Take it easy Slab Heave Recipient
When you mix Clayton's fix with Jack Daniel's engineering you will grow old waiting.
Browse Forums General Discussion Re: Warning about suggested repairs of slab heave 41Sep 17, 2013 9:42 am Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Warning about suggested repairs of slab heave 50Jul 25, 2020 5:15 pm building-expert Hi Peter Thanks for your comment, healthy disagreement is what this forum is all about, If we all agreed there would be nothing to talk about. "The prevention of water ingress into the clay soils under or abutting the slab is the key issue to reducing slab heave with reactive soil profiles."- You are spot on! "One of the major sources of penetration can come from subsurface seepage from incorrectly backfilled service pipes into the slab (shower wastes etc) or parallel piped trenches (storm water) within close proximity of the slab edge." Correct but not the only source. What about surface drainage and what about maintenance of moisture equilibrium?(isn't maintenance of moisture equilibrium around perimeter of slab on highly reactive soil essential?) "Surface water (rain or garden watering), which an apron around the dwelling could help to offset, can be a contributing off-setting factor but in many cases this would not provide a solution." This is where I disagree. Defective surface drainage can on its own be the cause of slab heave ( I have seen it many times and I have it documented and photographed. Now go back to the statutory warranties DBCA s8 (f) "If the contract states the particular purpose for which the work is required, or the result which the building owner wishes the work to achieve, so as to show that the building owner relies on the builder's skill and judgement, the builder warrants that the work and and material used in carrying out the work will be reasonably fit for that purpose or will be of such a nature and quality that they might reasonably be expected to achieve that result. Q9: In exercising skill and judgment has builder delivered reasonable fitness for purpose?" Now ask yourself a question. Would a building designer, ordinarily skilled in design of residential slabs on highly reactive foundation soils (knowing potential catastrophic damage) be expected to include all provisions to prevent water ingress around slab? The answer has to be yes or or there is negligence. In my opinion, omitting paving (or similar) around dwelling as the effective means of foundation protection and moisture content stabilisation (given relative low cost to the potential cost of catastrophic damage) does not deliver fitness for purpose and consequently is a breach of warranty. Brach of warranty is a defect, builder's(designer) liability follows. Ordinary owner has the right to expect that their new home is designed and constructed with skill and care and that it will withstand normal use in normal conditions(whether it is a highly reactive site or not). Owners are not builders. They don't have the skills to build paving and I have seen them getting it wrong countless of times. This is where builders and designers have failed (catastrophically) to deliver what is expected of them and now they are trying to hide behind SCIRO home maintenance guide. It's disgusting. I have VCAT dispute coming up on this issue with one of my clients whose home has been destroyed and look forward to proving my point. Stay tuned. I realise this thread is old, but the issue is still relevant. So who is actually responsible for slab heave that the builder claims occurred due to lack of paving around the perimeter of a house on P(H2/E) soil? Is the builder/engineer responsible? (I believe so). Or is the owner responsible? Re: Warning about suggested repairs of slab heave 51Jul 26, 2020 10:38 am Lisa 06 If the builder is responsible for the design and construction of a dwelling on a reactive clay foundation then design and construction must be suitable for the purpose ie it must not fail during builder's warranty period of 10 years. That is the law. If such fitness for purpose requires that the preventative measures be built in (such as perimeter surface drainage and other measures) then it should be so and should be included. In my view the builder that does not provide surface drainage protection on reactive clay is no different to a car manufacturer than sells cars in Australia without a seat belt when the law says seat belts must be fitted. Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Warning about suggested repairs of slab heave 52Jul 26, 2020 1:09 pm building-expert Lisa 06 If the builder is responsible for the design and construction of a dwelling on a reactive clay foundation then design and construction must be suitable for the purpose ie it must not fail during builder's warranty period of 10 years. That is the law. If such fitness for purpose requires that the preventative measures be built in (such as perimeter surface drainage and other measures) then it should be so and should be included. In my view the builder that does not provide surface drainage protection on reactive clay is no different to a car manufacturer than sells cars in Australia without a seat belt when the law says seat belts must be fitted. BE, I totally agree, but that argument doesn't hold up at VCAT. Do you know anyone who has had that argument and won against the builder? We have have had that same argument with a builder and they fell back on the CSIRO guidelines. Re: Warning about suggested repairs of slab heave 53Jul 26, 2020 1:40 pm Vcat must apply the law. If your argument was properly structured and presented it would have prevailed. I do not believe that you went all the way to hearing and that there was a decision, if there is a decision please reference the number. Its more likely that you were bluffed and blown off in vcat mediation, correct me if I am wrong. Slab heave problems is a mint for printing mooney for lawyers do you really think they want to kill off golden Goose? Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Warning about suggested repairs of slab heave 54Jul 26, 2020 2:01 pm building-expert Vcat must apply the law. If your argument was properly structured and presented it would have prevailed. I do not believe that you went all the way to hearing and that there was a decision, if there is a decision please reference the number. Its more likely that you were bluffed and blown off in vcat mediation, correct me if I am wrong. Slab heave problems is a mint for printing mooney for lawyers do you really think they want to kill off golden Goose? Yes, we were bluffed and blown off. But we weren't well prepared at the time. We've learned a lot since then. We will reopen the case in good time. Re: Warning about suggested repairs of slab heave 55Jul 26, 2020 2:08 pm As I thought VCAT mediators are very knowledgeable and professional but don't care about justice. Their job is to bang two heads together and get them to sign on the agreement. You are on your own. Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Does anyone have a suggestion for a good hydronic in slab heating speacialist who may be able to help me with an existing system and wether or not it may need a seperator… 0 4882 Thanks for the insights, that makes perfect sense, and yeah, I will be leaning on the experience of the excavator operator entirely. 6 16122 4 6201 |