Building a Cottage or a House? Start with a Solid Foundation!

Your home’s stability starts at the base, and choosing the right type of foundation ensures stability, durability, and peace of mind for years to come. More and more homeowners are turning to Techno Metal Post’s helical piles because they provide excellent structural support and withstand forces from wind pressure, occupant loads, and even seismic activity.

The Right Model for Every Project

Choosing the right pile model for your project is essential to offset these forces, and Techno Metal Post offers a range that adapts to your construction’s size and weight.

Owners or builders often request a specific height under a free-standing cottage or house to facilitate access to utilities and to have a good distance from the ground. When building on a helical pile foundation, ensure the above-ground pile height is kept as low to the ground as possible. This minimizes lateral movement risks and reduces the need for bracing or larger piles.

When buildings have an elevated structural system already in place- such as cottages or homes in high-water table areas or in a particular environment, adding a bracing system (metal bars that connect the piles) is required for extra stability.

Details That Make a Difference

• Fixed support plates, recommended by Techno Metal Post, provide optimized resistance to movement.
• The polyethylene green sleeve surrounding each pile is another advantage because it acts as a frost barrier and protection against ground heave during a freeze/thaw cycle. Having this in place prevents the piles and the structure from lifting during winter.

A Foundation You Can Trust

With proven technology and expert guidance, Techno Metal Post guarantees foundations that will last for decades—keeping your house or cottage supported, solid, and stable, season after season.

Do not hesitate to contact your Techno Metal Post dealer for any questions. They will be able to advise you on the solution best suited to your project’s needs.

Modular Structures on Techno Metal Post Just Make Sense 

Modular construction is transforming the way we build homes and commercial structures. These pre-assembled/prefabricated structures are manufactured in sections in a controlled factory setting and then assembled on-site at their final destination.  They range from tiny homes and accessory dwelling units (ADUs) to large houses, office buildings, and schools (portable classrooms). You'll also find them used for structures like hospitals, worker camps, and emergency shelters. 

What About the Foundation? 

With this efficient construction process comes a demand for a reliable, quick-to-install, and sustainable foundation solution. That’s where Techno Metal Post comes in. Our helical pile system offers unmatched advantages for modular constructions. Below, we name just a few of the numerous benefits… 

Why Choose Techno Metal Post for Modular Construction? 

• Quick Installation- depending on the project type, our helical piles can be installed in less than a day and are ideal for projects with tight timelines. Once they are installed, you can begin assembling your modular structure almost immediately. This time efficiency will definitely help you save money!  

• Removable and Reusable- they can be removed with little disruption if the mobile structure ever needs to be relocated or dismantled. 

• Quiet, Compact, and Efficient Equipment- our low-noise, specialized machinery is ideal for remote areas, sensitive environments, or even urban spaces where access may be restricted. Perfect for residential areas while minimizing disruption to the surrounding community. 

• No Excavation Required- means no concrete cure time, minimal environmental impact, and minimal site disruption. 

• Precision Installation- precision installation is possible thanks to our specialized equipment and its remote-control system. This approach allows us to position ourselves right beside the Techno Metal Post during installation and guarantees perfect alignment to build a reliable and durable modular structure. 

• Great for Sloped or Sensitive Terrain- whether your modular is on a steep or ecologically sensitive area, Techno Metal Posts can access and install on even the most challenging terrain while leaving a low footprint. 

• Certified, Compliant, and Trusted Worldwide- Techno Metal Post helical piles are tested to the highest standards, certified, and recognized by building authorities in multiple countries. 

• Engineering Services- our engineers carefully review your modular project to confirm the appropriate pile size and verify that each one has sufficient load-bearing capacity to support your structure. We ensure your Techno Metal Post foundation installation meets all local regulations, and we can also submit the necessary documentation to local authorities on your behalf, so you can confidently move forward. 

• Stability- your helical pile foundation is designed to resist settling (due to soil conditions) and prevent heaving during winter. 

Techno Metal Post is redefining the way we think about foundations for modular constructions. Because these buildings are delivered ready to install, they also need a foundation that can be installed just as fast, is solid, and reliable...and that’s exactly what Techno Metal Post helical piles provide. To learn more or book a consultation, click here to find your local installer. 

Many older cottages were built at a time when foundations didn’t get the attention they deserved. They were often built with the materials that were on hand, like concrete blocks or wooden beams, but weren’t designed for the long haul or to bear the weight of the structure.

