Aaron Miller
04-30-2008, 03:07 AM
Every time I think I've come close to seeing it all something else arrives to blow that illusion away. Yesterday I thought I had what would be an easy afternoon. A new (2006) house with a slab-on-grade foundation in an old neighborhood of pier and beams.
Something did not look right from the start. As I sat at the curb I could see that there were not foundation vents and that the superstructure was newish. What was wrong with this picture. The slab edge was rather tall, as in 18". I thought, OK, somebody had a lot of money to spend on concrete, that's all.
Turns out that the owner, who should forever remain anonymous with head hung in shame, registered himself as a builder with the TRCC and proceeded to build his new house on the old foundation. And here's how he went about it. He simply more or less used the perimeter beam of the existing pier and beam foundation as the forms in which he proceeded to pour a 4" (presumably) slab-on-grade foundation. He figured that leaving the old concrete piers in place would suffice interior footings.
Now, bear in mind here that this is not the Old West, this was all approved by an "engineer" and the City of Dallas (let's all bow our heads here for a moment of reflection with no snickering, please). Green tags and a stamped engineer's letter took a prominent position on the dining room table display of official sanction for this cluster-flop of a foundation.
Problem is that my inner self and the Zip Level said that the center of the slab was about 3.5" lower than the perimeter. After demonstrating this several times to the buyer with several different levels in several different locations the truth finally arrived. You can always see it as it begins to widen their eyes and the light starts to shine there, accompanied by the inevitable frown of disappointment.
Has anyone here ever seen something stupid done like this? Did the perpetrator do time, or what?
Aaron:rolleyes:
Something did not look right from the start. As I sat at the curb I could see that there were not foundation vents and that the superstructure was newish. What was wrong with this picture. The slab edge was rather tall, as in 18". I thought, OK, somebody had a lot of money to spend on concrete, that's all.
Turns out that the owner, who should forever remain anonymous with head hung in shame, registered himself as a builder with the TRCC and proceeded to build his new house on the old foundation. And here's how he went about it. He simply more or less used the perimeter beam of the existing pier and beam foundation as the forms in which he proceeded to pour a 4" (presumably) slab-on-grade foundation. He figured that leaving the old concrete piers in place would suffice interior footings.
Now, bear in mind here that this is not the Old West, this was all approved by an "engineer" and the City of Dallas (let's all bow our heads here for a moment of reflection with no snickering, please). Green tags and a stamped engineer's letter took a prominent position on the dining room table display of official sanction for this cluster-flop of a foundation.
Problem is that my inner self and the Zip Level said that the center of the slab was about 3.5" lower than the perimeter. After demonstrating this several times to the buyer with several different levels in several different locations the truth finally arrived. You can always see it as it begins to widen their eyes and the light starts to shine there, accompanied by the inevitable frown of disappointment.
Has anyone here ever seen something stupid done like this? Did the perpetrator do time, or what?
Aaron:rolleyes: