Helical Pier Foundation | Coastal Building Goes Deep | Sawdust EP01

In the launch episode of SAWDUST, a new video series by Sweenor Builders, we dive right into one of the most important aspects of building on the coast -- building homes that handle harsh hurricane conditions and account for storm surge.
Jeff and the team are building in a V Zone, which is considered the most hazardous of Special Flood Zone Areas and common to waterfront beachfront properties. The house will need to meet strict specifications to withstand hurricane winds and storm surge.
Construction starts with the installation of helical piers. Sometimes called screw piles, screw anchors, helical piles, and helical anchors - they are driven deep into the soil by hydraulic machinery to underpin the home’s foundation to met required uplift resistance. Sometimes this can be 6 feet deep, sometimes you won’t meet required resistance until 30 feet!
Next, we begin the poured-in-place concrete structure. Our house must be built on these sturdy piers so that the underside of the support structure is above the predicted surge level for the area -- 16 feet above mean high tide. Everything built below this safety level must be either strong enough to resist the force of the waves or weak enough to safely "break away" and disintegrate under wave action.
Watch along for insider’s look at the process!
0:00 Introduction
2:18 Waterfront Home Demolition
3:40 Meet Our Homeowner
5:15 My Tool Belt with Adam Spink
7:45 Helical Pier Install
13:55 Rebar and Concrete
16:58 Flying Carrying Beams
IN THIS EPISODE
Jeff Sweenor, @JeffSweenor on Instagram
Adam Spink, @aspink_ on Instagram
Jeremie Cabeceiras
John Stedman and Sons Excavating
Heritage Concrete
DIRECTED by Thomas Draudt, @actualsizeproductions on Instagram
Follow this #CoastalBuilding project at #SBISawdust. Or, for more about our coastal building work, follow @Sweenor_Builders on Instagram or visit www.SweenorBuilders.com
© 2020 Sweenor Builders, Inc.

[@royordway9157]

As a 66-year-old carpenter from Maine with 47 years' experience, I'm impressed. I just found your channel and if it wasn't 11:30 PM, I'd keep watching tonight.

[@BasementBrandon]

Looking forward to this series!

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Happy to hear!

[@kulagabe]

Being both a contractor and video guy I love both the production value and educational value of this video. Great work!

[@judsonsweany2283]

The audio quality in the intro shot is awesome! You can see how windy it is but you certainly can’t hear it lol. Great first episode!

[@rickduquette3399]

It's nice to see that there is now a choice of the finner points in the new home building industry. Looking forward to what's coming next. This looks like you have the know-how to do what needs to be done and your willingness to pass this know-how on to us want to be builders. Hope the guys over at This Old House aren't too upset with you.

[@jeffreyspitler7860]

Excellent series!

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Thank you!

[@elodiathomas443]

Absolutely fascinating. It took me 40+ minutes to watch the video as I kept rewinding to take it all in. Great energy, explanations, and shots of the construction team as we learn about all the new (to me) technologies. Love to watch someone who takes such pride in his work and talks up and respects his crew. Way to go Jeff. Now if I only had a little piece of land in RI. I'm in - subscribed! .

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@rsweenor]

Badass!!!

[@Crazyreseller]

What a shame to tear down that beautiful home :-(

[@Sweenorbuilders]

The owners of this home enjoyed it for 40+ years as a beach house and wanted to make multiple upgrades to make it a durable, weather tight year-round home.

[@alank64]

It's even more sad that they couldn't remove the windows and doors and give it others that might use them! :(

[@rmontena4583]

wasteful. it's why the US is going down the tubes!

[@rmontena4583]

building this close to the coast should be illegal.

[@monkeybussiness76]

@@rmontena4583 Get your money up then you might be able to do it

[@RobertInFlorida]

Great idea Jeff! Keep doing that

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Thanks! Will do!

[@ryanf5955]

Great Content 👍

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Thank you! More to come next Wednesday!

[@dcselwitz]

Fantastic...looking forward to EP02!!!

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Thank you, happy to hear!

[@rsgr3963]

Wow so many material recyclable

[@Chris_Moncada]

Love the new video series and channel. My only suggestion is to dial back the soundtrack especially when Jeff is talking. It’s ok to have just him talking with nothing going on behind his voice. Just a suggestion.

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Glad you like it. Really appreciate the feedback on audio, thank you!!

[@philipmiller5202]

Much more interesting than watching the NFL or the NBA.

[@Sweenorbuilders]

We couldn't agree more!

[@E71T8]

Good stuff!

[@jacobkrzyzek5777]

absolutely awesome!!! Can not wait to see more of this series!! a real build show

[@Sweenorbuilders]

More to come!