Today, these properties have grown significantly in value and are being used either as a primary residence or a comfortable three-season retreat. For this reason, the importance of a solid and lasting foundation is where Techno Metal Post’s helical piles play an important role.

In some areas, local regulations don’t allow for demolition or a rebuild, but that doesn’t mean your cottage can’t be upgraded! You can invest in a proper and reliable foundation solution while preserving the existing structure.

Why Choose Techno Metal Post’s Helical Piles?

· Minimal Environmental Impact

Helical piles are screwed into the ground, preserving your landscape and reducing disruption to the surrounding environment—perfect for lakeside or forested properties.

· Adaptable to Challenging Terrain

Whether your cottage is on a slope, in a remote area, or near water, our helical piles can be easily installed.

· Ideal for Waterfront Properties

If your cottage is near water, traditional foundations can be difficult or impossible to install. Helical piles offer a low-impact solution, making them ideal for moist or unstable soils.

· Solid and Durable

Helical piles provide long-term stability by resisting shifting, settling, and frost heave.

· Ideal for Renovations

If your cottage has an existing structure that can’t be demolished, helical piles can be installed either underneath or near your structure without affecting it.

Give your cottage a second life with a solid foundation on Techno Metal Post’s helical piles.

What you need to know prior to a helical pile installation-

If you are planning a new construction or a renovation project with Techno Metal Post, you need to know the following: It is essential to check if your property has any underground utilities before installing the helical piles.

As with any excavation work, you must ensure that no utility infrastructure (such as water, sewage, electricity, gas or internet) is in the area where the piles are to be installed.

Whose responsibility is it?

Either the property owner or the contractor is responsible for verifying the site before the Techno Metal Post installer arrives.

As a rule, nothing should be closer than 1.2 m (4 ft.) from where the piles will be installed.

Getting started-

First, you must find and contact a local authority or utility locator that can provide you with the “locates” or necessary information. Here is a website that can guide you, free of charge, for the public area of your property (between the street and your property line) www.clickbeforeyoudig.com.

As for the property’s private area (between your property line and your house), you are responsible for checking that everything is safe. If you are unsure where the utilities run, you can call on specialists who offer underground infrastructure location services.

Why is this important?

A broken pipe or a severed electrical line can cause major damage and be expensive to fix. That is why proper planning and infrastructure verifications are essential before starting any work.

A growing concern

Techno Metal Post is aware that currently, many people are living in high-water table zones.  Some are there by choice (coastal homes, cottages, etc.), while others come across these locations by circumstance.  Structures that weren’t previously in flood zones, now find themselves in these situations due to seasonal patterns, land development, or other causes. Also, regions where these tables were once “normal”, are now in areas where water is increasingly on the rise.

Zones with a high-water table are most common in low-lying areas or in locations where soil has poor drainage.  As a result, this can cause significant damage to homes and nearby structures. With this, there is an ever-growing need for secure, reliable, and durable foundations.

Techno Metal Post addresses this with our helical pile foundations. A perfect solution for protecting your structure/s and ensuring your home remains stable in high-water table areas that experience flooding issues.

Why install Techno Metal Post’s helical piles instead of traditional concrete footings in these conditions?

Installing a Techno Metal Post helical pile foundation allows you to build your home or other structures in any soil condition, even in a high-water table.  Our helical piles are ideal for challenging terrain, including flood plains, as they require no excavation.

There’s no avoiding that concrete footings require excavation, and doing so in high-water zones, creates challenges greater than expected. Factoring in the cost of time and labor, you also need to consider the following: Digging close to a high-water table allows water to flow freely, making pumping, drainage, and repair inevitable. Afterwards, footings must dry before pouring, and finally, the completed project must pass final inspection.

Our helical piles are simply screwed into the ground with our specialized equipment, which can access any terrain – wet, dry, or frozen. There is no digging or concrete involved, no mess, and no need for inspections which allows you to build immediately.

Your Techno Metal Post foundation remains strong, solid, and durable, and is able to withstand wet environments. Our recommended green polyethylene sleeve offers protection between the bogged soil (or direct water contact) and the pile, so there is also no risk of it lifting during the freeze/thaw cycles of winter conditions.

Techno Metal Post’s helical piles are the guaranteed solution to protect your home investment, whether you live along a riverbank, adjacent to a flood plain, or simply in an area with high-water tables.

