More on foundation cracks

Posted

Q. I read your column about the pile foundations and it made me question what I’m going through. I had an engineer look at the foundation and crawl space slab, and he told me that the cracking in my outside walls should just be filled and repaired, that the cracked crawl space slab and concrete foundation walls just have “normal settling.” So, should I have foundation cracks so big I can put my whole hand in them, and what should I do to repair them? The engineer told me piles weren’t necessary, since I live on sand near the beach, that I could have the walls injected with epoxy and see how it goes. I’m not sure I want to “see how it goes.” What do you think?

A. I’m concerned about the damage done to your foundation and would have to see it, as any professional should, but I wouldn’t accept anything as extreme as you described as “normal.” You shouldn’t settle, and neither should your foundation. The Romans, the Egyptians and the Babylonians all knew better, so why don’t we?

For years I had to listen to contractors tell my clients they didn’t need pile supports, as if the contractor could just hold their thumb to the breeze and tell, or maybe use a divining rod. No data, no formal education, no authority, just a wild guess. Now, hearing that an engineer told you that makes me wonder, too. Whenever I hear this kind of guessing, this lack of caution or concern about extremes, I truly wonder if I’d want that person fighting alongside me in battle. Do they really have the same concern as you do for your property or life? We can always just “see how it goes,” but that’s like waiting until it’s too late to start paddling when the sound of the waterfall is suddenly louder.

We experienced a nature extreme when water, moving above and below ground, pushed through with more force than a freight train, and the level of earth movement caused compaction in some places, air pockets in others, and changes to the water table that runs like a moving lake below our feet. To support a structure through all that ever-changing material, the best way is to go through it with a stable, strong, column system that can distribute the 60,000 to 100,000 pounds your house and belongings impose down to a much more resistant geology. “Seeing how it goes” may be a medical term, but your building isn’t an experiment. Trial drugs that “may” cause more ill effects than your original symptom are one thing, but try lifting or moving 60,000 to 100,000 pounds when “oops” could have been prevented. There are methods to stabilize your foundation. You just have to decide whether to spend the money to repair or replace. I hope the engineer gave you options to consider.


© 2015 Monte Leeper. Readers are encouraged to send questions to
yourhousedr@aol.com, with “Herald question” in the subject line, or to Herald Homes, 2 Endo Blvd., Garden City, NY 11530, Attn: Monte Leeper, architect.