[@TechTimeMass]

Been researching the helical piers to lift a footing for a chimney, might be something i go with over a complete chimney rebuild

[@mauramaclean5090]

Love it! Story line clarity is fantastic. Can’t wait to see more.

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Thank you. Next episode comes out Wednesday, 11/4/20!

[@sheedog27]

Fantastic job Mr Sweenor. First saw you and your crew on TOH, and then NS. Excited to see this new series of videos. Keep up the great work. Health and happiness!

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Thank you!

[@ecstaticbanana1063]

Awesome series, definitely lived up to the hype!

[@DixieNormous1]

Very informative,you need your own tv show 👍👍👍

[@joebecket557]

Jeff, love you on TOH. Thanks for giving us an in depth look at what you do. I''d love for you to incorporate some costs so the average Joe like myself has a working knowledge. TY

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Thanks Joe and dully noted!

[@pauldonnelly6098]

Ah Bonnet Shores. I learned to swim across the street from there about 60 something years ago. Corner of What Cheer Rd.

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Nice!

[@_SYDNA_]

Wow thank you for filming this!

[@noocnosaj]

A very well done video. Lots of production value. Additionally, this video is very informative. I have heard of helical piers before. But, I have not seen them or watched them being installed. I have been watching Sweenor Builders over a few years on TOH. I am excited to watch more in-depth videos of the building process altogether. Thank you all for taking the time to produce such high quality and informative content. Looking forward to the rest of the series!

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Thank you very much!

[@chuckchalfant]

I used to live in Wakefield in the early 2000's and always admired the projects your company had signs in front of. So happy to see the series on KZbin, I hope you guys can kepp it up. Great production value! Give Matt Risinger a call, you guys should be part of the Build Show Network!

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Thank You Chuck!

[@BeautifulViewPodcast]

Love the new show! Can’t wait for more.

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Thank you! Next episode airs Wednesday, 11/4/20 - save the date!

[@ryanwolf1938]

Great build

[@westwardbound1436]

That spooky music selection for when the X is doing the demo is amazing 😆. Just finished your videos and ended on this one and they are great. Building airtight in Vancouver, Canada. Looking forward to your next videos.

[@jmklamm]

Love it. Kevin from TOH sent me. This is obviously the next big channel, excited to see it grow!

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Greatly appreciated, glad you like it!

[@briandemmer1941]

I just came across this series and it’s been great!! Looking forward to the upcoming episodes! Keep up the great work Jeff and crew!

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Thanks Brian and welcome aboard!

[@andrewhillstrom8397]

This could’ve been an hour and I still would have watched every second. Great craftsmanship and fantastic video quality.

[@Sweenorbuilders]

What a compliment! Thank you Andrew - appreciate your comment.

[@captsnug1]

Very interesting.to watch.

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@TrevorChenier]

Wow, Incredible & so very interesting, intelligent and very much needed these days with coastal erosion. Here in Nova Scotia, Canada, these systems are very much in need. I would love to partner up with Sweenor Builders and introduce these systems here on the East Coast of Canada!!! 🌊🌲🏗️🏡💪🏾

[@Freedacarlo]

Production quality 🤩

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Thank you!

[@stephanbrown3751]

Awesome episode! Detailed explanation of foundation with helical piers.

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Glad you liked it!

[@rowco321]

Great job!

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Thanks for following!

[@zachbeller5342]

Awesome series. Keep it going please!

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Thanks Zach!

[@kevin3434343434]

You're not going to salvage any of those windows, doors, siding? Everything looks like it's in perfect condition. Other than than, great video! Subscribed.

[@stephanguidry2334]

Love y’all. This is awesome.

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Much appreciated!

[@ddterrill1]

Great and informative! So good to see professionals work.

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Much appreciated!

[@x-raymind7778]

That nail puller is sweet especially if the nail is in a lvl food old fashioned leverage.

[@georgemc26]

I'm so glad I found this channel,

[@Sweenorbuilders]

We are glad as well George, thanks for following!

[@briandesanctis4956]

great job guys

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Thanks!

[@jackpatrin8415]

I wish you would try and salvage more materials from the house while doing the demolition. The roof, siding and windows all looked to be fairly new and still usable for other projects like habitat for humanity. Otherwise this was a pretty cool video and excited to see more.

[@jackpatrin8415]

@h2s we also need to think about larger green building practices. Not just dollar and cents for everything. For example say you’re building/remodeling and trying to make a “net zero” house. Can you really call it net zero if all the old usable materials end up in a landfill and all your new products get shipped in from around the world and have massive carbon costs to make? Sure your heating bill is nothing, but how much more resources did you take up to make that house?

