Clay soil in San Antonio (New Braunfels, Schertz: best neighborhood, 2013, homes)

[wacat]

Hello, we are looking to relocate to San Antonio but have heard some areas have terrible problems with expansile clay soil. Are there areas of the city that are better than others. I'm particularly intereted in Alamo Ranch. Thanks.

[firstclassflyer]

Originally Posted by wacat

Hello, we are looking to relocate to San Antonio but have heard some areas have terrible problems with expansile clay soil. Are there areas of the city that are better than others. I'm particularly intereted in Alamo Ranch. Thanks.

A quick search revealed this thread, which may be of some help:


How Often Do I Need to Water My House?

[SAFTW]

Not very many people think about this when buying homes. Look up the Balcones Fault line. To the east side, there is clay which will cause foundation problems. To the west is limestone, so it's very stable and rocky.

My parents live in Northern Hills. It used to be the best neighborhood on that side of town when it was built in the very late 70's. Since then, the entire subdivision has had extremely bad foundation problems. It was mostly due to the builder's quality of foundation, but the builder was sued by just a few people and immediately went out of business. So the rest of the homeowners are SOL, and need to pay out of pocket to fix it.

IMO, it is best to just stay on the NW side of town.

[nrlatsha]

I live here in the ranch and I would say the quality of soil is rocky, and I can't find much soil. I can just get through the top soil the builder put down when I hit a solid plate of rock.

When they built the neighbors house, they had to bring in the huge pizza cutter rock thing for the gas lines. it was solid rock about 6 inches down, then they had to cut another foot or so...

[dvlpr]

Originally Posted by wacat

Hello, we are looking to relocate to San Antonio but have heard some areas have terrible problems with expansile clay soil. Are there areas of the city that are better than others. I'm particularly intereted in Alamo Ranch. Thanks.

Typically, the NE (Schertz-Selma-Cibolo-New Braunfels) & East (Converse, I-10/Foster Road) areas of town have the most expansive soils. But even there, slabs are engineered based on geotechnical tests.

I wouldn't worry about it. Expansive soils are quite common in most of the big TX cities. Builders know how to deal with it.

I would, however, worry about traffic in the Alamo Ranch (1604-Culebra) area (it's heavy now, and it's going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better).

[nrlatsha]

I live here, and traffic isn't bad, it's worse farther northwest, and on the north and northeast sides.

[KY Filly]

Originally Posted by nrlatsha

I live here, and traffic isn't bad, it's worse farther northwest, and on the north and northeast sides.

We live in AR also and I agree w/you. Traffic, IMO, is currently a non-issue (unless one is accustomed to living out in the country or something). Only time it backs up really bad is the typical rush hour stuff. DH's office is on the east side of town @ I-10 and 410, it takes him 30 minutes each way....I don't think that's bad for a 28 mile commute.

As far as the soil....yep, it's certainly rocky here!!! Forget digging a hole... LOL

[SAFTW]

I had the choice of living on the NE or NW side. It was basically a decision of dealing with the Braun/1604 traffic, or the I-35/1604 traffic. I chose the NW side hands down.

[nrlatsha]

Originally Posted by KY Filly

We live in AR also and I agree w/you. Traffic, IMO, is currently a non-issue (unless one is accustomed to living out in the country or something). Only time it backs up really bad is the typical rush hour stuff. DH's office is on the east side of town @ I-10 and 410, it takes him 30 minutes each way....I don't think that's bad for a 28 mile commute.

As far as the soil....yep, it's certainly rocky here!!! Forget digging a hole... LOL

If you drive down the Pulte side of AR, you can see where the rock begins by looking on either side of the road. Down Lone Star or Volunteer, the roads were cut out of the rock.

[wCat]

Originally Posted by KY Filly

We live in AR also and I agree w/you. Traffic, IMO, is currently a non-issue (unless one is accustomed to living out in the country or something). Only time it backs up really bad is the typical rush hour stuff. DH's office is on the east side of town @ I-10 and 410, it takes him 30 minutes each way....I don't think that's bad for a 28 mile commute.

As far as the soil....yep, it's certainly rocky here!!! Forget digging a hole... LOL

KYF.....you just put things in perspective for me. I forget how far out AR is....I never thought of I-10 and 410 as being on the East side of town.