections.