Foundation repair fiasco - frustrating! (San Antonio, Parker: buying a house, buying, high school)

[LadyinSA]

Update - Homer Parker came by and accessed our situation. To TrapplerL, thank you for referring us to Homer - he is exactly as you described.
He agreed that our home needs foundation repairs ASAP. We reviewed the two other Engineering Reports with him and the four foundation bids we had in hand. None of the seven measurements taken on our home by the 3 engineers and 4 foundation companies agreed with one another. Just thought I'd warn others about this issue because it adds to the confusion and concern about just how bad the movement and/or structual damage is.

Due to the soil composition in our area of town, he recommended steel piers for our home. Next week we will have 15 interior piers installed and 28 exterior piers installed. In short, it is going to be a disaster area for a while. We could have opted for exterior peirs only, but Homer estimated that within 5 to 10 years, we would have to have the interior piers installed. So the question became whether to incur the cost and inconvenience of drilling through the floors and paying for plumbing inspections now, and then again, in the future. We decided to take the hit now, hoping this will solve the problem on a long term basis. Cost wise, we're at $20K and praying the plumbing will not break during this process. Plumbing repairs are not included in the $20K nor is tile replacement, drywall repair, broken windows, siding repairs or mortar repairs.

Homer did not use the word negligence or "stupid" when accessing our situation. He took the time to ask us if others on our street were experiencing the same problem, and the answer was a resounding "yes." I think it's always best to ask questions rather than assume people are negligent, stupid or just plain ignorant. Also, the booklets the builders hand out do not specifiy the precise Plasticity Index of the soil below your foundation and hand you a customized booklet. Therefore, the homeowner has no way of knowing if a portion, or all of their foundation was built on a specific soil type. Thus, Homer explained that sometimes every best effort (following builder's booklet watering instructions) will not offset varying rates of settlement occurring in areas of your foundation when compared to other areas. There are other variables that can contribute to rapid settlement of certain areas of your foundation such as trees or shrubs in close proximity to your foundation. If your neighbor's tree is not getting watered, there is a big chance those tree roots are sucking up 300 to 400 gallons of water a day from your property. That one area, might require four hours of hand watering, and even then, you will still experience settlement.

I will follow up and let you all know how the repairs go. We will be doing a lot of moving this weekend and covering everything in plastic. There is nothing like fine, gritty dust, flying in every direction. All ceiling fans will be turned off, as will the AC Unit.

Thank you all for your comments. And for those of you who are having this unfortunate experience too, I wish you and your families the very best.

[LadyinSA]

Hello - just thought I'd post an update on this situation. The repairs were completed and we have been working like crazy to get everything back in order. We passed the plumbing test, so no addtional money had to be spent prior to having the 43 holes backfilled and/or covered with concrete.
The first floor of our home is mostly repaired, little things like caulking and touch up painting still need to be completed. But overall, it's much better. Took a couple of weeks to pull up cracked and broken floor tiles and replace them. There is nothing quite like having work crews drill down through your floor, then weld metal to post tension rods. The noise, the smell, and the dirt go everywhere. When we had completed the tile repairs, we carefully removed the plastic, only to discover that dust had landed just about everywhere anyway. Don't get me wrong, I'd still cover everything, just know that the platic is going to be covered with so much dust, it is actually crusty to the touch.

The garage floor had six areas where piers were installed, so we cleaned all of the gritty dust out of there, then epoxied the floor - really looks nice.

The second floor is next - cracks in ceilings and walls went back together 99%, however; the ceilings still need work and that is my LEAST favorite thing to repair.

Landscaping wise, there are two mature shrubs we are still concerned about. Caulking needs to be done outside, especially along the chimney area (lower part of home) and the fence posts need to be reset. Also, the gates will have to be removed and adjusted in order to close properly again.

The doors inside are no longer sticking or closing on their own. The Engineer who wrote the post inspection report on our home stated this home was "under designed." Turns out, there are only two main beams going throughout the home (think of a plus sign). This is a two story home, and it was the first time they had ever seen a two story home with post tension rods instead of beams supporting the rest of the home.

