Both stop a settling foundation for good — but they work in opposite ways. Here's how we decide which one your house and soil actually need.
Two ways to reach solid ground
When a foundation settles, it's because the soil under the footing lost its ability to carry the load. Underpinning fixes that by transferring the weight of the house down to a stronger, deeper layer of soil or rock. Push piers and helical piers both do this — they just get there differently.
Push piers are hydraulically driven straight down using the weight of the house itself as resistance. Helical piers are literally screwed into the ground like a giant steel wood-screw, with torque telling us exactly how much capacity each one has reached. Choosing between them is about soil, load, and access — not about which one is 'better.'
When push piers win
Push piers shine under heavier structures — full two-story homes, brick veneer, commercial buildings. Because they rely on the structure's weight to drive them to bearing strata, more weight means a deeper, more reliable seat. On the cherty Boone Formation clay over limestone that's common in Rogers and Bentonville, push piers often reach refusal on solid rock quickly.
They're also the go-to for classic corner settlement on slab homes. Most of those jobs need four to ten piers at the affected corner, not the whole perimeter.
When helical piers win
Helical piers are the right call for lighter structures and softer or inconsistent soils — the deep alluvial clay near Spring Creek in Springdale, or the fill-heavy lots around new construction in Bentonville, where a push pier might not find resistance. Because we measure installation torque, we know each helical's capacity the moment it's seated, independent of how heavy the house is.
They're also ideal on hillside lots in Bella Vista and steep Fayetteville cuts, where we frequently install them from inside a crawl space to protect landscaping — and for new construction, where they can go in before the structure exists to load a push pier.
How we actually decide
We start with an elevation survey and a look at soil borings or the geotechnical report if one exists. Structure weight, target bearing depth, soil type, and access all go into the call. Sometimes the answer is a mix — push piers on the heavy front wall, helicals where a light addition ties in.
Both methods, installed correctly, come with a transferable warranty on the piers. The failures we get called to fix are almost never the pier type — they're piers that were never driven to competent strata. Torque logs and load documentation are how you avoid that. If you want a straight recommendation for your home, call (479) 441-9515 for a free inspection.
