Foundation repair - any experience?

[richyoung]

Looks like part of my slab foundation may have dropped - I can't find any broken bricks or anythtingm, but the sewer pipe in the slab is broke, and roots are getting in.  Anybody been throught this?  Piers?   Mudjacking?  What did it cost, & did your homeowners insurance pay any of it?

[K Frame]

Are you sure your slab has dropped, or were the roots the cause of the problem? Roots can do amazing things to pipes.

If your slab has dropped enough to break your sewer pipe you'd normally seen some pretty clear indications in the house somewhere.

[roo_ster]

Mike is on-spot.  The likelier cause of roots in the sewer pipe is...just the stinking roots.

I had roots in the pipe clogging up the works, even though my house is pier & beam (thank the Almighty!).  There is a reason the non-fruitbearing Mulberry in the back yard is one of the happiest trees around.

Rent a powered deal at Home Depot, buy some cheap leather gloves, and go to town on your cleanout.  You'll need to do this, whatever the condition of your slab.

[Brad Johnson]

sewer pipe in the slab is broke, and roots are getting in.

Yep, invasive vegetation.  What kind of trees do you have growing near your home (within 100 feet or so)?  Some trees, like poplars, have horrendously aggressive root systems.

Brad

[Tallpine]

My experience is that working on foundations is always much easier without a house sitting on top of it


Oh yeah, one morning I woke up to discover that my first house was leaning significantly to the south.  I went outside to look around, and saw that I had a flat tire.

[richyoung]

Mike is on-spot.  The likelier cause of roots in the sewer pipe is...just the stinking roots.

I had roots in the pipe clogging up the works, even though my house is pier & beam (thank the Almighty!).  There is a reason the non-fruitbearing Mulberry in the back yard is one of the happiest trees around.

Rent a powered deal at Home Depot, buy some cheap leather gloves, and go to town on your cleanout.  You'll need to do this, whatever the condition of your slab.

It's more than just the roots - BOTH toilets (they are back-to-back in sepreate bathrooms) have broken over the past 2 years, and the floor is spoed downward slightly toward the main drain line that the toilets are on top of.  Or to put it another way, my plumber sez somthing is wonky with the slab....

[roo_ster]

RY:

Hokay.

Here in north Texas, everybody ends up with piers in the foundation.  The only question is when they are installed: before or after the rest of the house.

[Brad Johnson]

It's more than just the roots - BOTH toilets (they are back-to-back in sepreate bathrooms) have broken over the past 2 years, and the floor is spoed downward slightly toward the main drain line that the toilets are on top of.  Or to put it another way, my plumber sez somthing is wonky with the slab....

Get Leak Detectors out there.  Sounds like you could very well have and under-slab leak at both locations which is excavating under the slab, causing it to subside.

Brad

[Matthew Carberry]

Sounds like the trees are on the attack.  The worst thing about vegetation is that when it turns man-eating, it does it silently.

Your best bet is to burn off the greenery and plow the soil with salt and herbicides.  You're probably thinking I'll then suggest paving it...  You'd be wrong.

The next step is to burn the silicates in the soil to glass, nice impermeable glass that won't provide a foothold for growth in the future.