New house questions

[dmccarty]

I agree he must not have good drainage, he should definately fix the problem. To fix the problem it may be easy or hard, no way to tell without seeing it.

Are you saying it's okay to have a leaking house on a slab, but not on a crawl space? Sounds to me the problem would the leak, which in the end result would have nothing to do with the foundation?

Lets say your slab shifts and breaks the main septic line{line is in the cement}. Now lets say your main septic line breaks in a crawl space. Which one is truely easier to fix???
If your toilet is leaking then I'd suggest fixing it no matter what your house is sitting on

I hope it never is, but anything man made can be a problem at some point



There is no way you'd know unless you are on a crawl space, that statement is hearsay without any fact



I agree toilets will give a head ache, so we fix the toilet. Comparing a toilet to a foundation is like comparing a car to a monkey.

Lets say the toilet leaks and causes the floor in a crawl space to be ruined. It still isn't that bad of a fix{I've done a couple over the years}. Some new wood tile{whatever} problem fixed, usually not very exspensive. Now lets say your toilet sits on the slab and the pipe breaks inside the slab. MAJOR job is the easiest way to put it, busting up cement finding the break and then the repair.

The neighbor is on a slight hill and the water runs around the house. From the looks of things he might have/had a spring in the crawlspace. Our house is somewhat the same drainage wise. I don't worry about the water at all due to the way our house was built with a slab. He has either spent quite a bit of money fixing his problem..... Or he will be.

Not saying its OK to have a leak in the house. But a leaky toilet is not going to damage my the structure of the slab. On a slab it is pretty easy to see if you have a leak. On a crawlspace the leak could happen and not be noticed. It would be easy to miss until one was in the crawlspace looking for a leak in the first place. This is what happened to a coworker who had to rip up the tile floor down to the joists and rebuild.

Toilets can backup and over flow. BTDT. On our slab house it just made a mess. If the house had a crawlspace it is very likely we would have water flowing into the into the crawl space making a bigger mess.

It is possible for the slab to shift. Never heard of it happening in the four states and multiple developments my family has lived in over half a century. I ain't loosing sleep over it happening either. In our house it would take a major structural failure of the foundation to cause the slab to move. Our least concern in that case would be the septic line.

Later,
Dan

 

[20 20]

That may be true but, they have to go to ground for water. That is why you termite treat the foundation, and not the attic.

I agree they will travel{to the bottom} but on my house I DID TREAT the top just as much as the bottom . I treated the whole house before covering walls.

 

[20 20]

Dmccarty; sounds like you have a solid foundation, and that is what makes a great home. Like I said I believe slabs can work BUT{that is a big but} they have to be done properly. The same goes for any foundation, if the foundation is weak the house is weak. I have seen to many slabs in this area{and others} that shifted, that is why I choose a different route. I thought about a full cellar but we built in a swamp, and IMO cellars in wet lands never work. Plus the money for a slab is not cheap. IMO crawl spaces are nice to have so that one can see what is happening. I quess I was raised that way and am familiar with that type of construction. I've worked on many homes with crawl spaces, including leaky toilets and never found it was all that terrible and usually a cheap to fix.

My folks house crawl space is directly over their hand dug well{about 10' deep}, none of the timbers to this day have ever been wet. The timbers are in great shape, the space is about 2+' high. When I built our crawl space I went 3+' above ground. I believe they say wood should be atleast 12-14"{?} above ground so that it will not collect moisture. How close is your neighbors timber to the ground? Maybe that is the issue, if it is then yes it would be an expensive fix. He'd either need to raise the house, or{probably easier/cheaper} dig down and put in a half cellar?


If a person decides to go with a slab just make sure the foundation guy is a PROFESSIONAL that has a good reputation. He should also look at each building site as though it were virgin ground never before seen. That goes for ANY type of foundation

 

[herd]

I agree they will travel{to the bottom} but on my house I DID TREAT the top just as much as the bottom . I treated the whole house before covering walls.

May I ask what chemical you used to termite treat your entire house? I do not believe there is an approved termiticide for use areas of exposed living. That stuff is highly carcinogenic and lethal for a long time, that's why they took Chloradane off the market years ago. It was the absolute best termiticide ever, but stayed lethal for 30 years and leeched into the water tables.

Not trying to alarm you but termite treatments are designed for foundation/enclosed soil application. It is illegal in my state to use a termiticide otherwise, even on the outside like on ant beds. My father at one time in the late 80's was sued for applying a termiticide (at the homeowner's request) to the interior walls of a log cabin.

 

[20 20]

Hi Herd, don't mind your question at all. I used one of the easiest and safest bug killers there is. Borax mixed with hot water and then sprayed everything before putiing up inside walls. It is hard to mix and likes to clog up the sparyer, so I used a cheap pump style until it died. When that died I used my sand blaster hook up, that worked great. When it dried the lumber had a whitish hase to them. All my research indictated that a house treated with borax can keep the pest away{dead} for up to 75 yrs. They eat the stuff and can't digest it, it does work. I've used around my mill to kill off boring beatles. You can also mix in a small amount of antifreeze to help it stick to the lumber{I didn't do this}