Friendly advice to realtors

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We often get calls from realtors who are calling us because they have received their report from their home inspector that identifies potential foundation issues. The problem with this is that their 10 day inspection period is nearly over and they need us to go out and do a full investigation and write a report in a few days time which is nearly impossible.

The report that we produce is very comprehensive and has a number of moving parts and participants. The work on-site takes about 3 to 4 hours, the analysis back at our office takes roughly twice that amount of time, afterwards it needs to be reviewed and stamped by her civil engineer. Once that is done it needs to go to our design consultants who then build a repair plan and price it out for the customer. We are continually making improvements to our processes to shorten the time needed for completion and have made a lot of progress….. But still have a ways to go.

I think I have a solution for this problem. I suggest that into each sales contract that a clause be inserted that should there become any concern over the foundation, that an automatic 10 day extension kick in to allow adequate time to investigate properly. This would allow enough time without rushing and making potential mistakes. At that point call us immediately! If you wait halfway through that 10 day period, we will not have time to do a proper investigation.

We also suggest that you get the buyers agent and the seller’s agent to meet with us together so that everyone is on the same page and understands the issues involved.

Here is an example of what a page in our report looks like:

Why only get half the solution?

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How many people trust taking their car to a company like AAMCO or another transmission repair specialist to diagnose general problems with the car? Me neither. I be afraid that every diagnosis that they came up with could be interpreted as a need for a repaired transmission. In the same respect why would you call out the foundation repair specialist to diagnose your problem if the only repair method he can offer is solutions for settlement and has nothing to offer for heave?

Half the truth in these situations is not very helpful. It’s like getting half of a baby as told in Solomon’s fable. Or as in the movie the War of the Roses, taking a chainsaw cutting all the furniture in half to split. Or getting only half a car that works. Or getting only one half of a double wide trailer to live in. Or getting insurance that works only half of the time. Or going to the dentist for a root canal finding out afterwards that he only got it done halfway.

 If the average contractor or engineer has difficulty in correctly diagnosing heave versus settlement, for sure the average homeowner does not have this ability. As a homeowner you are really at the mercy of your advisors in this respect. Why would you in good conscience trust the diagnosis to someone who only has half of the solutions to offer in their tool bag? How objective will the diagnosis be?

So what happens if you ask your foundation repair contractor if they do heave? They might suggest cutoff walls or landscaping improvements. Things that are discussed in my post http://www.foundationaz.com/2014/09/how-to-remediate-heave.html . These are not easily implemented for cost-effective solutions in any way. They are expensive and do very little to solve the problem, and frankly don’t make much money for the foundation repair contractor.

None of these contractors can offer the MoistureLevel smart foundation system that I have developed over the last 13 years. This is a simple, cost-effective system that works long-term.

Moisture problems in slabs on grade

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One of the benefits that I brought up earlier of MoistureLevel smart foundation system is the remediation of moisture problems in slabs on grade. How many of you have experienced the difficulty of excess moisture in slabs on grade? It usually manifests itself by bubbling up vinyl tile and epoxy coatings building up excess moisture under floor coverings debonding them and creating mold and mineral deposits.

This is not an easy problem to remedy. Most solutions consist of installing a sealer on the top side of the slab. For any of you who have worked with sealers and hydrostatic pressure realize that sooner or later the hydrostatic pressure will eventually push any sealers on the surface off and cause them to fail. Some manufacturers even guarantee that their sealers will work for this application but sad experience has shown that sooner or later these guarantees are merely gambles for warranty with inevitable failure and have resulted in in many lawsuits.

Let’s look at the practicality of that solution. First of all it requires removing all floor coverings including tile of all types. This in itself is quite an operation that includes removal of the occupants during the work. What happens to the areas underneath the cabinets and fixtures in both kitchens and bathrooms? If this area is not sealed as well, then the moisture is concentrated and funneled to those areas. This results in huge moisture problems in areas where they can bring the most problems, creating mold and other issues where they are most damaging for human health. The alternative is to remove all of those cabinets and fixtures and treat them before putting them back.

So this solution is starting to look similar in scope to the removal and replacement of the entire floor with tremendous expense and displacement of the occupant. This again ends up being close to rehabbing the entire interior of the house by the time it is over with because painting and other restoration is usually required by the time it is finished. All of this for a questionably non permanent solution.

Contrast that with the ease and simplicity of the MoistureLevel system. It can usually be installed in one day or less while the occupant stays comfortably in the house. This can be done for a price that is orders of magnitude less. In addition this is a permanent solution where the moisture level under the slab is regulated forever balancing it with the moisture level on the top side of the slab minimizing slab curl and other performance issues that come with imbalanced moisture levels between the top and bottom of the slab including minimization of ASR.

Feel free to comment or discuss your experiences with these issues in the comment section below.