Washington, UT

[Finstudent]

It's "blue clay" that is being discussed here. It's an expansive soil, and contracts/expands and can create foundation, driveway, sidewalk cracks and worse. Dogmom in Green Springs (not for long!) first told us about it, and I'm thankful to her to learn about it. The realtor we're working with in Washington confirmed it, and definitely said it's something to watch for. Search Google for "blue clay expansive soil".

In Colorado we had something similar called bentonite, and it had the same effect. Luckily there we just had cracks in the garage and nothing worse. Our concrete porch was sinking on one end though and would eventually have to be "mudjacked" up.

[Nomianca]

Oh ok.....thanks for the clarification. I wasn't aware of the "blue clay" here but that does make sense.

[Mlindie]

It is not blue rock it is blue clay that you want to watch out for. The soil expands and can crack your fondation, pool, cause havoc with your sprinkling system etc. Blue clay is all over the Washington County area, but not a problem everywhere. Santa Clara heights can be a problem (you can always ask your realtor most exsisting homes will be fine) and some of the green valley area.

[Chickrae]

Ok thank you for explaining blue clay. I wasn't aware of it until the real estate steered me away from being interested in a house that was affected by that. It seems that maybe the contractors were not aware that this problems existed when they built the home or maybe didn't disclose it? I guess what I am wondering is how can you be certain a home you look to buy wouldnt already have that problem or if it would be a future problems. Is it the whole subdivision or just houses here and there. The real estate agent said when she first purchased her home she had no idea and then the problem presented itself about a year later. She said they spent thousands of dollars putting piers down in the ground etc to support the home and foundation.