The foundation on screw piles came to individual construction from the professional industrial sector. The pile foundation was very often used for the construction of objects and structures on the coasts of reservoirs or directly in the water. At some point, engineers came up with the idea that driving a pile would require much less labor than driving it into the ground. Thus the screw pile was invented.
Until now, screw piles are standard equipment of the engineering troops and are used in the rapid construction of the necessary infrastructure.
Gradually, the foundation on screw piles migrated from the professional field to the amateur one. And the reason for this was several undeniable advantages of foundations on screw piles.
Benefits of foundation on screw piles
- Low price. Perhaps this will be the main advantage of this type of foundation. The cost of acquiring and installing screw piles is an order of magnitude cheaper than a classic strip foundation.
- Ease of installation. Even an unprepared person can handle screwing a screw pile into the ground, without the use of complex technical devices.
- Versatility of application. If initially screw piles were created specifically for coastal and water infrastructure, then they can be successfully used in construction on swampy soils or on a slope.
It should be noted that the predominant area of use of screw piles and individual housing construction is the construction of light structures, mainly household and outbuildings. Nevertheless, screw piles of a good diameter can also serve as a support for a permanent residential building, but in this case one can hardly talk about a self-made pile, or about the absence of mechanization.
Is it possible to make a screw pile yourself?
This question causes a lot of controversy. Professional manufacturers, as a rule, assure that it is impossible to make a screw pile yourself (noting that this requires professional equipment and strict adherence to technology). Amateur builders, on the contrary, defend their point of view and assure that there is nothing complicated in this.
The truth, as usual, lies somewhere in the middle. In order to understand the pros and cons of self-manufacturing screw piles, let's try to consider from the main characteristics.
In the first place in the characteristics of screw piles is strength, that is, their ability to withstand structural loads from the structure. Good strength of a steel pipe, which serves as the basis of a screw pile, can be achieved both in industrial production and in individual housing construction.
In addition to the strength of the pipe itself, the strength of the screw pile blades and the strength of their attachment also play an important role. And here the undeniable advantage remains with industrial production, which is able to provide an even and durable weld.
Also, the quality of its processing directly affects the service life of the pile. A poorly treated screw pile will be unstable to corrosion and will very soon cease to fulfill its function of supporting the building. The highest quality healed metal from corrosion is galvanized, but it can only be applied in industrial production. The primer used in the individual manufacture of screw piles is unlikely to provide a comparable level of metal protection.
However, it is worth noting that an industrial manufacturer can also allow marriage in the creation and processing of a screw pile. So, if you choose an industrial manufacturer, we recommend that you contact trusted companies with a well-deserved reputation.
It is also problematic to make at home a high-quality tip for a screw pile.
Thus, the only advantage of self-manufacturing a screw pile will be a low price, however, such a benefit can be offset by the unsatisfactory quality of the final product.
However, in some cases, independently manufacturing screw piles still makes sense. In any case, you can try to make a screw pile yourself, designed for a light outbuilding, for example, for a barn. In such a building, the strength and durability of the base will not be a very critical value.
How to make a screw pile
The starting materials for self-manufacturing of screw piles will be the following:
- Durable steel pipe. Its diameter is selected depending on the planned load, but for outbuildings, pipes with a diameter of 7 to 10 centimeters are suitable.
- The tip of the pipe - it is a cone made of durable metal. In other cases, in some cases, in individual manufacturing, you can not attach a steel tip, but simply cut the end of the pipe diagonally.
- Blades that will guide the pile as it rotates.
To connect the elements of the screw pile to each other, the use of electric welding will be required. It is impossible to attach the blades to a steel pipe in other ways.
The screw pile manufacturing algorithm is as follows.
- We calculate the depth of the screw pile foundation. The lower edge of the pile should be half a meter below the freezing level of the soil, and the upper edge should protrude above the ground by about 30 centimeters.
- We cut the pipes into pieces.
- We make blades. They are cut from sheet metal and welded into a special configuration.
- All joints are cleaned with sandpaper.
- We weld the pipe and blades.
- After the metal has cooled, we clean the place of welding from scale and prime it.
- In the upper part of the pile we drill a hole for the collar.
Such a self-made cheap screw pile can be used to build the foundation of light outbuildings.
We calculate the number of screw piles for the foundation
First of all, it is necessary to determine the length of all the walls of the future structure - both external and internal. The maximum distance between the piles along the wall should not exceed three meters, but it is better to play it safe and lay a step of one and a half meters.
Without fail, supporting screw piles should be located in the corners of your building and at the junction of the inner walls to the outer ones.
conclusions
So, it is quite possible to make a screw pile with your own hands. At the same time, you can easily choose a steel pipe that is suitable for strength and even make durable blades yourself. However, household welding will not be able to provide you with such a quality connection of metal parts that industrial production can provide. In addition, only in industrial production can you get the quality of coating all surfaces of a screw pile with galvanizing, which will protect your pile from corrosion and destruction for many years.
Homemade screw piles - photo
