After 25 years in the house, I started having cracks in the walls and found one in the foundation today. I have soaker hoses buried around the house, so I figured it was something beside our drought that's causing them.
The ins co set out plumbers today, and sure enough, two leaks in the drain lines under the slab. Now, they will send out structual engineers to determine if the leaks caused the foundation problems.

I guess I'm just not very optimistic, but I'm afraid the ins co will try to get out of this. No doubt, it will be a very expensive fix.

Anyone else been through this?

 

insurance companys usually take care of the result, not the cause. something obviously caused it, you just need to find out what, and then what caused that to break. either way they wont want to pay for it, so stick to your guns, i have been thru this a couple times, once myself and once with my mother. let me know if you need any advise

 

It will be interesting and stressful at the same time.

I do have a policy clause that covers damage caused by leaks to both the structure and the slab. It has to be determined that the slab was damaged by ground shift caused by the leak. The structural engineers will determine this.

What makes me nervous?.........you have to use the companies the ins co will pay for. If they say they won't pay, I guess I'll hire my own engineer and challange.

Heck-of-a- way to spend my first SS checks!

 

man, what else could have caused it?

whoever decided slabs were the way to go in north TX was an idiot... the ground out here moves around so much due to the climate, I'm surprised foundation problems aren't more prominant than they are (which they ARE compared to lots of other places in the nation)

my parents' current house is a slab, and there are a few good cracks and some doors that don't close right

 

Blackland, Victoria expansive clay soil?
Post-tensioned cable slab??
Lucky you! Join the club!... (It's a big club too!)

If you've got an original "HO-B" ins policy AND a certifiable leak under the slab, you *should* be OK.
If they try to get CS with you, see if you can get another struct. engineering firm to 2nd opinion for you.

I'm up for round two of slab work to be done, my nickle both times since there was absolutely NO leak to be found anywhere! (28 piers=round 1, ~6 piers prescribed for round 2...)
Either way, just don't let them shortchange you on getting enough piers done the first time around... Even if you have to pony up some extra $$ for any extra internal pier work, it's cheaper to get the foundation COMPLETELY fixed the 1st time! (sheetrock,doors,painting,floor tile,plumbing,brick veneer etc. done TWICE gets expensive!!! )

BTW, don't forget your termite policy... Read the fine print about voiding the policy if the termiticide barrier is broken by dirtwork under the slab and you get termites... They *may* just come out after the work is done and re-treat the area disturbed for a relatively small fee, or they may charge you the full price all over again...

Good luck...

 

SoTexRattler,

Sounds like you've been around the block on this more than once. We've just bought retirement property in Mission Oaks (between Victoria and Cuero) and will be building a home and RV barn/shop in the next 5 years or so. If you had your druthers for building on that soil topography, what would you do to prevent future foundation problems?

Rusty

 

Rusty, if a slab house is what you want in Blackland soil, The foundation repair people told me to have the piers installed where the beams are going to be BEFORE the slab is poured... It's LOTS cheaper and much better as the holes can be easily drilled down into stable earth strata by machine instead of by hand & handheld power equipment. They can be precisely positioned to support all the cross beams rather than just where they can get to them from the periphery after the fact...

As far as Post-tensioned Cable slabs? DON'T!!!
I'd love to ring the guy's neck that came up with that one...

The owner of the foundation repair Co. told me that way too many times when they have to break holes in the middle of a home's sagging slab (like mine now needs) they find the post-tension cable tenons were never tightened in the first place...
He said that's because the poured slab must cure for several days to a week BEFORE the tension can ever be applied to the cables. The guys that come along later to remove the formboards don't know (or care) if they've been tensioned or not, so "SNIP" go the cables and now it's too late... The buyer never knows until WAY too late...

If I were to put a slab in blackland,(I won't ever plan on THAT!)
I'd make sure an engineer spec'ed it out using REBAR, enough of it, & placed correctly WITH pre-poured piers.

You can "pay's yer money now, or you can pay's yer money later"...
As you guessed, I'm paying later...

K.

 

Well, still kinda in limbo.The ins adjuster and the engineer came out today. The adjuster is still in denial, but the engineer confirmed my suspecions. The place in the floor I told them was the problem was exactly where it was. That section of the floor, about 6 feet from the worst leak is 3 1/2 inches higher then most of the rest of the house. No doubt, the leak has caused the ground to swell

Now it's sit and wait for the eng to get his report to the adj.

 

Crobtex, do you still have an original HO-B ins policy? or have they "converted" yours over to limited slab stuff?

K.

 

Good question....I don't really know, but I don't remember any changes. I have to go to the PO and pick up the registered letter they sent, and that may tell me something.

 

Look on your copy of your policy at the top.. Most Tex insurance policies (mine anyway) have it in the top header on the first page.. If yours still says "HO-B" you may be in luck unless they modified your policy and you signed off on it in the recent past...
It is REALLY hard to get a HO-B policy now since the mold scams and the plumbing re-routes took some real hard draws on the ins industry.. HO-A's are the norm now with added exceptions and various wordy legal means of getting out of paying for mold, plumbing and foundation claims...

I'm not an insurance "espert" by any means.. I'm just one of those poor saps that "gets" to pay and pay and pay...

K.

 

The letter I got today had all that legal jargon in it. It looks like it will boil down to what the engineer says caused the foundation damage. If he says it was ground swell from the leak, I should be OK.
I don't see how the leak can't be blamed. When he check the flatness of the foundation, there is a 3 1/2 inch high bulge about five feet from the worst of the two leaks.

 

Round 1: Engineer wants see the leaks, so insurance company will pay for dig up and repair. (for now)

Two estimates on foundation repair: $6800 and $4800....

One for 23 double piers and the other for 16 single piers. Hmmm....seems like a third opinion is in the cards.

 

There is a process called pressure grouting that is quite ingenious in supporting footer/slab problems. Trouble is, there are not many people around that know how to do it. I had to repair several houses here in Florida (all built on sand, you know) that had started to drop on a corner or in the middle. Found a company 100 miles away to come in and use this process. They did it for 1/2 of the normal pier method. And, it was much faster and did not tear up all the landscaping.
Bob

 

"pressure grouting"

Thanks Bob, I'll have to check that out.