Hammurabi ruled Babylon for 43 years and united all of Mesopotamia (1795-1750 BC). Hammurabi in his reign enacted a set of 282 laws to help govern his people, including procedures against poorly constructed homes.
In line with the “eye for an eye” rule of the day……….we see the brutality of the age, but also the seriousness involved with a builder not doing a good job.
Starting with rule of law #228,
228: If a builder build a house for some one and complete it, he shall give him a few of two shekels in money for each sar of surface.
229: If a builder build a house for some one, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built falls in and kills it’s owner, then that builder shall be put to death.
230: If it kills the son of the owner then the son of that builder shall be put to death.
231: If it kills a slave of the owner, then he shall pay slave for slave to the owner of the house.
232: If it ruin goods, he shall make compensation for all that has been ruined, and inasmuch as he did not construct properly this house which he built and it fell, he shall re-erect the house for his own means.
233: If a builder build a house for some one, even though he has not yet completed it; if then the walls seem toppling, the builder must make the walls solid from his own means.
Well, let’s be glad that we are not brutal like it was 3700 years ago, and that we have a different set of laws to redress our grievances against bad builders.
With laying a foundation for a home, it is rare that one should fall down, but every day when you hear news of a roof caving in or a wall falling over. Some roofs will not stand under certain conditions, such as wind, snow, and rain, when the conditions are severe enough. All walls and structures will collapse under certain conditions, but how can we predict those conditions and build our structures accordingly to prevent catastrophe?
When repairing a foundation, we can say that it has already failed. Most likely the foundation was laid according to the latest code laws, had an architect design the foundation, and experienced builders install it, but still it failed. There are cracks in the sheetrock. The brick is cracked. Doors will not close or lock properly. Nice, expensive bathroom tile is cracked and broken. Who’s fault is this?
Well, to install a foundation that will resist all the forces of Nature is probably too expensive for most people to afford. The code laws and rules of architecture apply to structures that will allow the structure to perform under MOST condtions, but not always.
Most foundation repair contractors repair a foundation in similar fashion. Supports, called underpinning, is added under the existing foundation in the area of failure, and we all hope that THEY will perform better than the original foundation. They are deeper, wider, and bigger than the original foundation, and usually they work, but not always. Some foundations will continue to settle anyway. After all, the new underpinning is most always set on soil, just like the original foundation, and not on rock. If it is possible to reach rock, then the foundation should be considered permanent. Even though going to rock is the most reliable way to secure a foundation from settlement, certain procedures must be met to secure it into the rock, and even then there is a far and remote chance that even that could fail. Unlikely, but it is possible.
One must first remember that rock is sometimes soft on top. The soft top section must be penetrated until the rock is hard. Sometimes Bedrock Foundation Repair, with our patented Torpedo Pier System, has had to penetrate over 17 feet of soft rock until it was hard enough to support a foundation. This soft rock we call weathered rock, and the hard rock is unweathered.
Water runs on top of the rock, and softens it up. Different types of rock will weather differently with water penetration, and some types of rock will disintegrate completely.
In repairing a foundation, should it settle afterwards, most companies will subsequently adjust the foundation again free of charge, as part of their warranty. This is much better than killing the contractor. Ever so often we find a “lemon” foundation, that requires adjustments again and again, and the contractor is faced with continual adjustments, and the owner is faced with the continual expense of repairing the sheetrock, tile and brick.
To avoid this scenario completely, one must install a foundation repair system that goes to rock. Once a test hole is drilled, then the depth to rock is known, and an exact price can be determined to place the foundation into solid rock. Sometimes the cost of going to rock in the first place is cheaper than continuing foundation repair costs and the consequential damages involved.
Most foundation repair systems perform as designed, and there should be little or no adjustments to be made in the near future, but some contractors cut corners, and also if the drainage is poor, then it may require subsequent work.
If certain procedures are followed, such as correcting the drainage, then the future adjustments can be kept at a minimum.