[ctlpdad]

Dirt is a fluid. If you buid a house on a non-level fluid, this is exactly what you would expect, unless you are rich enough to uphold the law of gravity.

[Xenalyte]

I live in a small subdivision in the western part of Houston (Epernay, near Briar Forest and Wilcrest, if you're local and curious).

When it was being built, the developers bulldozed the roads and heaped up the dirt on either side. Then - this is the really genius part - they built houses on top of the piled dirt.

And they can't figure out why our houses have foundations that look like dust ruffles. I mean, I'm not even a builder, and I know that fill dirt is somewhat less than a stable foundation on which to build a multi-ton structure.

But that pales in comparison to Quail Valley, a Houston suburb in which Bacon Man and I grew up . . . the early-developed part of which is built on quicksand. Pools in the 'Valley have to be double-poured or they crack.