Researcher urges using piles to make Nunavik homes more stable
Report to Kativik Regional Government council shows building on piles could cut costs, protect buildings from shifting permafrost
Laval University researchers Michel Allardl left, and Pascale Roy-Leveillée say building on piles in Nunavik could significantly cut housing costs and provide better resistance to thaw. (Photo courtesy of Sarah Gauthier)
Housing development in Nunavik faces two challenges: thawing permafrost and a lack of gravel.
According to Laval University geography professor Michel Allard, a more sustainable way to move forward would be to use piles — steel or wooden beams driven into the ground to support a building’s foundation — rather than building on gravel beds.
He presented results of his research to Kativik Regional Government council at its meeting Tuesday.
With a team of graduate students at the university’s Northern Studies Centre, Allard analyzed how recently constructed buildings in Nunavik were already being damaged by thawing permafrost.
In Inukjuak, for example, they found crooked foundations in houses that were built between 2000 and 2010.
“Communities have been spreading over sensitive permafrost,” Allard said, and the thaw has caused the ground to shift and displace the foundations.
“Housing construction is made on flatlands in communities” where water tends to accumulate naturally, he said.
In most cases, the ground consists of ice and clay which is prone to deformation.
“The idea is to have foundation for the buildings that will last in adaptation to this risk created by climate change,” Allard said.
Meanwhile, with a shortage of gravel it is becoming increasingly difficult to find the resources needed to build the kind of foundations usually used in Nunavik.
According to KRG, the villages of Quaqtaq, Kangiqsujuaq, Salluit, Ivujivik, Puvirnituq, Umiujaq and Kuujjuaraapik all face a shortage of gravel or only have a distant and costly access to it.
Allard said that in many communities a single gravel pad for a home can cost more than $250,000.
He said there has been an overexploitation of gravel. Speaking to council, he showed two instances in Puvirnituq where a gravel pad was built on top of bedrock.
“The bedrock underneath is solid enough,” he said.
If done correctly, he said, building on bedrock would be as solid as building on a gravel pad.
Allard said he asked numerous homebuilders that build housing for Nunavimmiut or for staff what their estimated construction expenditures would be for the next decade. The total added up to more than $6.5 billion.
“Most constructors agree that gravel pads are not the adequate foundation anymore,” he said.
In addition to its high cost and the lack of available gravel, pads deform, there are compaction problems and they impact natural water drainage systems.
As an alternative, Allard suggested each community should have a drill and a crusher.
With these tools, he said, piles could be drilled into bedrock to provide stable foundations. That work could be done between April and June, providing a head start to the construction season.
By using bedrock as a primary foundation and gravel to put in place additional support only, the use of granular resources would be reduced by 53 per cent, Allard said.
The foundations would also be more stable and would stand up to thawing permafrost.
“The recommendation in our report is for the government to support the purchase of drills in the communities,” he said.
Allard said Nunavik organizations could purchase 14 drills for all the villages at a cost of about $710,000 per drill.
We must protect the Makivvik Executive Bonuses, costly construction drills going to steal Bonuses. I need Bonuses to make these important decisions.🤑 Bonuses!
Hopefully this will be implemented. You can read about the court case of a Nunavik Contractor in kuujjuaq who has taken court action for his benefit rights to truck mud , dirt and rock around, and hopefully this will put him in his place and bring back some sensible economics as well. This contractor wants nothing to do with anything but trucking gravel at a ridiculous cost to the community and consumer. It’s time to do away with that rip off.
Well if you are so right why don’t you mention the name of that company! We all know it is expensive to make gravel pad, if people are not happy with that company they can turn around and go with other company. Stop bitching !!!
I’m surprised they use gravel pads for housing and commercial property there. Most villages in Alaska have lots of gravel but they only use it for roads and airports. Since the 1970s they have used piles for every building and every house in the arctic. Pads are worthless, building on permafrost requires the building to be 3-4 feet off the surface so the building heat can’t thaw the permafrost and cause the building to shift or sink. The concept was proven 50 years ago. You could never get a loan from a bank to build here unless it’s on pilings. There are places with marginal permafrost that causes pile creep and in these areas Thermopiles are used which can transfer heat away from the permafrost. These are also 50 year old technology. Makes me think some sort of corruption is going on in the gravel business there.
Get over it Eskimo Joe, stop losing sleep over the fact that bonuses were an upsetting issue. Get on with your future of making it better, history is always good , so the mistakes are not repeated, but there’s more to life then bonuses and compensation and corruption, if that’s what you are indicating, but get on with living before you get too old. The Bonus money is probably all spent , and bonuses did no more for the ones receiving then you and I and Christ himself, who ever that is.
#CANADRILL look