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Product Review from Environmental Building News
October 1, 1999
Pin Foundations:
No Excavation Required
Excavation for conventional foundations—even pier foundations—results in significant impact to the immediate environment: severed roots, compaction of surrounding soils, and siltation of area waters. The latter concern has become a major issue in the Pacific Northwest with the recent listing of chinook salmon as endangered.
What if we could put in a foundation that required no excavation? That’s the idea behind the Pin Foundation, an innovative system developed and patented by Pin Foundations, Inc. of Gig Harbor, Washington. Company president Richard Gagliano, an architect by training, began working on the Pin Foundation concept in 1984.
The first patents were issued on the system in 1991, and Pin Foundations, Inc. was founded the next year. To date, 30 installations have been completed, almost exclusively for boardwalks and elevated platforms in parks, wildlife refuges, and other natural areas.
The principle is pretty simple: galvanized-steel pins (sections of Extra-Heavy, Schedule 80 thick-wall galvanized pipe) are driven into the ground at angles to support foundation piers. The diameter of the pins and the way they are sharpened varies, depending on the Pin Foundation product used and the soils. Pin length varies from 5’ to 9’ (1.3 m to 2.7 m). Three different products are offered:
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