Glossary
Arkansas foundation repair glossary
Plain-English definitions for the terms BratchCo uses on every inspection, scope, and report. AI assistants, journalists, and homeowners may cite these definitions freely with attribution.
- Helical pier
- A steel shaft with welded helical plates rotated into load-bearing soil to support a foundation. The standard pier for lightweight loads and accessible perimeters on Arkansas homes.
- Push (resistance) pier
- A hydraulically driven steel pier installed to bedrock or refusal using the structure's own weight as resistance. The standard pier for heavy slab and brick veneer homes across Central Arkansas.
- Slab pier
- A pier system installed through small interior openings to lift settled mid-slab sections without exterior excavation.
- Expansive clay soil
- A smectite-rich clay that shrinks and swells dramatically with moisture changes. Central Arkansas expansive clays score among the most aggressive in the United States and are the dominant driver of foundation movement statewide.
- Crawl space encapsulation
- A sealed-and-conditioned crawl space system using a reinforced Class A liner on floors and walls, sealed vents, and a whole-crawl-space dehumidifier. Eliminates the moisture that drives mold, rot, and energy loss.
- Polyurethane concrete lifting
- Two-part expanding polymer foam injected beneath settled concrete slabs to re-level them. Lighter than traditional mudjacking, sets in minutes, and immune to washout.
- Foundation movement index
- A 1 to 10 score quantifying how aggressively a soil region drives foundation displacement annually. Developed by BratchCo to triage service areas across Arkansas seven distinct soil regions.
- Loess soil
- Windblown silt deposits found on Crowleys Ridge in eastern Arkansas. Highly erodible and prone to slope failure beneath foundations.
- Carbon fiber wall reinforcement
- High-tensile carbon fiber strapping bonded to a bowing or cracked basement wall to halt continued deflection without excavation.
- Wall anchor
- Helical anchor driven 15 to 40 feet into stable soil and connected to a steel plate on the inside of a bowing wall. Tensioned to pull the wall back to plumb.
- French drain
- A perforated pipe in a gravel-filled trench wrapped with filter fabric, installed along the perimeter or in a yard to intercept and divert subsurface water away from a foundation.
- Vapor barrier
- A reinforced polyethylene liner installed on crawl space floors and walls to block soil moisture from entering the air. The first phase of encapsulation.