3 Year old slab moving, now blamed on Landscaping

Can you tell me who you built with? (PM if needed).

What are you doing about these cracks? Have you had the builder out?

Builders are at the mercy of engineers, if it was expensive and failed, it wasnt expensive enough, engineers should have "engineered" your foundations to work.

All I can say is good luck. I am in a similar situation except guess what I have concrete path around 95% of the house. My problems have also been blamed on landscaping.I understand how stressful it is and how it can consume your every thought. This is a great site to express you frustration and just get a different perspective on the situation. Sometimes its great to have some encouraging words and understanding. I wish you the best of luck and look on the positive side, at least your builder is willing to fill the cracks. That is a start.

Thanks.

So what exactly are they blaming it on?

water pooling on the path.
water running into the house of the paths
water running in under the deck
water from the hot water service over flow
water from the overflow of the airconditioner
water (rain) hitting the wall and running down the side and into any gaps that have appeared due to ground movement
water water and more water. Its my number one enemy. Apparently

Crap crap & more crap! My home has step cracking in it as well and it's under 2 years old. I have a 1.2 meter path round most of the slab & yet the builder blames it on a little water getting in between the bricks & the path. Watch this space as the battle has just begun. My garage concrete floor looks like a giant spiderweb!!!!

Safetyswitch Where about's are you located? We might have to share resources and ideas.

Well, I am interested in the battle, so keep me posted. We've been advised by 2 different engineering firms to seek legal advice. Sh---t I should go and check the tattslotto numbers, that will releave some stress.

bugger that want pay the legal bills

I built with PD so far they have been better then most about it. They are committed to fixing the problems and have told me nearly all builders have the same problem. Which I do honestly believe.

This is mostly a problem in the western suburbs. The Fact is there was clay under the soil which caused the problem. Im not sure if the builder choose to ignore it knowing the issues it could cause or if they engineers didn't advise them properly either way the builders contracted the engineers and as such wear the problem even if they want to futher sue the engineers. The reality is most of these problems could have been minimized with better slabs and under pinning.

The reality is if a few of us went to someone like Slater and Gordon and explained the problems we are having we could easily get a class action together. That would only be a start and I'm sure there woould be more then a few who jump on board. However I'm really more intrested in Porter Davis fixing the problems and still williing to give them a few more months to sort it out.

I think a class action would only be possible with the same builder.

None of the houses directly around me are cracking. I'm the only one with the waffle slab

Have read these threads which has reinforced to me the importance of getting the foundations/slab right above all else. I'm just about to build in an area with black soil. My brother already lives there and is familiar with the problems people have experienced with the waffle slab. He advised me to go with pier and beam and although this is much more expensive then the waffle option, the geotech and engineer reports have substantiated my decision and the costs. This forum is fantastic whether you agree with peoples advice/opinions/suggestions/arguments. It all comes down to learning from mistakes and other peoples' mistakes have saved me time and money.

DreamsRGood, it doesn't matter which solution you implement for the slab, as long as you implement either solution correctly.

I think waffle however is so quick and easy that it is very easy for things not to be done correctly.

That is true B STAR. The engineer could of recommended a whole bunch of countermeasures but (as an example) all it takes is for the concreter to step on the rio as he is pouring the concrete, therefore pushing the plastic cups down (it's what holds up the rio to achieve a 25mm concrete cover = distance between the top of the concrete to where the rio sits as per AS2870) therefore pushing the rio below the 25mm concrete cover. End result, 40% more flex in your waffle slab which translates to more house cracking then you ever wanted.

What I wanted to point out is that the builder will no way under the sun admit to a faulty foundation straight off and will first transfer that blame to; in this corresponding order 1st You, 2nd Engineer, 3rd Concreter, 4th Act of God then ….. (n)th the builder. All in all, the builder is not going to own up to $30k to $250k in damages.

Going back to page 1 of this thread that started of with going to VCAT. It will cost $3k just for the mediation alone, $30k - $50k when it gets to VCAT!

