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Spent $600 on a fancy container foundation kit and wish I just did gravel like everyone said
I was dead set on using those adjustable steel pier foundation kits for my 40ft container build. Watched all the YouTube videos, thought they'd be faster and more professional. After 8 hours of leveling and fighting with those things on uneven ground in Texas clay, I realized I could have just dumped 3 feet of crushed gravel and called it a day for under $200. The kit is fine I guess but my buddy's gravel pad container has settled less than mine in 2 years. Anyone else regret going fancy on foundations or am I just salty about the cost?
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theamason5mo ago
Read an article from Texas A&M's extension service about this exact problem, and they basically said what @tara345 is getting at: clay soil laughs at precision engineering. The gravel pad works because it's more of a "squishy" system that moves with the ground instead of fighting it with rigid posts. I remember they tested a bunch of different foundations on clay and the adjustable piers actually caused more structural stress because they locked the container in place while the ground under it swelled up. Your buddy's setup is just letting the whole thing float a tiny bit and that's way better in the long run.
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tara3456mo ago
Did you account for the soil type when you picked the adjustable piers? Because Texas clay is basically a living thing that expands and contracts with moisture. Those fancy kits work great on stable sandy soil but they really hate clay. Your buddy's gravel pad is probably draining better and letting the clay do its shrinking thing without pushing the container around. I've seen adjustable piers actually pop up out of the ground after a heavy rain on clay. Sometimes the cheap gravel solution just works with the land instead of fighting it.
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gavinwood6mo ago
Tara345 is right about clay being a monster, but nobody's mentioned the freeze-thaw cycle if you're anywhere north of I-10. Those adjustable piers can jackhammer themselves right out of the ground over a couple winters, while gravel pad stays put.
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