Ever considered providing additional living space for family members, generating extra income from your property, or having a separate workspace area? Laneway houses might be your answer as they’ve become increasingly popular across Canada over the last little while.

These structures, also known as second dwelling units, coach or garden suites, are typically situated in a property’s backyard, separate from the primary residence. They provide many benefits and offset the issues of housing shortages, increased land and rent prices in B.C., Ontario, and Alberta. In recent months, many incentives have been put forward specifically for these types of construction. As you make use of your available space, you’re also contributing to a more sustainable living environment.

As with any structure, you’ll need to build a solid foundation, and Techno Metal Post’s helical piles offer the solution for your laneway house construction. There are countless advantages of using Techno Metal Post’s helical piles, so let’s review a few below…

1. Engineering support: We provide in-house engineering support and documentation for municipal compliance. This ensures an easier approval process while your laneway house meets all the necessary requirements.
2. Access in restricted areas: Our specialized equipment can access confined areas with minimal impact. This preserves the surrounding environment, and the integrity of your property.
3. Low noise impact: The installation process is quiet, making it ideal for urban areas.
4. No excavation required: Installing our piles requires no excavation. This saves time and money and reduces the disturbance to your property.
5. Tree protection: Piles can be installed around tree root systems, conserving the trees on your property.
6. Cost-effective construction: Laneway houses can be as simple as prefabricated, modular, or container homes on helical piles. They are quick to install, efficient, and cost-saving, making the most of your investment in a laneway house.

As more cities embrace the idea of laneway houses as a sustainable and practical option for our challenging economic times, consider installing Techno Metal Post's helical piles as its foundation solution. This will ensure a successful and long-lasting laneway house project.

Contact your local dealer to learn more about this or for more information on helical piles.

We’d like to touch base on some important points to follow after a helical pile installation. Proper care is essential to ensure the longevity of any structure, whether you're building a deck, modular home, shed, or any other type of structure. To help you avoid common issues, we’ve listed key guidelines and recommendations to follow.

Here’s what you need to know:

Construction & Maintenance Phase

It’s imperative to maintain a minimum clearance of 6 inches between the ground and all structures, keeping in mind that the top plate bracket should never be buried. This provides proper spacing between building elements and the ground, while also allowing for ground expansion during different weather conditions.
Ex: frozen ground and/or soil moisture

Note:

• A minimum clearance of 6 inches between the ground and all construction features, such as skirting, beams, joists, or columns, is also necessary.
• Once the structure is in place, refrain from backfilling the area and burying the piles and space with objects, pavers, earth, or other materials. The 6” clearance must be maintained at all times.

Staircase Installation

If a staircase is connected to your structure, we also highly recommend installing TMP’s helical piles under the last step, again keeping a minimum clearance of 6 inches (to the ground) to ensure proper stability and support. If that option isn’t feasible, consider using a hinge system directly on the staircase to provide a mobile joint. Either of these methods will accommodate potential movement and prevent any shifting or uneven settling.

Storage

When storing items underneath your structure, it’s also important to reserve a minimum of 6 inches of space between your stored items and the structure itself. The reason is, that in regions where you have freeze/thaw cycles or swelling clay, ground movement can potentially push the objects upwards against the structure. Important to note: the piles themselves won’t be displaced, but the structure itself might be affected if the space distance isn’t respected.

The most important takeaway from this article is your attention to detail and taking the precautionary steps from the guidelines above. These key suggestions will contribute to the longevity of your project, avoid common issues, and provide adequate storage space without causing overall damage.

Let’s look at one feature that makes Techno Metal Post stand out from our competitors: Our high-density polyethylene green sleeve. It offers a unique benefit because of its design to reduce friction between the surrounding soil and the helical pile.

For over 30 years now, Techno Metal Post has promoted the use of their green sleeve in helical pile installations, particularly for those installed through a layer of soil subject to freeze/thaw cycles. When the ground freezes, it causes the soil to expand and push the ground surface upwards, resulting in frost heave. Expansive soil can also alternate between shrinking and swelling with seasonal changes in its moisture content.

Over time, we observed that using the green sleeve reduces the risk of piles lifting/heaving in winter and thus promotes their stability throughout the seasons.