In conclusion, builders have stuffed up more houses than you have bought houses. They are experts at this. IMHO, bring on a class action!

i reckon we should at least start a petition page for west side of melbourne to find out how many of us are actually affected and move froward from there. i believe with enough petition signed there will be possibility of class action, in the future.

^^^^Thats a good idea

This could happen to any type of slab, the cover is far likely to remain more constant on a waffle slab if anything.
I deal with many engineers, each seem to have thier own ideas on how to design slabs, some quite conservative and anal, others not so much, but all of them prefer waffle over raft, especially in highly reactive soils.

As an engineer myself, it doesn't surprise me. Waffle slabs are much easier to design. Less customisaton. Other slabs are more original and unique to the job.

..

Floating Boat = waffle slab.

http://aca.ninemsn.com.au/investigation ... r-pressure

All the fuss about Floating boats. Just stumbled upon this today.

Cost involved in a Floating Boat are cheaper than conventional (raft) slabs therefore most builders go that way as they do anything to cut costs.

I am building my own house I approached the engineer who has more than 15 year’s experience. With the plan to have a Floating Boat designed as I knew it would be easier on my budget and the thought that it is just as good as it has passed Building standards and is acceptable and all the builder are using this type of slab.

He told me if you are planning on selling the house after a couple of years then well design a Floating Boat, if you’re intentions are to live there for a while then his clear recommendations were a Conventional slab (raft slab).

A majority of the slabs he designs are Floating boats as a majority of his clients are builders .

Everyone knows that water running into concrete slab being waffle or conventional isn’t ideal. But more so for Floating Boats as it is quite easy for water to get under the slab.

These days Builders do everything to cut costs. No eaves (allowing rain to fall close to house footings), waffle slabs , F5 House framing… etc ALL Engineering to the bare minimum to save a dollar on your house and reap more profits.

A lot of Pressure is put on Engineers to design to a bare minimum just a pass nothing above as it may cost the builder more.


For the People buying the houses All research is input into whether to install ceaser stone or a granite benchtop, Soft close kitchen doors ……. the aesthetic side of things .... And no research or questioning into the structural Aspects of the house the Builder will build for them... Until things go wrong. But at this stage it is too late. Once they have your money it is all over.

Tradesman will blame the engineer , Engineer will blame the tradesmen for not doing the jobs correctly, The Builder will blame the Client for not laying a concrete footpath around the perimeter of the house and the building commission will blame the Droughts. All going around in circles and in the end Nothing is done to resolve the issues. And this is the frustrating thing.
I really blame the Building commission and Regulatory parties for allowing these things to happen whilst they stand and do nothing about it.

My quote for a waffle slab was 20 – 30 % cheaper than a conventional slab and on $20,000 that is about $4,000 to $6000 that the builder would save.


Chrisandkate. “If the path doesn't allow water through it and has adequate fall the fall will carry the runoff away from your slab. If you have a drain below that fall then you can carry that water further away again.

The fall is not accurate in teh picture either.”

1:20 means that a 1m wide path would finish 5cm below where it started. Not a lot but more than enough to get water running away from the house.

http://s1072.photobucket.com/albums/w36 ... =slabs.jpg


With a Conventional slab the whole perimeter is Excavated deep and in cases of high reactive clay it can be more that 1.5 deep thus Even if there is no concrete path with a fall it would need to be raining heavily for weeks or so for water to go past the 1.5 ., meter mark and under the slab.

Floating Boats : just don’t believe how this Principle has been provided with the Stamp of approval to be used on Any type of soil by Regulative Partises and commission.

I suppose it will be reviewed again after the start of all the turmoil that has risen as of late and more that will be coming up in the years to come with problems with houses on Floating Boats.


To all of you with House issues arising from Foundation. Deeply sorry and I can understand how you feel as i have been there once before. Hope your outocme is different to mine and everything is fixed and resolved in some way. Slater and Gordon may be doing a mass lawsuit. Google it.

http://www.slatergordon.com.au/files/bl ... 0_doc1.pdf