I live in Dripping Springs and I am looking for a second opinion against my builder about a potential foundation problem. Does anyone have a recommendation?

Thank you

Maybe you can do a more extensive search than mine here
https://pels.texas.gov/roster/pesearch.html?ver=V062723

My criteria
Dripping Springs
ACTIVE
STRUCTURAL Engineer only
Perhaps self employed best?

COX, WILLIAM RANDOLPH
PE# 60084
Status
Active
Branch(s)
Structural,
Granted
07-09-1986 (the older, the better!)
Expires
06-30-2024
Employer(s)
William R Cox PE
Address/Phone
469 Lloyd Lane
Dripping Springs TX 78620
PH#: 512-731-7269

OSWALD, ERICH WILLIAM
PE# 112565
Status
Active
Branch(s)
Structural,
Granted
11-27-2012
Expires
09-30-2023
Employer(s)
Boise Cascade
Erich Oswald Structural Engineer
Address/Phone
397 Julieanne Cv
Dripping Springs TX 78620
PH#: 512-656-6447

wcaggie04 said:

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I live in Dripping Springs and I am looking for a second opinion against my builder about a potential foundation problem. Does anyone have a recommendation?

Thank you

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I've always use MLAW

They were the designers

MLAW is Aggie owned. They'll come out and do an inspection for a fee. Have they been out to inspect your house yet?

What's the problem and what is your builder saying?

We had the house built almost 10 years ago.

About 1 year in we started to have some interior door issues as in not shutting and some cracks in the sheet rock minor cracks. Contacted builder they said it was settling and repaired cracks.

I then noticed a crack on the foundation outside around year 3 and we were still having door issues.

Contacted builder they had MLAW come out and measured everything did a full work up on the foundation and said that the foundation was flexing and working as planned. Said that this was a soil water issue and blamed a tree close to the house for the problem. Said to prevent issue to water that area. Which we did.

More time passes more cracks more door issues exterior doors to the point where I moving strike plates to lock doors. contact builder again they say same thing you need to water the foundation.

We do as prescribed it helps a little but more years go by and now the cracks are everywhere more doors with issues call builder again. They send a guy out he looks at it says that it doesn't look like a failed foundation but agrees there are a lot of cracks says the tree isn't an issue and that the foundation needs to be watered to get it to stop moving. We have been watering religiously for over a year when needed to keep the soil from drying out not over watering but keeping the soil from pulling away.

I don't want there to be a foundation issue but if there is I want the builder to repair on their dime and if there isn't I want to know how to make the house stop shifting or know when it does so I can repair everything with the hope that it won't just crack again.

Sorry for the long explanation but that's where I sit present day.

1. You mentioned a tree.. is it a cedar tree? Some trees suck more water than others.
2. Was a soils investigation done on the property prior to the foundation pour? If so, what was the plasticity index? Maybe a new comparison will shed some light, maybe not.
3. To my understanding, GC has a 1 year warranty and Design Professionals a 10 year limit of liability.
4. You may want to also seek out soils testing companies and an arborist for back up.

HTH

I am a structural engineer, and have inspected well over a thousand foundations.

You have what sounds like a minor degree of differential foundation movement. Even in a properly designed and constructed residence, some degree of foundation movement is anticipated. They should do a floor elevation survey back when you first contacted them, and you could compare it to what it is today if a new floor elevation survey is done.

You likely have some degree of expansive soils on your property, as throughout Texas most of native site soils have a relatively high shrink swell potential. so in the drought, yes, they shrink. They pull away from your slab, and once you have that airgap between the soiil and the slab, the soils begin to dry at a deeper level. It is very hard to overcome a drought, and if you water around the house, it has to be consistent around the house so your house performs uniformly.

2021 and 2022 was some of the longest extended droughts we have had in Texas. Really going back to 2009 or so, but I think the last two years I saw more damage from it.

The only way you can absolutely avoid any kind of movement, is by bypassing the existing soil layer that is moving, and have the foundation suppported by bedrock or a hard shale. Depends on your depth to bedrock. That is a steel pier system such as by RamJack that is driven to bedrock.

Without being supported by bedrock, a relatively minor degree of foundation movement is generally anticipated. But you would need a floor elevation survey to see what is causing the movement, and determine how your foundation is performing. Typically on a normal building footprint, you don't see over 3-inches of floor surface differential overall. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has deflection and tilt criteria, to determine their "tolerance" that is based on the floor surface elevations. But I don't always think it is correct, as its really a snapshot in time when the floor survey was taken, and it is more the movement over time.

I don't have time to do it, as I am working on foundation reports since march. But hope the above helps some. MLAW is overall a good foundation design company from my experience, but when you have a big firm doing hundreds of designs and this goes for all of them that do large subdivisions or similar, it is more like pulling a piece of chocolate from the assembly line and checking it than individual attention to each and every design.

Also, I forgot to mention when I originally posted. I would recommend doing a plumbing test, such as a static test of your drain lines, and a hydrostatic test ( or pressure test) on your supply lines. If there is a drain line leak, then do a flow test to see if there is a loss during normal use conditions, as the drain lines are designed to be a maximum of around 1/3 full. And even if you do have a leak, it may not be causing the foundation movement. It would depend on the survey.

Bingo!

Quick question - I worked on a project near a river and we used helical anchors for the pier system since rock was very deep. We drilled these with a modified skid-steer and torqued them out at 14k PSI. I haven't heard of any differential settlement issues since (c.2004).

So my question is if you have seen helical piers used on other type of slabs? Just curious. Thx!