Need some DEEP French Drains, how can I do this or hire someone?

[woodlandfarms]

Have you used the HISTORY Button in Google earth? It looks to me like the area your development is in has major water long before the development came to be.

Carl

 

[2manyrocks]

Since this is affecting you and your neighbors to a pretty significant extent, I start to wonder if you can fix your situation on your lot without an overall solution for everyone. And it also makes me suspicious that there was something major that the developer or some contractor succeeded in covering over. Did they dredge up a bunch of clay somewhere to fill your lots, and then cover it over with some topsoil? That's why I'd look at the original topography to see what they had to fill in order to develop the lots, and then I'd be looking that the specific fill areas to see what's in them. If there's a fresh water spring at the top of the hill and it's working it's way downhill through your property, is that something you can fix or does it need to be addressed at the source?

You need to identify what is really happening before you spend a chunk of money on something that might not work. Just looking at your lot might not give you the complete information.

I'd also ask your neighbor if he would mind letting you read his engineer's report.

The more you know about this, the better your odds of success.

 

[CurlyDave]

The 14 french drains across the street did NOT level the house. wow

I would not expect french drains to level a house. The very best they could do would be to stop any more heaving from making the house even less level than it already is.

This is one reason why I think the "water the foundation idea has a lot of merit. If you can cause expansion of the soil under the side that is heaving less, you can actually level the house that way. I don't think you can get it perfect, but you can probably get it better than you have now.

The neighbor across the street with 14 feet drains, actually had piers too on the "non heaving side", but didn't lift the house high enough... the piers as she recalled, were over 22 feet deep to hit something solid...

Most piers do not work by "hitting something solid". They work by skin friction on the sides of the pier. Essentially you must get below the expansive layer of earth and into a non-expansive material, and then you must have enough distance to overcome the expansive forces on the pier with skin friction from the non-expansive layer.

* * * * * *

When I compare the two engineering reports you have, the 2008 one seems better than the 2005 one. The maximum elevation change within the house is less in the 2008 report.

It also appears that others in your neighborhood have spent an awful lot of money and not really corrected their problems.

Before I spent $80k on this house, I would first learn how to monitor interior elevations myself. This is not a particularly hard or expensive thing to do. Then I would try watering. If that didn't work, keep the potential $80k in your pocket, sell the house, even if you have to take a loss, and get another one in a more stable location.

Putting $80k into this house for a very "iffy" solution seems like a bad thing to do.

 

[mancho]

I don't think we'll sell anytime soon.

I failed to mention that if we prove to the property tax board and have the home devalued, we can perhaps get some relief back in tax savings over the following years.

The house was purchased for $350, or 355 I think, and it's on the tax rolls around 458K I think. So you can see the savings if we invest this kind of money. Savings is a strange word here, but it will be savings when we do sell in 12 to 15 years.

We're currently in for the long haul.

 

[mancho]

Have you used the HISTORY Button in Google earth? It looks to me like the area your development is in has major water long before the development came to be.

Carl

NO! What? WHere?? Post a link, I'll also grty to see if your using Google Maps.

 

[mancho]

The 14 french drains across the street did NOT level the house. wow

I would not expect french drains to level a house. The very best they could do would be to stop any more heaving from making the house even less level than it already is.

This is one reason why I think the "water the foundation idea has a lot of merit. If you can cause expansion of the soil under the side that is heaving less, you can actually level the house that way. I don't think you can get it perfect, but you can probably get it better than you have now.

The neighbor across the street with 14 feet drains, actually had piers too on the "non heaving side", but didn't lift the house high enough... the piers as she recalled, were over 22 feet deep to hit something solid...

Most piers do not work by "hitting something solid". They work by skin friction on the sides of the pier. Essentially you must get below the expansive layer of earth and into a non-expansive material, and then you must have enough distance to overcome the expansive forces on the pier with skin friction from the non-expansive layer.

* * * * * *

When I compare the two engineering reports you have, the 2008 one seems better than the 2005 one. The maximum elevation change within the house is less in the 2008 report.