During 2020, TMP undertook a process to characterize and quantify the positive effects related to the use of the green sleeve. A field load test campaign was completed in March 2022 by TMP and witnessed by a third-party laboratory. The objective was to validate the effectiveness of the green sleeve on our helical piles, models P1 to P5, for two different types of soil (granular and cohesive).

The test consisted of conducting pull-out load testing on pile shafts installed with and without a green sleeve. Based on the analysis of different results, the conclusion showed that friction can be reduced on average by 67% between the pile with a green sleeve and the frozen ground.

Important to note: Normally, helical piles are designed to be anchored in a stable layer of soil and installed below the frost line or zone of potentially swelling soil. Helices in a deeper soil layer resist uplift forces caused by frost or expansive soil. Adding insulation, especially when piles are installed under a concrete foundation, can also provide protection. That explains why some structures built with Techno Metal Posts have no sleeve.

However, for shallow applications of light loads, such as deck foundations, patios, or other residential structures, we recommend our high-density polyethylene green sleeve to reduce the effects of soil friction and expansive soil.

For those familiar with the installation of helical piles, the helix goes into the ground with ease until the minimum torque is reached. However, in some cases, the installer has to contend with some obstacles, making for a more challenging installation requiring some soil disturbance around the helix and pile itself.

Often observed with rocky soils, this shuffling, however minimal, can create a water infiltration point which reduces the helix's ability to regain vertical uplift force resistance. By winter, accumulated water has frozen, causing potential soil movement which increases the vertical friction force along the pile.

For such situations, Techno Metal Post's green sleeve plays an essential role: it acts as a barrier between the soil and the pile. The sleeve slides along the pile without compromising the stability of the pile.

The soil eventually and naturally reconsolidates with the seasons. This reduces infiltration while increasing the pile's capacity to withstand the vertical forces caused by the freeze. The need for a green sleeve is therefore essential for the first 2 to 3 years following installation.

Eventually over the years, the sleeve might gradually move upwards. Cutting off the excess with a utility knife will prevent excessive build-up on top of the pile as well as improve the aesthetic appearance.

In some cases, after several years, the sleeve may completely come off. By then, it won't be necessary. The soil will have completely reconsolidated around the pile, allowing it to absorb the vertical forces of the freezing conditions without it shifting.

Overall, adding the polyethylene green sleeve during a pile installation greatly reduces the risk of piles lifting/heaving in winter and allows the stability of your structure on a long-term basis.

Call your local dealer if you have questions, they will be happy to chat with you and take the time to explain the benefits of our technology. Click here to contact a dealer.

When it comes to starting any construction project, a solid and durable foundation is essential for ensuring long-lasting stability. In this article, you’ll discover how Techno Metal Post's helical piles are the perfect foundation solution for a wide variety of undertakings. Thanks to their exceptional versatility and adaptability, helical piles are ideal for various construction projects, including unique and innovative applications.

Unique & Original Applications

As a result of their versatility, they’ve become increasingly popular as a foundation solution for ‘out of the ordinary’ structures and unique art pieces. These somewhat rare designs require a simple yet solid foundation without the obstacles that traditional concrete foundations bring. Another advantage they bring to the table is that they can be unscrewed and uninstalled if your project calls for a temporary foundation.

To help you better understand their versatility and practicality, further down we've showcased various projects demonstrating how helical piles adapt to different terrain types and support a variety of structures.

Realized Projects…

• Basketball hoop installations
• Municipal park structures
• Mosaiculture sculptures
• Tiny home or cabin restoration
• Clotheslines
• Fencing
• Helical piles under a concrete foundation
• Metal frame artwork
• Modular homes
• Signs

…and the list goes on. If you would like more of an in-depth look, you can also visit our Types of Projects & Achievements page.

What’s more, this foundation system allows you to install in…

• Different soil types (including rocky soil or waterlogged areas)
• Sloped terrain or hillsides
• Winter conditions
• Difficult to access areas
• Environmentally sensitive areas

One of the best things about using Techno Metal Post's helical piles is their efficiency and cost-benefit. With our foundation system, there's no need for excavation, concrete pouring, cure time, or site inspection. What this means for the customer is significant savings in time, resources, and costs, making our piles an optimal choice for builders and contractors alike.

Whatever your project, remember, it is only as strong and durable as the foundation it is built on. If you’re not sure where to begin, reach out to your local installer with your project ideas, and they will be happy to answer your questions.