This is what we ran into yesterday. Mark called me and said, "you have to see this. We have extremely weak soil here." I asked, " What, do we need to do a typical overdig?" He laughed. He then proceeded to tell me that the area with weak soil was 28' x 12'. I thought, "Oh s**t, I hope he's overreacting. Well, he wasn't. I went out this morning and discovered he was right. It appeared as though the builder did an extreme overdig for whatever reason. If you look at the pic, you can see that the overdig follows the bump out. It was almost a perfect line between suitable and unsuitable ground. Together, with the engineer we consult with, we came up with a plan and began to address the problem. We also had to inform the homewowners that the $35,000.00 project just turned into a $38,500.00 project if they wanted our warranty. I still get uncomfortable making that phone call. However, I would feel more uncomfortable not making it. Also, as usual, we offered third and fourth party verification of our findings.
that looks like quite a project. What exactly are you putting in? post some after pics when you finish.
Does the customers basement leak at all? Looks like from the pic's the concrete was never slapped with the tar? You guys in Pa. dont have to do that for water barier?
Overdig is extra space dug out of the ground beyond the foundation when they originally dug out the hole for the foundation. I used to do concrete work, and I preferred to have 2' or so of Overdig to give me some working room, but what you see there is ridiculous. Wasn't required to do that here in WA, except for daylight basement sized foundation walls. Its probably a localized thing.
Jon, I think the basement excavation was done for another model house. I think they made a mistake. I don't know what else would explain it. At first, I thought maybe they dug the basement with a loader and we just happened to be digging where the ramp was. However, the cut was too clean.
No, it doesn't leak. I don't know if tar is required because we don't do basements. When we install an overdig, we insulate the walls to protect them from the vibration of the tamper.
No, it's not mine. It's one of my sub's. I'll tell you what, we've been using him on a lot of jobs. So many, I'm considering purchasing a mini ex. That thing is so efficient. Out of the ground and into the truck.
