Building a custom boathouse at Freestone Lake & Golf in Fairfield, Texas, required a foundation system that could perform in difficult waterfront conditions. The site presented a high water table, large lateral loads, limited access and a working grade approximately five feet below the waterline. The project team selected Chance® round-shaft helical piles to meet the structural demands while simplifying installation near the shoreline.
When construction is completed in spring of 2027, the boathouse will sit on the former Fairfield Lake State Park property. With a surface area covering around 2,400 acres and 21 miles of shoreline, Fairfield Lake is widely recognized as one of the largest private lakes in the United States.
Designing a foundation on the waterfront setting created several interconnected challenges: a high water table, significant compression and lateral demands, limited access, native trees and shoreline constraints. Site preparation and drainage were required before foundation installation could begin.
A test probe installed near the waterline used an SS175 10-12-14 lead section. It reached an ultimate installation torque of 7,000 ft-lb at a depth of 27 feet. The installation response indicated a consistent increase in soil strength with little to no drop-off.
The project team evaluated combination (square shaft lead / round shaft extension) piles and cased concrete piers before selecting Chance round shaft helical piles. The chosen system offered several advantages for this site:
The final foundation design used two Chance round-shaft pile families:
Specified installation torques included 10,000, 18,000, 20,000 and 30,000 ft-lb. Required compression capacities ranged from 60 to 148 kips, with lateral demand also included in the design criteria.
Because the water table depth is factored into the soil profile input into HeliCAP helical capacity design software, engineers could be confident that the products selected would provide the required capacity for the project.
Elite Concrete installed the piles using equipment selected for the different shaft sizes and torque requirements. A Kubota SVL 97 compact track loader was paired with Digga 16K and Eskridge 20K drive heads. A JCB 220X excavator with a Digga 95K drive head handled the higher-torque work.
Installation torque was monitored in the field using a Chance Digital Torque Indicator with instant Bluetooth readout for piles below 30,000 ft-lb. A Digga Torq Hub handled the measurements at 30,000 ft-lb and above. This allowed the team to document installation performance as the piles advanced.
Despite the challenging site conditions, the 38 production piles were installed in four days. The builder was very pleased and impressed after visiting the site during installation of the RS8625 piles.
The helical pile solution addressed the project’s high water table, access constraints and demanding compression and lateral loads while reducing the complexity associated with the alternatives considered. The rapid, torque-monitored installation also gave the project team an efficient way to verify performance in the field.
Kaden Lindberg is the General Manager for Helical Concepts, Inc. (HCI), the official Chance distributor for Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico, and Kansas. HCI construction engineers build predictable and reliable commercial foundations. They’ve also helped many general contractors and geotechnical engineers solve foundation problems that seemed unsolvable during their projects.