How The Dwyer Company Supported an Existing Column for a New Elevator at the Evendale Cultural Arts Center
- Project Type: Commercial
- Project Services: Push Piers, Shoring/Underpinning
The Evendale Cultural Arts Center in Evendale, Ohio added an elevator, and excavating the pit exposed an existing column that needed support while the work went on. The Dwyer Company installed two push piers to carry that column, working with general contractor John P Tumlin and Sons LTD. Each pier supports 20 kips. The drawings called for helical piers, and the access inside the building led Dwyer to propose push piers in their place.
Need to hold a column while the ground beside it comes out?
Quick Facts
- Evendale, Ohio
- Project Type: Commercial – Retrofit
- Owner: Evendale Cultural Arts Center
- Scope: Temporary support of an existing column during elevator pit excavation
- Foundation System: 2 push piers
- Pile Capacity: 20 kips
- Design Change: Helical piers originally called out; push piers installed in their place based on interior access
- Site Conditions: Interior work with severely limited access
- Partners: John P Tumlin and Sons LTD (general contractor)
The Challenge
Putting an elevator into an existing building starts with digging a pit, and this pit sat against a column carrying the structure. Excavating exposed that column and took away the ground holding it up, so something had to carry the load while the pit went in.
All of it happened inside the building, which made access the limiting factor. The drawings called for helical piers, and the equipment that turns those into the ground could not reach a column standing in the middle of an occupied structure. The system had to change before the excavation could start.
Key Project Details
push piers installed to support the existing column
kips supported per pier
The Solution: Push Pier Column Support
The Dwyer Company installed two push piers at the column, driven off the weight of the structure and loaded once each reached capacity. Every pier supports 20 kips, which held the column while the elevator pit was excavated around it.
Access drove the change in system. Push piers install with smaller equipment and use the structure itself for reaction, so they fit an interior location that helical equipment could not reach. Dwyer proposed the substitution, coordinated it with John P Tumlin and Sons LTD, and set both piers in the room available at the column.
The Impact
Column supported through the excavation
The piers carried the column while the elevator pit was dug against it.
System matched to the access
Dwyer replaced the specified helical piers with push piers once the interior conditions showed what would fit.
Small footprint inside the building
Compact equipment handled the installation in a space that ruled out larger rigs.
Capacity at both piers
Each pier was installed to support 20 kips.
Why Push Piers?
Push piers suited an interior column that had to stay supported while the ground beside it came out, in a space too tight for the system on the drawings.
- Compact installation equipment – Piers go in where interior access rules out larger rigs.
- Uses the structure for reaction – The building’s own weight drives the pier, so no separate reaction setup is required.
- Driven to capacity – Each pier is installed against the load it will carry.
- Attaches at the existing footing – Support goes in at the column without rebuilding what is around it.
Why Choose The Dwyer Company for structural integrity?
Deep History • Solid Choice
The Dwyer Company’s proven track record in commercial and industrial foundation systems made us the trusted partner for the elevator addition at the Evendale Cultural Arts Center. Working alongside John P Tumlin and Sons LTD, our crew adapted the specified foundation system to what the interior would allow and held an existing column through the pit excavation.
Have a column that needs support while you build around it?