[@BuiltByAmal]

I dream to be like you one day! Hopefully one day:)

[@watchthe1369]

I would love to hear the story behind that trailer deck under the mini excanator.......

[@10mccort]

are you able to do this in the midwest (illinois)? very interesting. i like it. not having to pour footings is a damn game changer!

[@RolandElliottFirstG]

At 11:56 you have a deformed tube, this would be rejected here in Australia, the horizontal and verrtical loading has been compromised even when any form of footing is added on the top.

[@paulleblanc4653]

Good start , no safety protection gear

[@JonnyDoe1776]

Just an observation: ( @7:02 - 7:08 ) - I was taught to never allow the tape to rewind without using you finger as the stop. Allowing the tip to slam against the hard surface of the case will cause excess slack over time resulting in inaccurate measurements. It can also result in the tip breaking off and then the tape is ruined.

[@lrc87290]

They are doing a lot of this tearing down of old and not so old to build new in the Jersey Shore community I live in. Many homes are unoccupied most of the year. A few years back a carpenter I know was working on a house when they started tearing down a house nearby. It is cool to watch so as he was watching them tear into the house something looked wrong. Pictures on the wall towels on the towel rack in the bathroom. Turns out right address wrong street.

[@kevincasey2947]

AAARRGGHHH!!! Coastal Rhode Island, but where? I grew up in Tiverton! I'm a RI born, RI bred, RI dead, (not dead yet... :-), proud URI grad. I just found this channel....been in construction my whole adult life in Seattle. I'd come home and work for you as a laborer for free! Show more pictures of home!

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Hi Kevin, we are on the other side of the bay. Glad you found our channel and thanks for your interest!

[@kevincasey2947]

@@Sweenorbuilders YEA! I binge watched all of your vids, I figured out where. I used to live in Bonnet Shores when I was in college. I was a quahog and lobster lumper on the docks in Island Park in Portsmouth when I was a kid growing up and in Pt Judith and Galilee when I was at URI. A bag of rocks, a box of bugs! I even shook hands with Buddy Cianci once too at the Blessing of the Fleet, he said thanks but I smelled like fish!... ha ha that was a trip! I painted houses all over Wakefield and Kingston in the summers, I even did one helical pier job out here in Seattle too! I love your Tool Belt segments! Throw a snowball at somebody for me! :-)

[@Sweenorbuilders]

@@kevincasey2947 love it all! Thanks again and will do!

[@IRAKLICHIKHLADZE]

I see you are high ranking builders. I was wondering if you ever had experience of using jcb hydradig 110w.

[@user-dr2pg8fk2i]

Demolishing a perfectly acceptable house. Only in America.

[@josephdestaubin7426]

That they did not even bother to reclaim the windows in the demolition house was disgusting.

[@Sweenorbuilders]

They were over 20 years old & in fairly bad condition due to the location being right on the water. We always salvage windows, cabinets, doors, appliances, etc. when they’re worth saving!

[@g35hunkers]

Aren’t you Captain Righteous.

[@Sgtsavage75]

Round screws are much stronger than square ones 😕 The square ones can bend at the joints when drilling down. As seen the poles are twisted and warped

[@davidrehaluk8620]

Looks like some pretty pissy piles to bend them like that thin wall tube must be

[@markshep03]

It seems odd the shafts twist... We used these constructing a large gas plant in West Texas about 8 years ago and we never had the shafts twist like that. It seems like the shafts size are undersized for the torque required by your engineer.

[@MvpBouck]

It sounded like the engineer required 4000 psi and they over torqued it to 4700 psi😂 that pier should have been replaced

[@sbennet1447]

Enjoyed watching the video. And will enjoy watching the rest. My only comment is that in many cases the background music is too loud. Just my opinion. Thanks.

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Thanks for watching and the feedback! Noted.

[@sbennet1447]

@@Sweenorbuilders Let me just tell you a story that might make you smile. I'm 55 years old and work as an engineer (not in construction). But for the past 35 years I've been building and renovating at my house (new windows, new siding, new roof, finished a 2nd floor, built a garage). I can retire in a year (my employer is very generous). I plan on starting a handyman/light construction business (I really like it) when I retire. And people say I have a knack for it. A little while ago I found "the Build Show" on KZbin. So I watch it on the tv in our living room when nobody else is around. Often times my 20 year old daughter will come in an watch it. We also watch TOH. She'll often sit on the couch and do her homework and watch what I am watching too (I don't know how she does that). And she's paying attention because she often asks questions. So KZbin suggested your channel (I didn't know it existed) so I started watching this episode. My daughter came in shortly afterward. She had to go to the bathroom halfway thru and she asked me to pause it. So I did. I knew she was interested. She asked a couple questions, mainly if your client had to build at a certain elevation why didn't the guy next door have to raise his house. Anyways we watched the hole episode and will watch other. We also watched the TOH house you did as well. So this morning she whisper in my ear before she goes to work "I like watching construction with you". She is a freshman at UMass studying Homeland Security. But I wonder if that doesn't work out if she could wind up as a GC. Anyways, thanks for making the videos. Scott

