Pilings are critical to the foundation of almost every home we build at R.K. Reiman Construction. Not many people know their purpose. So I wanted to explain why we build on top of pilings here in Southwest Florida.
Pilings are long columns constructed primarily of concrete, pounded below ground to support a house’s foundation. Concrete pilings are pounded into the ground by force until they reach the point where they can’t go down much more, typically stopped by a layer of rock or rough dirt that is impenetrable even when the pile is being pushed in by a pile driver.
We use pilings when building custom homes because of the weak underlying soil. The soft soil cannot support the weight of the house. Typically it takes about 2-4 days to drive all pilings into the ground.