Question for all you Civils out there

[csb]

nail it

soil nail it, that is...

TOP! :bananalama:

 

[Guest]

Never said geotech was easy, or "fill in the blank" type work. It's just been my experience that the geotechs I typically work with provide reports that have ultra-conservative, expensive recommendations and are typically vague and over-generalized. One report I got for a 1/2 acre lot: "The water table will most likely be encountered anywhere between 5 and 30 feet deep. The soils in the site range from gravel to silty clay." What the hell am I going to do with this report (other than post it on the internet and poke fun at it)? I'm not saying YOU do this, it's just my experience...

In defense of my fellow geotech engineers, I think we have all seen very POORLY conceived reports from practically any discipline in engineering where the report really offered nothing that a half-witted person (notice I didn't say retard) and an inner-net connection couldn't figure out on their own.

Just today I received a report that deserved --->

I feel like ass-clown is the word of the week and like we should all scream when someone "says" it.

You mean like ....

:wub: for the geotechs...

Thanks ... except you seemed to have pierced me ....

But in all seriousness, I agree that ya'lls (geotech engineers) hands are tied by legal crap. You've always got to CYA and there are so many unknowns with soil, that it's best to err on the side of caution.

Not only are you dealing with so many unknowns, typically the field/lab testing doesn't offer enough insight or level of comfort to provide unqualified analysis. I am reviewing tons of geotech data now and I have to explain to my company why I am requesting even more geotechnical investigations when there is already a lot of data that has been collected.

I'm surprised JR hasn't chimed in here yet with the possibility that your house might be located over an old spill site, and the driveway separation a troubling symptom of gasoline vapor migration. You may need to temporarily relocate your family, jack the house up, install a vapor barrier, or worse.
Things could start to get really ugly if you have to start working with the enviro engineers.

Hey there island boy .... I actually werk for a livin' now!!

Dleg is right though - you could easily be located over a legacy release that has created upward migration of vapors that have buckled the slab. It would require immediate evacuation to avoid atmospheres that are immediately dangerous to life and health! I can recommend an incident commander and a standby hazmat response team to investigate if you like!

When do we get to duel over our different ideas? I'm a ready ...

JR

 

[FLBuff PE]

The house could also be located over an old Native American burial ground. Those vapors that are escaping through that crack? Souls. I suggest moving.

 

[Fluvial]

I hate to bring it up but I think I just saw a gopher tortoise in Mech's yard ... with an arrowhead in its mouth !!

 

[MechGuy]

Things could start to get really ugly if you have to start working with the enviro engineers.

Did I mention that a family of toads might be living in the crack? Possibly endangered species... my project might be toast!

 

[Dleg]

Shit. Now you're going to have to hire a PhD herpetologist to prepare a biological assessment for you to submit to the US Fish and Wildlife Service to initiate a Section 10 ESA consultation.

 

[Road Guy]

you defin need a geotech if its a wall / bridge foundation or similar, we run into a lot of bad soil on our road projects, we have geotechs on call and we stopped calling them for road related issues, 9 times out of 10 they give a very conservative recommendation, undercut 3 to 4 feet, etc.. I know they have to because of liability, but its rare even on interstate roads (down here) to undercut more than 18 inches...not saying its not ever done, but I asked the guy who used to be over construction for the entire state dot and he is the one who gave me that info..

usually we just make the call to undercut a foot, put down some good fabric on both sides and it works...

sorry fellow eb.com geotechs is I insulted you!

 

[Chucktown PE]

In my opinion, the only option right now is to bulldoze the house, have the lot condemned, have Mechguy apply to the federal government for disaster relief, and move to a new house.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

That's assuming I actually park a car in my garage, which I haven't been able to do since I moved in because all our crap is piled in there.

Sounds like a client/consultant issue there.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

The house could also be located over an old Native American burial ground. Those vapors that are escaping through that crack? Souls. I suggest moving.

Dang, you beat me to it.

 

[FLBuff PE]

In my opinion, the only option right now is to bulldoze the house, have the lot condemned, have Mechguy apply to the federal government for disaster relief, and move to a new house.

He can probably get a good deal on one of them FEMA trailers...

 

[Road Guy]

ever watch Holmes on Homes on (HGTV) I like how the guy will be hired to fix a leaky shower and end up rebuilding half of the house before he is done,, you know they cut a little into this load bearing beam,even though its been like this for 40 years I have no choice but to tear the roof of the house and build it right..

although I have to say I watch that show A Lot...

 

[FLBuff PE]

ever watch Holmes on Homes on (HGTV) I like how the guy will be hired to fix a leaky shower and end up rebuilding half of the house before he is done,, you know they cut a little into this load bearing beam,even though its been like this for 40 years I have no choice but to tear the roof of the house and build it right..
although I have to say I watch that show A Lot...

I watched it for the first time last night. I like how he needed 2 steel I-beams around the 4 2x10's.

 

[csb]

The house could also be located over an old Native American burial ground. Those vapors that are escaping through that crack? Souls. I suggest moving.

Oh my gosh. This brought tears to my eyes from laughter.