[@Sweenorbuilders]

@@sbennet1447 Scott, you are correct...it did make me smile! Thanks for watching!! Jeff

[@moutrap]

The Helical piles system I am used to seeing are usually round which would make them less prone to twisting under load. Any particular reason you guys are using squared piles?

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Some brands are round, some are square, Chance brand are the ones we use and they are square. I actually like that we can see them twist because it let's us know that we achieved good resistance.

[@TagiukGold]

I've heard that there is a way to replace the audio of a video without resetting the view count or other metrics. Something to look into.

[@garybarchas4984]

Were those windows not suitable for Habitat for Humanit?

[@mikemckenna4816]

The existing house looks to be in decent condition, was any consideration given to reclaiming any building materials? Shame if it all ended up in the landfill.

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Agreed Mike -- always looking for ways to repurpose. We work frequently with our local Habitat for Humanity and on this project donated to their ReStore program. Thanks for asking, and watching!

[@jessechen2013]

Hi, I really appreciate the content in this video, and I also operate a construction with my family in Asia. If you like, adding some extra software-generated videos to show the value in your work will boost your content to another level.

[@ericwong8482]

Wondering why square shaft rather than CHS? I noticed a few USA videos have SHS shafts?

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Depends on the brand. The brand we used in this case was "Chance" piles by Hubbell

[@robertfeliciano5723]

Great information and production values, but the music is a little loud.

[@danchesney631]

The video barely featured the helical piers.

[@Insidiousotter]

This house looked fine. What a waste to tear it down for no reason.

[@Logan-le8jk]

Great video guys, but you got to turn down the background music. 😂 We're here for the content not the tunes.

[@jasonargentieri8954]

Lower the background music. Great show!

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Noted!

[@dbconstruction7892]

I agree. Awesome content and great insight to the details of construction. I'm glad we'll be seeing more of this project in future episodes. I want to see how this project proceeds to completion.

[@jasonmarshall819]

Wow ,how much to build.i bet a mill or 2.

[@jacobmillyard6799]

This is what a $100k foundation system looks like

[@Sweenorbuilders]

About half that

[@jacobmillyard6799]

@@Sweenorbuilders honestly a great deal given the requirements and commercial grade quality. Good work.

[@jamespollastro1407]

Why did you donate the windows and stuff like that

[@Sweenorbuilders]

We try to whenever we can (in our most recent demo, all the cabinets, doors, appliances, windows and more were repurposed on a different project), but in this case they were over 20 years old and so close to the coast... They were fairly beat up.

[@ryanwolf1938]

Stringline on top of columns?. What is going on here

[@crowflight3988]

Why not wait for a hurricane to do the demo? Since the pieces will get scattered all over the county you save fortune in labor and landfill fees ;) ahhh the Government :( anyway I'm here for the helical screw piers ... thanks for the video ... and I thought the screw piers were supposed to save excavation like in the prairie, but live and learn ... good grief these coastal houses gobble up resources!?!

[@michaelfarmer537]

The tool belt scenes are great! Your music guy needs to dial back the music volume, and match the music to the scene better, instead of letting the entire song play straight through, no matter where or what is being shown. You’ve got a top notch building crew! Keep up the good work! 👍💪🇺🇸

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Always appreciate feedback, and thank you!!

[@bentray1908]

This house will NEVER move an inch

[@519VXComanche]

You drive a way better truck than Kevin!

[@Sweenorbuilders]

Right!!

[@plantationnews1962]

Only in america.

[@judgementiscomingsoon27]

23 below grade 32 above sounds like the architect likes witchcraft

[@TrevorChenier]

😮Jesus Almighty!!! Couldn’t you contract out a crew to disassemble much of this house to be re-used, recycled!!!!😡

[@scott5747]

It took half the video to just get to talking and showing the subject.

[@robertsprafke9376]

Who’s dollars are paying for this?

[@Sweenorbuilders]

We are paying for the videos as high level marketing! Thanks for watching!

[@TagiukGold]

TURN DOWN THE MUSIC!!! I want to hear the person talking, not some annoying instrumental.

[@richardmontena1353]

this ought to be illegal.

[@brhino]

Not exactly fans of materials recycling... time & money I suppose 🙄