Piling Repair and Protection for Elevated Homes

Deep South Marine Restoration takes pride in the service and materials that we provide to our clients daily. One should never cheat on dock piling repair and/or protection on your homes, camps, boathouse or any type of elevated building. Protecting your pilings that actually hold up your entire dock or home is so important. Before you see the initial signs of decay, protect them.

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Need to repair the foundation on your Elevated Home?

What you need to do first is make sure the structural stability of the elevated home and/or dock is safe. Especially, if you and/or your family are the ones which will be walking, jumping, or running on it. The most horrible events have happened before when an owner did not make sure their elevated home was safe and a few family members fell through due to the collapse of the pilings. The owner failed to protect it against the well- known factors that ultimately deteriorate every piling that touches water.

What happens is your pilings will get boring worms that will burrow into the wooden pilings and literally attack it. These are also called marine pests. Examples of marine pests are the Gribble which is a crustacean that eats through any type of wood in the water. It’s also known as the wood burrowing worm. These are the primary reasons for any pilings to literally fall apart or get damaged.

I know we don’t have our pilings on our minds that often, so it seems as though when it is cracked or starts leaning that it just happened! At Deep South Dock and Piling Restoration, we can protect houses on piers or dock pilings with our patented piling protection system that supports and therefore increases its lifespan by years.

We have found that by wrapping the pilings with piling wraps, it protects them tremendously. What is a piling wrap anyway? Well, it is a protective layer of a plastic type material. This keeps those burrowing animals from penetrating it. We highly recommend that you get this done when you are initially installing them. We can also do this after an infestation as well. However, taking care of this sooner than later will be much cheaper.

Now, if the decay is present, we would then neutralize it and our crew would then wrap it. This is to ensure that we are not just covering up the worms, allowing those pests to eat and eat. Our crew has literally seen docks that have been totally eaten apart due to these nasty marine pests. We have seen some docks and pilings that were totally broken apart just from these pests. Our piling wraps are applied to homes on stilts, pilings, docks, bulkheads, camps, boathouses, and sea walls. One must maintain and protect your investment on the water or land just as you would tune-up your car and give it regular maintenance. A ton of those who buy new cars, usually wash it regularly and wax it regularly. So, when building a new home especially on the water, protect it and use regular check-ups as well.

This is the regular maintenance that should apply to camps, boat houses, and docks. If you are spending a great deal of money on such items, protecting it makes logical sense. Protect your camps, homes, docks, pilings etc. especially since you cannot possibly see that the dock or piling is being attacked for years even though it is slowly rotting away. These pests are nearly microscopic and almost impossible to see with the naked eye. They are very hungry and love to eat wood! We highly recommend researching all you can on homes near the water or homes on the water so that you can understand anything and everything possible to keep your investment up to par. The same as we all do when purchasing a vehicle or any large item that is a huge investment. We want to keep them maintained so that they will last as long as possible.

There is another reason docks and/or homes on the water get destroyed. Natural happenings such as storms, spills, hurricanes and any other natural occurrences can damage boathouses, pilings, bulkheads and docks. All owners know the risk they take with any investment on or near the water. So, educate yourself on living near or on the water to ensure you do all that you are able to.

Want to actually see the damage marine wood borers can do? When riding in your boat next time, be sure and check out all the pilings and docks and boathouses. Look at the extent of damage that the marine pests cause over the years. You can totally notice the piling damage whenever the water level is low, when the rains haven’t come in yet. Next time you are cruising the waterways, pay close attention to the camps along the river and look at all of the pilings under the docks, and even under the camps themselves. Nine out of ten times, pilings will express some damage, even some that are so damaged they aren’t even withstanding any longer. It really doesn’t matter if these pilings are extremely old or a few years old, these pesky worms and gribbles affect them all. One can see the damages all along the waterways.

However, you never know the extent of the damage until professionals, such as us at Deep South Dock and Piling Restoration get beneath the surface to inspect it. By educating yourself on all the dangers of ‘not’ protecting your houseboat, docks, homes, pilings and bulkheads, you can be sure to take the necessary precautions to stop disaster in its tracks. We also like warn of the need to protect any commercial walls in ports, marinas, or any type of wood that needs to be protected against marine pests and reinforced for all the natural damages that can and will occur. A commercial operator needs to know all about the dangers due to the fact that if a visitor gets hurt on a degraded wooden dock or deteriorating structure, a lawsuit might be in the near future. We all know how easy lawsuits are filed over everything and anything, so take all the necessary measures to prevent any mishaps and injuries. Often times, parks or public facilities near water have docks or bridges to assist us get through the wet areas, swampy areas, and to view the wildlife habitats of our native wildlife in these public areas. And, what about those golf courses that have bridges so that the golfers can get over the swampy areas. Sad to say, that is where my golf ball usually ends up, in the swamp or lake!

Bottom line, always try to educate yourself on the different ways you can protect yourself and all others from experiencing the issues that we see so many others facing. We can help you protect pilings, rebuild a dock, or definitely to strengthen the base of an elevated home. In the big picture, one will definitely see a huge benefit, in the way of less financial stress or personal harm. Call us today at (985) 200-2225 and let us come and see if you have an infestation in your docks, houseboat or pilings. We will exceed your expectations with our professionalism, great customer service, and unbeatable prices!