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Old 06-19-2008, 07:29 PM
 
Location: Its a Surprise!
284 posts, read 1,020,713 times
Reputation: 212

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My house was built at the end of last year using post tension slab. A few months after i moved in i notice some small sink holes in my front yard next to the house. They were filled in by the builder but its kinda scary what might be happening under my house.

Also i had my back yard lanscaped about 2 months ago and one day i had the water running in the back yard for about 15-20 min and i walked on the wet area and it felt like i was in quicksand,the rocks just sank right in!
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Old 06-19-2008, 08:47 PM
 
812 posts, read 2,307,364 times
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Dry soil is great unless it is sand. The problem is many homes now are built on old farmland which makes expansive soil which can cause problems. Another problem is developer mentality: Better to build fast and sell it than worry about quality. Alot of homes suffer from that problem.
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Old 06-19-2008, 08:49 PM
 
812 posts, read 2,307,364 times
Reputation: 344
whoops, spelling, A lot of homes suffer from that problem
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Old 06-19-2008, 10:31 PM
 
Location: Its a Surprise!
284 posts, read 1,020,713 times
Reputation: 212
Quote:
Originally Posted by Prinny View Post
Dry soil is great unless it is sand. The problem is many homes now are built on old farmland which makes expansive soil which can cause problems. Another problem is developer mentality: Better to build fast and sell it than worry about quality. Alot of homes suffer from that problem.
Well the place i live is called Surprise Farms
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Old 06-19-2008, 11:34 PM
 
70 posts, read 211,334 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Livewire View Post
Post tension can also be deadly, for those of you who know how it works and what can happen if......
I would really like to know more about this, especially since we were going to buy a home that was built on post tension slab on top of expansive soil.
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Old 06-20-2008, 08:02 AM
 
682 posts, read 2,566,742 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Melanie53 View Post
I would really like to know more about this, especially since we were going to buy a home that was built on post tension slab on top of expansive soil.
It has been a while since I researched the soil issues here, but I do have maps I ran off that show the areas which are prone to expansive soil. If you Google "expansive soil" and Phoenix metro, you will find a lot of info from various agencies that will help you learn more about the problems.

As I remember, the post tension slabs are better than nothing on top of bad soil, but they are not 100% effective by any means.

I will personally not buy in any area that has soil problems because if the house starts settling or cracking, you are left holding the bag and there seems to be no help available for homeowners who have purchased a defective, crumbling house.

If there is any doubt about the quality of soil under a house because of where it is located, getting independent soil testing seems like a prudent thing to insist on before committing to a purchase.

altus2006

Last edited by altus2006; 06-20-2008 at 08:42 AM..
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Old 06-20-2008, 08:32 AM
 
812 posts, read 2,307,364 times
Reputation: 344
Quote:
Originally Posted by Melanie53 View Post
I would really like to know more about this, especially since we were going to buy a home that was built on post tension slab on top of expansive soil.

Jason and Melanie, I'm sorry about these problems your having When my husband gets home from work, I can have him PM you if you'd like info on what he does know.
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Old 06-20-2008, 09:11 AM
 
70 posts, read 211,334 times
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Thank you, Altus. The home we were going to buy is situated in an area of residual subsidence. All of the homes were built on post-tension slabs. The subsidence rate is supposedly somewhere around half of a centimeter per year. We don't know enough about this subject to make an educated decision at this time, and we've gotten conflicting information from people we've met with, so we'll probably just pass on it.
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Old 06-20-2008, 09:13 AM
 
70 posts, read 211,334 times
Reputation: 58
Quote:
Originally Posted by Prinny View Post
Jason and Melanie, I'm sorry about these problems your having When my husband gets home from work, I can have him PM you if you'd like info on what he does know.
That would be great! Thanks!
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Old 11-19-2008, 04:36 PM
 
Location: Phx. AZ.
2 posts, read 5,172 times
Reputation: 11
Smile do you still have a soil problem?

Quote:
Originally Posted by JasonS View Post
My house was built at the end of last year using post tension slab. A few months after i moved in i notice some small sink holes in my front yard next to the house. They were filled in by the builder but its kinda scary what might be happening under my house.

Also i had my back yard lanscaped about 2 months ago and one day i had the water running in the back yard for about 15-20 min and i walked on the wet area and it felt like i was in quicksand,the rocks just sank right in!
I may have your answer

Mr. Morgan
jmeaglelift@cox.net
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