Hot Weather Rocking the House (foundation, windows, building, concrete)

[Ralph_Kirk]

Down here in Dallas, the ground is highly susceptible to instability caused by ground moisture variation. In even a normal summer, people whose houses are on concrete slabs may have to water the foundation through the summer because the concrete edges literally "droop" as much as a few inches as the ground dries and shrinks.

But this summer, it's just crazy. It's not just doors and windows sticking. My fence posts are shifting so much that it's pulled my gates whole inches out of alignment. I had just rebuilt my rear gate earlier this year with a dead-even half-inch space between the gate edge and the mating side, and now the post has tilted so much that the top edge overlaps mating side by another quarter inch at the top. That's a full inch of increased lean just this summer.

My hinged motorized driveway gate has shifted so much that latching is impossible...one side is two inches higher than the other. Same with my neighbor. The neighbor across the street has a sliding gate that he can't close anymore because of the ground shifting.

[heavymind]

All human built structures deal with this sooner or later. Tower of Pisa in Italy is a famous one, tilted gravestones, etc. It's interesting that you're able to witness this in real time, most things take much more time to settle and shift.

Aquifer and well water pumping in concentrated areas probably factor in.

[harry chickpea]

The midwest has similar issues. Building on silt and clay has problems. Other than massive deep pilings, **it happens. New York City wouldn't exist if it weren't for the bedrock. Sorry you are having such problems.

[K'ledgeBldr]

Originally Posted by heavymind

Aquifer and well water pumping in concentrated areas probably factor in.

Not in TX. It’s the soil- it’s affectionally called “Black Gumbo”; and it runs from the NE corner, through Dallas, and down to Houston.

One of the reasons why “post-tension cable” slabs are a given along with soaker type irrigation systems to help stabilize the soil in and around the slab. I dealt with it when I first got into construction- along with helping grandfather, when I was a kid, with their house that was pier&beam (a definite no-no today).