It also appears that others in your neighborhood have spent an awful lot of money and not really corrected their problems.

Before I spent $80k on this house, I would first learn how to monitor interior elevations myself. This is not a particularly hard or expensive thing to do. Then I would try watering. If that didn't work, keep the potential $80k in your pocket, sell the house, even if you have to take a loss, and get another one in a more stable location.

Putting $80k into this house for a very "iffy" solution seems like a bad thing to do.

OK, maybe this is a good direction. We read somewhere about a "foam" or solution that can be injected under houses to raise them... maybe a cheap way to break all the sheetrock in the house? LOL (I got to have a sense of humor)

I will look at getting a watering system (cheap black hoses) and see if I can bring up the other side, but I am think I need a TON or several of water "almost injected"... but soaker hoses for the next 12 months... maybe I can make an impact.

How much is the leveling machine that I see the french drain/engineers have? Looks to be 4x bigger than a lunch box and is bright yellow with handle on top?

 

[Egon]

Maybe just consider "Living in a Crooked House" till the neighbours get it all figured out.

 

[CurlyDave]

How much is the leveling machine that I see the french drain/engineers have? Looks to be 4x bigger than a lunch box and is bright yellow with handle on top?

I think what you are describing is a rotary laser level. As the name implies it projects a laser beam which is level. A detector, typically mounted on a graduated rod picks up the beam and can tell you its height above the surface where the rod is located.

A moderate, self leveling laser level and detector is in the $500-$750 range. Mine was about $500 two years ago and I think they have gone up. The rod is about $50 and the tripod will set you back another $50-60. Mine has a claimed accuracy of +/- 1/4 inch at 100 yards, and I get the same results as my surveyor who uses a $25k laser tracker.

One that is 4x the size of a lunchbox may have some fancier features than mine, and may well be more expensive. The feature you really want is self-leveling. Manual leveling ones (with bubble levels and adjustment screws) are less expensive, but unless you have a lot of experience in setting them up are not nearly as accurate.

For repeatable measurements in a fixed location, I usually set mine up by placing it on a cinder block on a hard (concrete) surface. It is difficult to set up the tripod at a repeatable height.

The big problem I see is that the laser beam is blocked by any solid object, so measuring inside inside your house could be difficult.

I would highly recommend a water level, which is nothing more than either a transparent tube, or transparent tube sections which fit onto the ends of a garden hose. This can be used around corners, and behind obstructions. If the temperature is uniform, and you are careful in measuring, you can achieve much greater accuracy than a laser level, although the measurements are slower than the laser level. A contractor may tell you that his expensive laser level is better or more accurate, and if he does, pass on hiring him. He has no real understanding of the measurement he is making.

My geotech engineer uses a water level for interior measurements.

 

[mancho]

Maybe just consider "Living in a Crooked House" till the neighbours get it all figured out.

You know, we're kinda ok with it, besides the fact that it's about to break the windows out upstairs in the game room, which is causing rain to enter around the windows and drain into our kitchen. yeah. all that mold n stuff and sheet rock repair and painting.

The other fact that we're trying to get our electric bills under 1K during the July - September in texas... radiant barrier can't help your house having big gaps that air freely moves in and out.

 

[mancho]

I would highly recommend a water level, which is nothing more than either a transparent tube, or transparent tube sections which fit onto the ends of a garden hose. This can be used around corners, and behind obstructions. If the temperature is uniform, and you are careful in measuring, you can achieve much greater accuracy than a laser level, although the measurements are slower than the laser level. A contractor may tell you that his expensive laser level is better or more accurate, and if he does, pass on hiring him. He has no real understanding of the measurement he is making. .

I will have to research this. I don't know how much I can control temperature... I guess if I have an accurate reading of temp while I'm measuring, I can do that. I'm ok with longer time.

Laser device can't see through walls, then thats a big problem. Can't use that. I need something that is reasonably accurate (1/4 would be fine in this case) that gives me some idea.

Thinking more about hundreds of yards of soaker hoses.