Has anyone rectified slab heave successfully

@ Harts,

I can't 'box' quote the text I want to respond to as it hasn't appeared correctly in your post but the main text is what appears below...

"SaveH2O, would this be any different to the current situation that happens? All the 'experts' get involved and will continue to blame each other that were involved in the build and using their 'get out of jail' free cards."

The builder's 'experts' look to apportion blame to the new home owner by inferring that the property was handed over without fault.

If soil moisture samples taken pre handover were found to be excessive, it could (ideally) be unarguable evidence that those high moisture levels were caused by the builder and that the construction build quality was compromised. Backed up with photographic evidence of reverse slope, long term ponding, no temporary downpipes fitted etc, the builders would be made accountable and the industry 'experts' left to drown in their own BS.

As an aside, I strongly believe that an 'industry expert' who makes a serious eroneous 'judgement' has shown either incompetence or dishonesty and should be held accountable by the regulatory body but in Victoria...don't hold your breath waiting.

Different soil types will have different moisture contents variations but suction variations can be applied across all soils.
The standards does not specify any moisture contents but they allow a suction variation of 1.2 pF for normal seasonal conditions.

Thanks.

Ideally, I think that the Standards should state acceptable moisture ranges for different soil classifications, why would that be too difficult?

I met a very smart engineer who considers carefully the moisture content of the soils at the time of building. If it is a knockdown and there is no time for moisture to get into the clay and if large trees have been removed at the time of the build, they will look at how they tie the edge footing into the screw piles. From my observation we will see this practice adopted by more engineers in the future to avoid waffles heaving. Unfortunately flexible plumbing is not specified as much as it should be and then if it put in at time of construction - who knows.
This forum really needs a separate place for folk to learn about how important the foundations and moisture of the soil is - having the knowledge, spending a bit more time and perhaps $ on this part of the build is just so critical and I feel for those folk that have invested so much in their primary asset only to have and issue like heave come along.

The fundamental fact is that the slabs are engineered structures but what the builders do is take the owners to the cleaners with site costs and slab upgrades (bank the money) then proceed to construct slabs with no supervision leaving it to the trades on site( that have dropped out of school at year 10) that have no concept of how to construct engineered structure and in any case may have no loyalty or care because they have been screwed down on price.
Nothing will change until we have a system of fines, penalties and demerit points to hold the builders( and designers, developers and engineers ) accountable for what they do.
Dream on, or hire your own building consultant to assist you.

Hi,

Could you please tell me where I would find the AS2870 requirements?

Also, you mention that on reactive soil, an engineer is required to design site specific drainage. Are you referring to drainage around the perimeter of the house?

Thanks.

Ok, thank you.

No drainage was designed around our house (it was built on reactive soil). The builder said that paving and drainage were the responsibility of the owner. Is that not true?

Just type in to google AS 2870 1996 it will bring you up for in pdf now there is also a AS2870 2011 it was updated they only added extra soil tyles that all, bjt you may be able to down load the AS2870 2011 free i am not sure yet , the drainage system around your home you must be disined by a civil and structural engineer and at times a house on reactive clay must have concrete piers to stop from the sinking but when you slab heave all con rete piers have to be tied to the slab anotner wise its useless on heave.
I am having that done now after wining our case at vcat against a large volume builder with the help from very good people on this forum, plus having a great lawyer mark croft who is a ex builder turned lawyer, after ending 4 year with our old lawyer as some said on hefe he was in it for him self found out bit late. Mark .croft ended our case in less then 9 months he saved us as a family mentally and physically and stress. He was God sent for us.

Hi,

Thanks, I actually googled the 2011 version a short while ago and found a pdf online!

I do have drainage advice on my engineer plans -I had overlooked it.

Congratulations on your VCAT win. I know how unbelievably stressful the whole process can be.

It almost broke us physically and menatally, only after we changed lawyer after 4 years of heart ache we dumped our lawyer and found .mark croft legal he is a Ex builder turned lawyer he saved us from more heartache and ended our case in less then 9 months dystroyed the builder and got our legal cost back less reports we paid for , now the builder must fix everything according to our terms of agreement they start next week with our own engineer that has disigned the underpinning and the drainage system around our house with strip drains and AG drain in between garage and fence. Lots of work for the builder, its costing them more then the house go figure this. Let me know if i can help.

Believe me, I know all about it. We're still fighting. I'm really pleased you won -it's a rare occurrence. Do you have a thread where I can read about your experience?

It's a absolute disgrace and very convenient that drainage,slab protection, concrete protecting your slab isn't a mandatory part of a builders job,u shouldn't be able to move in without it,as if it's not a major contributor to slab problems,it's the first thing all builders will use as a excuse to get out of their responsibilities,it's obviously why it's not part of their responsibilities.

Yes, I agree -it's absolutely appalling. It's their 'get out of jail free' card.

Its on facebook in a private forum called negative experice with burbank everyone is on that pageyou will find my problems with pictures to show everyone why its so important to stand your ground against builders and arm your self with the right information and take lots of photos during construction and after till now. Its your best fight evidence. If you think your lawyer is not doing the right thing by you change dont hang on as we did it almost broke us then we flund mark croft legal ex builder turned lawyer. God sent for us he saved us. His website is mark croft legal 1300366119. If needed just tell him the guy from portarlington referred you to him. Thats if you want.

Thank you, much appreciated.

I will find your FB group.

I really am so very pleased for you.

Hi joker we just won against a major volume builder they must underpinning our house and install underground drainage around the house has i had put in place strip drains myself with concrete paving because they left us in mud knee high. Its take us all this time after dumping our first lawyer bloody useless we found mark croft legal ex builder turned lawyer he was bloody great to watch him work at CC vcat . Very happy after so many years we have steve buratt on our side to disign everything. Finally some good news.

So good to see the little guy win, knowledge is power especially with building,it defies belief how bad and on your own the building industry is,the rise of display homes has seen the rise of poor building practices,but we need guys like you mauromario to do as your doing now,feeding the right steps to other unfortunate Australians,well done on your win,you deserve it.

Look it took changing lawyers as everyone on here was warning me about the lawyer been in it for himself how true that was , he was just playing us when we kept telling him the evedance is in our files bloody use it, for some reson he kept hiding the must crucial eveidance we had how the builder asked the geotechnical engineers to alter the reports in favor of the builder, how many times does this happen i will relese all of the documents I have to the media because i know how slab heave is created in Victoria i have proof photos documents to prove to Australia how builders are getting away with everything, the only reason builder settle with becase we asked our new lawyer to send a open letter to all parties involved includin vcat memeber Livene so we can never be gagged never we made sure of that so the letter had that all evidance will be used at all hearing or public . The builder got egg in his face as there lawyer and the Victoria state manager went red faced and settle to our terms and conditions what ever we wanted we got. Its unfortunate that a lot of people dont take phots from word go epty block photos that how catch if soil test has actually been done which i can prove they dont it at all that way we have slab heave because soil test is not done properly with laboratory testing they just do tectile test which is wrong it must be done in a lab, we had a soil test done and cost 5.5k so i dont think builders are paying anything near that other the $600 may be that wrong. Stud my ground it was not easy but we got throught it. Win win win