It took the crew five days to finish the work, and we estimate it will take us at least two months to get our home back together again. We are hoping and praying that we NEVER have to have another repair and/or adjustment. The Engineer and repair company told us "this house isn't going anywhere now." Hope they're right....

[Me331]

I have been following this thread with great interest. Thanks for the update.

[LadyinSA]

Originally Posted by Me331

I have been following this thread with great interest. Thanks for the update.

You are welcome! I sincerely hope this information will help others who are having to deal with the situation. It has been quite a journey.

[End Alzheimer's]

Originally Posted by LadyinSA

You are welcome! I sincerely hope this information will help others who are having to deal with the situation. It has been quite a journey.

I too followed this thread. It's been very enlightening, thanks for sharing your experience.

While viewing a house for sale, I commented to my realtor that a bedroom floor had a small dip. She replied that all houses in San Antonio either have, or will have, foundation issues. Needless to say, I didn't buy that house. I've known two people who've had cracked pipes in their foundation, that was enough of a headache in itself.

[Goominim]

I wonder what the statistics are for houses that have had foundation issues in SA. I also wonder if there are areas in San Antonio that have fewer foundation problems than other areas.

As substantial as the costs are for foundation repairs, it seems like there should be more information available about the subject. For example, there are maps available online for flood plain areas. Why not a map that indicates properties that have had foundation repairs?

Sorry, just thinkin' out-loud... (or. out-written?)

[TrapperL]

Why not a map that indicates properties that have had foundation repairs?

Quite actually it's a lot easier to find than you might think. If you are looking at an area to buy a house in, look at the streets. Are they all heaved up and uneven? If yes, it's highly likely you are looking in an area that has the Houston Black Clay as its soil. If the dirt is gray/black, look somewhere else. Predominately the eastside, northeast side, and northside are areas of concern. The far north is not an issue as it's mostly rock. The westside and northwest side are mostly rock. Southwest is mostly sand country with some clay mixed. But you also have to remember who the builder was. On the far westside, Ray Ellisons first subdivisions were noted as having "floating" steel foundations. When the inspector showed up, the steel would be in place and it passed inspection. As soon as he left, the steel miraculously floated over to another house while the inspected slab was being poured. But that was about 50 years ago.

[LadyinSA]

Originally Posted by TrapperL

Quite actually it's a lot easier to find than you might think. If you are looking at an area to buy a house in, look at the streets. Are they all heaved up and uneven? If yes, it's highly likely you are looking in an area that has the Houston Black Clay as its soil. If the dirt is gray/black, look somewhere else. Predominately the eastside, northeast side, and northside are areas of concern. The far north is not an issue as it's mostly rock. The westside and northwest side are mostly rock. Southwest is mostly sand country with some clay mixed. But you also have to remember who the builder was. On the far westside, Ray Ellisons first subdivisions were noted as having "floating" steel foundations. When the inspector showed up, the steel would be in place and it passed inspection. As soon as he left, the steel miraculously floated over to another house while the inspected slab was being poured. But that was about 50 years ago.

Trapper L - I actually heard this story from one of the Engineers I met. Also agree that soil is an important issue, however, when they were inserting the piers in our home there were some areas where they had to go down 40+ feet to hit solid rock, whereas in the area of our dining room, they only had to go down 2 feet. If walking through our home, those variances were within 15' of one another. The point I'm driving at is that there was obviously a lot of backfill on my property that wasn't done correctly. I believe the foundation problems were caused by the builder's negligence.

[mis2princesas]

Scared to buy a house now!... Very interesting information.

[mcferguson]

We are putting an offer on a house in Castle Hills that had piers installed recently and apparently the foundation warranty is conditional on gutters being installed. I would assume that is to control the soil moisture. I am now going to be especially cautious.

@LadyinSA - thanks for updating this thread.