Foundation repair

[Breadburner]

I prefer hydraulicly driven steel piers myself...

[Wingnut]

quote: Yea; I had my house done with piers placed under the foundation to support native stone walls. Had 10 but should have had 25 as if the water table recedes again that part of the foundation not with piers will possible fail. The contract called for closing the cracks in the walls at the time thus further cracks that appear from the lack of piers, is not covered by their warrantee.

The way I understand it from an architectural engineer friend of mine is that the house basically floats up and down with the soil. When you pier an area, it won't move down with the rest of the foundation. The areas not piered will lower and cause the cracks. Bottom line is if you pier at all, you pretty much have to pier the whole thing or you'll be chasing the cracks around the house.

[citizen72]

quote:Originally posted by Wingnut

quote: Yea; I had my house done with piers placed under the foundation to support native stone walls. Had 10 but should have had 25 as if the water table recedes again that part of the foundation not with piers will possible fail. The contract called for closing the cracks in the walls at the time thus further cracks that appear from the lack of piers, is not covered by their warrantee.

The way I understand it from an architectural engineer friend of mine is that the house basically floats up and down with the soil. When you pier an area, it won't move down with the rest of the foundation. The areas not piered will lower and cause the cracks. Bottom line is if you pier at all, you pretty much have to pier the whole thing or you'll be chasing the cracks around the house.

Completely agree with your friend. The technical name of what happens is differential settlement where one section settles more than another. In my case I had a very heavy masonry load in the area addressed which was causing, in fact, differential settlement.

My argument is not with chasing cracks around the house. I rather would just want them to accomplish what we paid them to do in the first place. However, I personally do not believe the people I had contact with at Olshan know what to do to get it done. They only know the company way and if they get into trouble with a job they just freeze up. That is why I am going to bring in another company. Enough is enough.

[Wingnut]

One thing I thought was funny when I was getting quotes from the different outfits was that each one said, of course, they were the best any would try to explain why theirs would hold better than the other guys. Some said that they had to fix the other guys work on some houses. Every outfit had a story.
While I take the magazine with a grain of salt, I wonder what Consumer Reports has to say.

Oldsham also told me that they had a guy that will come out after the piering and fill in the cracks. That never happened.

[citizen72]

Sure a heck didn't happen with me either. Lots of talk with very little substance. I should think leaving everything like it was found in terms of sidewalks and landscaping would be very very important. But, with Olshan they seem to not care one bit about the finish part. To me that is the part that will get you bit in the behind and that is not downplaying the need for a good original piering effort.

[Wingnut]

Since most seem to be unhappy with Oldsham, is there any company that someone is happy with?

[citizen72]

quote:Originally posted by Wingnut

Since most seem to be unhappy with Oldsham, is there any company that someone is happy with?

As I have suggested I am getting ready to go through the selection of a new company. I'll let everyone know as soon as the selection is complete.

[Steve]

I am no engineer or expert in the area of building foundations, but I am of the opinion that piering a home with a concrete slab foundation is a big waste of money.  I would only consider this if the home were in danger of becoming uninhabitable, and I would only do this in a last ditch effort to salvage my investment.

Maybe I have just been lucky.  I live in a concrete slab foundation home, built in 1954 at 26th & Yale.  The home has settled over the past 53 years, with some minor interior wall sheetrock cracks only.  I have one crack in a corner bedroom that seems to get just slightly larger in the wintertime, and completely closes in the summertime.  It has been that way for each of the 20 years I have owned the house, but none of the cracks have become significantly larger over the past 20 years.  I just live with it.  Unless the home is in significant danger of safety & structural failure, I say just repair the visible damage cosmetically and live with it.

I think the foundation piering business is mostly a big scam, especially regarding concrete slab homes.

[iplaw]

quote:Originally posted by Steve

I am no engineer or expert in the area of building foundations, but I am of the opinion that piering a home with a concrete slab foundation is a big waste of money.  I would only consider this if the home were in danger of becoming uninhabitable, and I would only do this in a last ditch effort to salvage my investment.

Maybe I have just been lucky.  I live in a slab-foundation home, built in 1954 at 26th & Yale.  The home has settled over the past 53 years, with some minor interior wall cracks only.  I have one crack in a corner bedroom that seems to get just slightly larger in the summertime, and completely close in the winter time.  It has been that way for each of the 20 years I have owned the house, but none of the cracks have became significantly larger over the past 20 years.  I just live with it.  Unless the home is in significant danger of structural failure, I say just repair the visible damage cosmetically and live with it.

I think the foundation piering business is mostly a big scam, especially regarding concrete slab homes.

Agreed.  The only time I would pier a house is if I was trying to sell it.

[citizen72]

With the resources available in the market I would tend to also agree with the piering advisability. However, done properly and using the correct method supporting a structure with piers is one of say three common method for foundation selection.
In my company we use piers anytime soil bearing quality is deficient.

[iplaw]

I tend to think that bell and spread footings work better than piers in those situations.  Sometimes, no matter how nice the lot is, it's just not reasonable to build a home on it...I have a feeling that builders care little about whether the soil will accomodate the house.

[citizen72]

quote:Originally posted by iplaw

I tend to think that bell and spread footings work better than piers in those situations.  Sometimes, no matter how nice the lot is, it's just not reasonable to build a home on it...I have a feeling that builders care little about whether the soil will accomodate the house.

I'm sorry what is a bell footing? I am not familiar with that term. Are you perhaps meaning to say bell pier?

[citizen72]

A little update here. The rain stopped and it got hot and the crack in my home that Olshan has tried to repair 3 times with their half baked "Chainlock" system is now worse than ever.

[Steve]

quote:Originally posted by citizen72

A little update here. The rain stopped and it got hot and the crack in my home that Olshan has tried to repair 3 times with their half baked "Chainlock" system is now worse than ever.

That doesn't surprise me one bit.  I don't know the size of the crack or extent of your damage, but if it were me, I would just chalk it all up to experience and stop spending money with these foundation companies (and file a big scathing complaint with the BBB.)  I would repair any interior sheetrock and exterior masonry cosmetically, and just live with the situation.  You may have to do cosmetic repairs again in the future if you own the home long enough.  It is just a fact of life for a homeowner here, given our soil conditions and periods of high moisture and drought.

I don't think Olshan is any worse than the rest of them.  My opinion is the entire foundation repair business is mostly a big scam, preying on the fears of homeowners.  Fix your home cosmetically, and then keep your yard and the foundation around the home watered at a constant rate, year-round.  Use a drip-type hose along the foundation to minimize water use and evaporation loss, and you should only have to use it in hot periods of no rain.  The key is to keep the moisture content of the soil around and under your home as constant as possible.  Try to avoid extremes of dry & wet, and that should help to minimize any further foundation shifting.  It is the best anyone can do here in this part of the country.

[citizen72]

Ip this is the second time you have used the term "Bell" is describing a footing. What is that?