Chocking, Grouting & Alignment

Voids, distortion, and gaps under machine feet and pump bases feed vibration and misalignment straight back into the rotating equipment. Once a base loses solid support, bolts work loose, the casing distorts, and bearings pay for it. Grinding or machining the foundation flat is slow and costly. On equipment that has to stay put, it is often not possible at all.

AAS pours a cold-cure chocking compound that spreads across irregular concrete or steel and beds the base across its full area. The Belzona 7000 Series compound we use sets with very little shrinkage and carries high compressive load, so the equipment holds alignment without re-machining the foundation. We grout skids and soleplates the same way. The base sits in stable, even contact before the unit is ever recommissioned.

Steel shims leave point contact under machine feet. Load transfers unevenly, and the equipment drifts out of alignment as it runs. Stacking more steel makes the contact problem worse, not better. When a foot needs electrical isolation as well, a metal shim defeats the purpose entirely.

AAS forms load-bearing shims cast to match the actual mating surface, so the shim contacts the foot across its whole face. We also pour load-bearing insulating shims where a bearing housing or motor foot has to be electrically isolated from its base. The reseated equipment holds precise alignment under physical and thermal cycling. The shim carries its share of the load instead of biting into a single high spot.

Heavy support structures fail the same way machine feet do. Steel shimming under a crane rail leaves point contact that fatigues the rail and the structure beneath it under wheel loads measured in tons. Wear plates and bars seated on irregular backing distort fast, because the steel shim under them only touches in spots. And pipes sliding across bare steel supports grind through their coatings, trap moisture, and corrode at every contact point.

AAS handles all three from the same chair. We pour a cold-cure compound that beds a crane rail across its full contact area and damps shock, so the track carries heavy-lift loads without machining the support. The same approach fills the gap behind a wear plate and seats it flat against its backing. For pipe shoes, we apply a low-friction liner that lets the line move freely, isolates the contact face, and sheds water so the pipe coating survives thermal cycling.

Every one of these repairs happens in place, with no hot work and no foundation machining. That keeps adjacent equipment in service. It also removes the welding permit, the fire watch, and the grinding cleanup from the job. The unit goes back into service bedded across its full footprint instead of balanced on a few high spots.

The outcome the maintenance buyer cares about is asset life and uptime. Even load transfer holds alignment, which protects bearings, seals, and couplings and stretches the interval between overhauls. Rails, wear plates, and pipe supports stop fatiguing their host structures and last longer. With around-the-clock on-call coverage across Louisiana, AAS can pour, cure, and set a base inside a turnaround window and have the equipment running again on schedule.