Using Plate Anchors

If the walls in your basement are bowing or leaning inward, it is a sure sign that your foundation is failing. Bowing or leaning foundation walls are one of the most common signs of a shifting or settling foundation. This problem is normally caused by excess hydrostatic pressure in the soil around your foundation. When the ground around your home becomes more saturated with water than normal, the hydrostatic pressure in the soil increases. This pressure pushes against the foundation walls, causing them to bow or lean inward. One way to correct this problem is with the installation of wall plate anchors. These underpinning
devices can be used to correct:

• Bowing foundation walls
• Leaning foundation walls
• Rotating foundation walls
• Bulging foundation walls
• Foundation wall cracks

First Steps

The first step in installing wall plate anchors, or simply plate anchors is to carefully remove a small section of sod in the yard adjacent to the affected wall. Next, the earth anchor hole is augured into the ground. A small hole is drilled through the bowing wall and a rod is driven into the hole, to connect to the anchor outside. The earth anchor is then installed in the hole outside and attached to the rod. Next, a wall plate is attached over the rod on the interior of the basement wall. This plate is tightened into place. The sod in the yard is replaced and the hole backfilled; this process leaves little mess behind. The anchor can be tightened at intervals by tightening the rod from the inside to straighten the wall over time. This is done so that the wall does not crack or become strained under the pressure of straightening out all at once.

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