House is about 8 years old and the slab is settling, tile starting to crack (minor but concerning) 1/4" gap showing on 2 walls. Stem wall appears to be fine, its just the slab. No exterior signs of settling, only from inside. In garage can see where slab has settled as 3 year old paint job showing. Wife wants to do some remodeling but only after I stop the problem from getting any worse. Or do I hope that it will settle to point and quit.
Looking for ideas or do I figure out how to live w/ problem?

Thanks for input or suggestions

Maybe an oppurtunity for the concrete bedliner business to broaden its services

 

That is common here in North Texas, as black clay seems to be what passes for soil here. There are many foundation repair businesses here. I would check to see if you have any out there and give 'em a call and see what they offer/do and how much they cost.
When I bought my house, the builder made me sign a piece of paper stating that I was educated about keeping my yard at an even moisture consistency to help keep the slab from raising in one corner and sinking in the other. I have a sprinkler system that I run just to keep the foundation/soil wet, I could care less if it helps the grass grow (then it just needs mowed )

~Rob

 

I have tried 2 foundation repair company's one said get an engineer to make recomendations. I tried 5 different engineering firms and all are to busy some wont even call back. The second foundation company after 4 try's on my part still hasn't returned my phone calls. . Must be alot of houses in Phoenix being built way too fast and contractors getting away w/ poor construction methods. In some developments I am hearing horror stories about pads settling.

 

In Arizona I wouldn't expect you to have expansive soils but that is a possibility. You can contact local authorities to see what exactly is in your soil. Here we would contact the dept. of agriculture. Not sure who you would contact there. The problem could also be improper compaction. When they build they are supposed to build on " undisturbed land". I see many times where they regrade the whole property( disturbing the soil) then they drop a huge pile of soil on top and let it sit for a month before they go back and compact it then cut it back down to grade. What you really need is a P.E. ( professional engineer). I have met several P.E.'s at recent inspection trade shows. I don't know of any in your area but if you have a problem locating someone let me know and I'll see if I can contact them for a referral.

 

Mr. Flash’s parents live in Houston Texas where settling is a big problem. They had a company come in jack the slab and pour piers, spent mega bucks. Helped for a few years but now it’s doing the same thing again. Sometimes Mother Nature is just going to have her way no matter what you do.

 

Having a minor in Agronomy from Texas A&M, your home is sitting on a shrink-swell clay soil and sad to say, there's not much you can do to permanently fix the problem. Yes, a foundation repair company can come in and fix the problem temporarly, but I can gurantee you that they won't say its fixed for good. It's just because of the soil that your foundation is on. Hoss is right about keeping the soil moist, thats about all you can do. That type of soil expands when wet, and shrinks when dry, thus causing your problem. Hate to be the be the one to bring you bad news. Good luck.

 

My parents have the same problem with their house. At about 10 years of age the house started settling on one end. A crack appeared on the ceiling in the kitchen so they started looking for solutions. At the time my father was over the water dept. and he had a few of their engineers come out and look at the house. What they suggested was drilling holes around the prememter of the house around 4' deep, inserting 4" pvc pipe in the holes, and filling them up with water ever other day or so. Just to keep the soil moist. It seemed to work great for them as the settling has stopped. They now have it set up on a timer like a sprinkler system so they don't have to worry about it. I don't know if something like that would work for you but it might be worth a try.

Britt

 

We've poured piers under our foundations when we built our past two houses. Suckers go way down in the ground and are absolutely huge. They are scattered all over the place. So far, it's worked on one of our houses. Been there for 14 years in good ole Texas Gumbo and it ain't moved. Hopefully we'll be lucky on our next house.

 

Here in Colorado, they have "mud pumping" companies to jack up settled concrete driveways, sidewalks, etc. because of the Dolomite soil around here.
Seems to be a semi-permanent fix, but I don't know if they can handle whole house slabs. Might be something to look into...

 

Having a B.S. in Construction Science from the same school, I disagree with that statement. When are you Ag boys gonna stop trying to build stuff and get back to playing in the dirt where you belong??

There is ALWAYS something that can be done to fix it. It may cost mega bucks, but it CAN be fixed.

BigBlue and his family were smart when they built their houses. The best type of foundation to use in expansive soils is pier foundations. Unfortunately, it's too late to do that on a house that has already been built. However, there are companies that specialize in installing after-the-fact "piers" that are supposed to do a pretty effective job of foundation repair / stabilization.

Good luck.

 

OT-
Am I the only one that finds it amusing that the degree is a BS?

 

That's what the in-laws had done. They also have a watering system. House is still moving and cracking.

 

Nope

 

You would probably also find it amusing that my first two initials are BS. My wife thinks that was by design.

 

Sometimes things just work out. Life's funy that way.