Posted on 06/07/2016 4:27:57 PM PDT by Theoria
Sandra Miller was at work in January when her daughter called from their home here on Oakridge Drive with alarming news. The house was making loud noises, as if someone had jumped off the counter and landed with a bang. For seconds afterward, the house shook.
A while later, it happened again, and again. Over the next several hours, terrifying bangs rattled the house. The next morning, Ms. Miller called Bill Neal, a structural engineer, who delivered the same stunning news to her that he has now told hundreds of homeowners: The concrete foundation was crumbling and, as a result, her house was gradually collapsing.
Across nearly 20 towns in northeastern Connecticut, a slow-motion disaster is unfolding, as local officials and homeowners wrestle with an extraordinary phenomenon. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of home foundations that have been poured since the 1980s are cracking, with fissures so large you can slip a hand inside.
“This is such an emotional roller coaster,” said Tim Heim, a homeowner who started the group Connecticut Coalition Against Crumbling Basements. “You can’t eat, you can’t sleep. When you’re told your home is now worthless and your biggest investment is now worthless, it’s devastating.”
The scope of the problem is so vast that state officials have begun an investigation, and they recently announced that the crumbling foundations had been traced to a quarry business and a related concrete maker, which have agreed to stop selling their products for residential use. The stone aggregate used in the concrete mixture has high levels of pyrrhotite, an iron sulfide mineral that can react with oxygen and water to cause swelling and cracking. Over the past 30 years, the quarry has provided concrete for as many as 20,000 houses.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I honestly see no reason for even a full basement foundation to cost $100,000 let alone $200,000, unless it’s a very large house with a very elaborate foundation on a difficult lot.
Property taxes in CT should be adjusted far downward
The houses have a Negative Value now, the State should be PAYING THEM!
Those must be Connecticut prices. I wonder what the costs are per square foot. Would a new house foundation cost between $100,000 to $200,000? I’ve been in Northern Connecticut and don’t recall there being that many mega-mansions in fact, most are mmiddle-class houses.
Terrible ordeal for the people affected.
“Thinking of buying a home in Ct., better get an extensive inspection before you buy .... owners will be trying to unload and will go to great extents to hide the defect.”
Yep finish off the basement walls and hide it. Stucco the outside just before you unload it.
Could be. I would think if you owned the land you could knock down the house and have it rebuilt in the $200,000 range.
Of course, this is in Connecticut, where they are helpless lefties. If it were Indiana, everyone would know that duct tape would fix it good.
Constitutionally speaking, they are. Not that that counts for jack when the government, with its corrupt judiciary, is hungry for revenue in this country.
>>Why would a replacement foundation cost $100,000 to $200,000?
>>That’s in the range of $20,000, not $200,000.
You’re not adding in the costs of union labor, environmental studies, bribes, kickbacks, permitting fees, inspection fees, and so on and so on...
"inspectors are on site during commercial and public jobs, ensuring that concrete is mixed and installed properly."
The problem w/the same quarry and concrete did not appear on commercial jobs (according to spox for both). Blames contractor for mixing improperly - adding water to get it to pour faster.
If true, this'd put the blame on those building the foundation. Yet no one in article going after them.
"but there are some problems where you need government intervention because of the magnitude"
I'd say this disaster is actually small enough to be handled by charity. Haiti earthquake drew quite a bit a change.
I always though gov should get out of the charity business - just have an office make it easy to hook up the needy w/the generous.
That was the price quoted to my mom two years ago for an 1800 sf brick ranch with basement in NC.
Yep. I was just thinking what application you would want it for. Temporary pours is all I could come up with but can’t imagine that sustaining a quarry.
The foundations can be remade even with the house in place. You have to jack it up and do one wall at a time..it’s a process, but I grew up with a stepdad who knew how to do it...and I mixed EVERY load of concrete...by hand, with a hoe that rebuilt the entire foundation of our houses. The names of my siblings and I are written in that concrete with the year...and those houses still stand strong.
Our cellars were old...the kind made with bolders, and we had to dismantle the walls to replace them with the concrete, and then the floors, too.
If the contractors are at fault for bad mixes, it’s time for them to ante up!
Companies are routinely sued for environmental damage decades later. In many of these cases everything was "by the book" at the time it was done.
Surprisingly to many we Hoosiers know how to build. Hats off to St. Louis masons.
That is illegal here. Full disclosure of any hazard is required. I suspect most places have similar regulations.
Because it’s Connecticut. You can bet they need a license, and there aren’t many license holders.
Happened to a bunch of Homes in Costa Mesa, CA that were built in the 60’s or 70’s. The Slab Foundations didn’t just crack, they disintegrated.
The Homes had to be jacked up, the old Foundation torn out from under the House and a new Foundation poured.
You ever worked construction in Chicago?
They can fix this. The house can be raised off of the foundation and the foundation can be repaired. I know people who have done this to have the foundation leveled which is another big problem. It is an issue if you don’t have the funds, because you cannot sell the house while the condition exists. Not the end of the world however and there are possible solutions.
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