Hands On The Heartland
Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market
Expansive soil is common in the Kansas City area and clay dirt is a prime example of the expansive soil seen when dealing with new home construction in our area. I’ve been a partner in several Kansas City new home communities and when you’re around construction enough you quickly learn that clay dirt swells when particles in the clay begin to absorb water from rain, underground springs or watering of a lawn. Years ago an engineer told me that clay soil can expand 10% when exposed to moisture.
What does this mean to your home? Expanding soil can cause upheaval of foundation walls, basement floors, driveways and patios. When this happens, the result is often just minor cracking of the concrete but sometimes the situation can be more of a concern. We all know that concrete is sure to crack in nearly any application, so determining the cause of concrete cracks on a home is often impossible. A general rule I’ve often heard is that if you can fit a dime into the crack in the concrete then it’s worth paying an engineer to come out and look things over.
We know that many homes in Kansas City are built on expansive soil and there are several remedies I’ve seen engineer’s call for to stabilize the construction of a home. Several of these remedies are preventive measures and one includes doing spread footings that are wider than typically called for in the code books – footings are the base of the home and what the foundation will sit upon. Another option I’ve seen is adding more rebar into the footings and/or foundation when the concrete is poured to make it stronger – rebar is reinforcing steel that is placed within the concrete when it’s poured. Yet another option is “piering” down through soft or fill dirt by drilling down to virgin soil and filling in the resulting hole with concrete. Piers may be a couple of feet deep or 10 feet deep or more, depending on the lot and other factors.
Coming up with options to prevent or correct a problem doesn’t have to be guesswork. An engineer can be called in to look the situation over and, if needed, provide an engineer’s report detailing how to stabilize the structure.
Posted by Jason A. Brown
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