STRUCTURAL ENGINEER REPORTS

I am also posting some of the reports of the two structural engineers that have inspected the house. This damage has occurred in this house that is just 4 (count them) four months old and is still occuring. The first structural engineer (September 11, 2006) used only a 3-foot level to measure, took pictures and looked visually. The second structural engineer (October 11, 2006), used a laser beam and measured the entire basement area, took pictures, measured and looked visually.
The following is not the entire September 11th 2006 report as it states what the house looks like, when it was built, etc. Please note the difference in the damage in just one month.
The east side of the basement, the floor slab was visibly and vertically displaced upward (i.e., heaved) along the slab's control joint.
The basement floor slab had also heaved around a column pad footing. It was found to have been displaced about 1/2". Limited hairline fractures were seen in the west foundation and other areas of the basement floor slab.
One joist was situated directly above, and parallel to a framed partition wall between the unfinished basement and the finished area at the bottom of the stairway betrween floor levels. The top of the wall was framed in contact with the bottom of the joist, no separation between the wall and joist was provided.
It appeared the previously described displacement of the basement floor had affected the framed wall and joist above it. The wall had been forced upward into the joist. As a result, the end of the joist was found to be lifted off the top of the foundation wall that separated the basement and the garage to the north. Where the end of the joist was observed lifted off the foundation wall in the basement, the threshold at the door between the garage and utility room directly above the joist was visibly forced upward. This movement had made the door difficult to close.
The northwest corner of the wall finish at the base of the stairway on the basement level was separarated. This appeared to be the result of the side wall moving upward, relative to the north wall, as a result of the floor slab heaving.
Along the north wall of the stairway, a horizontal distortion in the painted gypsum board wall finish was noted.

Analysis At the subject residence, sufficient evidence was noted to indicate the basement floor slab had heaved. The water observed in the sump pit indicated that moisure was present underneath the slab even though it had been relatively dry in the Kansas City area over the previous two (2) months. The line leading into the sump pit from the perimeter drain tile was dry. As a result, it appeared the source of the moisture was potentially below the foundation.
The most visible effect of heaving at subject residence was at the framed basement wall underneath the floor joist located at the door threshold between the main floor utility room and garage. This was is a non bearing partition, and its top place was framed in contact with the bottom of the joist. Vertical displacement of this wall also caused separation in the painted finish at the northwest corner of the all at the bottom of the stairs.
In the professional engineering opinion that a portion of the basement floor slab at the subject residence has heaved as a result of expansion of within the soil subgrade.
He recommended 'regular monitoring of this condition. In the event the heaving action continues unabated, further investigation and possible exploration of the subgrade may be necessary to identify the source of the moisture."

The following are excerpts from the inspection completed on October 11, 2006. This inspection was conducted by a structural engineer I hired. His report stated the facts. In no way did I instruct him to rewrite or to write his findings.

The door to the garage is hitting the floor and will not close. The floor has an upward bulge at the center of the door causing this problem.
The bay windows on the south side, south of the kitchen are racked. The four windows are higher on the west side. Starting at the west, the windows are higher by 1.4", 1/8", 1/8" and 3/32" respectively.
There is a gap between the floor joist and the subfloor below the door to the garage.
The basement floor has risen above the concrete around the I-beam support columns, Starting from west to east, the floor has risen above the concrete around the four columns under then north I-beam by 1 and 1/8 inches, 1/8 inch, 3/8 inch, and 1/2 inch respectively. Starting from west to east, the floor has risen above the concrete around the four columns under the south I-beam by 1 inch, 5/16 inch, 0-inch and 3/16 inch respectively.
The ductwork above the furnace has been compressed. The horizontal water lines above the water heater are at an angle. This indicates the basement floor has risen and pushed the furnace and water heater upward.
There are several floor joists, just below the bay windows south of the kitchen that have a gap between the bottom of the joists and the wall plate.
There is a 3/16" wide crack in the basement floor, at the end of the north saw cut, at the east end of the basement.
The finished wall is cracking in the northwest corner at the bottom of the basement steps.
There are several cracks in the basement walls. There is a 1/16" vertical crack in the south basement wall that has evidence of water entry.
Laser level readings were taken of the floor joist support system in the basement. There was a total of 30 readings. The north I-beam is supported by the foundation wall at each end and by four steel support columns. The south I-beam is supported by the foundation wall at each end and by four steel support columns. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd support columns from the west end of the north I-beam are higher than the 4th column and both ends at the north I-beam. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd support columns from the west side of the south I-beam are higher than the 4th column and both ends of the south I-beam. For instance, the 2nd column from the west, under then north I-beam is 1 inch higher than the east end of the north I-beam. The 2nd column from the west, under the south I-beam is 5/8 inch higher than the east side of the south I-beam.
Laser level readings of the basement floor, next to the east basement wall indicated the floor is 2 inches higher at the end of the north saw cut joint compared to the east end of the next saw cut joint to the south.
Another example of the amount of floor heave is at the west column under the north I-beam. The additive amount of the higher level of the column footing and the amount the floor is above the footing, the total is 1 and 11/16 inches.
Based on visual observations, measurements, and laser level data, all information indicates the floor has experienced heaving and several support column footings have experienced heaving. It appears the column heaving has pushed up on the floor joists causing movement under the door to the garage. This also appears to have caused the racking of the bay windows.

The opinion of this structural engineer is that there has been an excessive amount of movement of the basement floor and the column support system in the home that is only about 3 1/2 months old. If work is not done to stabilize this movement, no accurate prediction can be made as to the future performance of the foundation of the home.

Below are the laser readings from the December 8th 2006 inspection. I am sure these numbers are actually supposed to be ALL the same.

The geo technical guys came on Friday, the 8th of December 2006. There was also another structural engineer inspection and another firm that took laser readings. The geo tech core sampling test results are in. If you would like to read the report, please click on enter.

If you would like to view the structural engineering report written by Dressler Consulting Engineers Incorporated (who also wrote the September 22nd, 2006 report on the September 11, 2006 inspection) dated January 23, 2007, click below. If you read all three reports you might wonder if the same house was inspected each time.

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