Pier Count & Spacing

Notes

• Spacing is set by load, not by wall length. two storey, wood frame carries roughly what 6.5 ft of spacing is designed for. The same 30 ft of wall under a single-storey frame house needs 6 piers; under two-storey brick it needs 7. A contractor quoting a pier count without asking what is above the wall has not done the sizing.
• Use this to read a quote, not to write a scope. The real design comes from a structural engineer or a soils report: depth to load-bearing strata, the actual footing condition, and how much of the settlement is still moving. What this number does is tell you when a bid is unusually low — and an unusually low pier count is the most common way a foundation quote gets cheap.
• Corners get their own pier because that is where load converges. Two walls deliver into the same point, and it is where the stair-step cracking in brick starts. A layout that spaces evenly along the wall and skips the corner is a layout that will crack at the corner again.
• Piers do not always lift the house back. There are two outcomes and they cost differently: stabilisation, which stops further movement, and lift, which returns the foundation toward its original level. Lift is not always achievable and it can open cracks in finishes elsewhere as the structure moves back. Get in writing which one is being sold.
• Fix the water before or with the piers. Most residential settlement is moisture-driven — expansive clay shrinking in drought and swelling in rain, or a downspout discharging against the foundation for twenty years. Piers installed under a house whose drainage has not been corrected will hold that section while the untreated sections keep moving.
• Ask about the warranty and what voids it. Most pier work carries a transferable lifetime warranty on the piers themselves. Read what it excludes — commonly further movement in areas not piered, which is precisely what happens when only the visibly damaged wall is done.