Post Tension Foundation Repair in Arizona

Video Playlist about: Foundation Repair in Arizona

Skilled Craftsmen structural foundation repairs, waterproofed and painted in Arizona.

I was asked to come by this home and this tile is caving upwards and a lot of people will assume that there’s a crack in the floor there. May be and there may not be. However, water vapor transmission comes up through the floor, because of the water being held near the perimeter foundation. We’ll go outside here in a moment. The temperature conditions underneath this slab and the slab itself. The tile is like 3/8 inch thick tile. The atmospheric conditions here in the atmosphere are warmer than it is in the slab and underneath the slab. So the tile starts to elongate. When the tile starts to elongate in a bottleneck area, where this transition is, over here the tile on this side is a little bit more forceful. The tile on that side has a little bit more force, and where they meet in the middle, is where this moisture underneath this slab is, laminated the tile from its thin set on the floor. The humidity difference has caused the atmospheric conditions to warm up the tile. The tile then starts getting more active and starts expanding. This is what we’re seeing. It’s expanding and coming up. If you’ve lived in Arizona long enough you’ll see sidewalks look like a teepee. That’s the same thing on a sidewalk, except here on an interior floor, it’s happening with the thin tile. The temperature of the tile is warmer than the slab. The substrate, that’s below it.

Going outside. I was on the other side of the AC over there. I’ve already walked this property. I’m recommending six inch aluminum seamless rain gutters on the side of this house with the brackets to hold that gutter out out level and the downspout just on the other side of that fence. A little bit more dirt grading on the other side in the front, to allow for that water to flow away. Six-inch gutter with 6-inch downspout with a four foot six inch downspout extension and dirt grading on this side. Remove this water from this area that is being pounded and forced up against this house. Water vapor is going underneath this shallow foundation post tension. This foundation is only 12 inches tall. It’s easy for moisture to go through then because of the other evidence in the hallway just above the area where we were. There’s a crack in the ceiling, starting a little bit of stress. There’s likely a vertical break in this foundation here. So when you hold this, the hydraulic static pressure is forcing that moisture through to the inside of the floor evaporating or humidity up delaminating the tile, and you know the rest of that story.

This foundation goes to this inside corner and then comes back out this section of the home can move independently then this section of the home. From this area through the house all the way to the front door. This section can move and the front section can move independently, we need to control that movement. What’s causing the movement, water, water saturation near shallow foundations. This is a post tension only 12 inches, improving dirt grade where rain gutters can’t be established. Just improving the dirt grade, moving the decorative rocks back, importing screen, classified, topsoil, really fine soils, and compacting that into place. You don’t want to come up to encroach to much more than three inches from the drip on the side of this stucco, and slope it out three to four feet. Then put the decorative rocks back.

Here the dirt grade could be improved. You can remove some of this dirt, not rocks, but the dirt. You can use this dirt to put back there where we just were. Increasing this slope here to force whatever atmospheric rain would be landing here would be an improvement. However the biggest portion is going to be controlling this water coming off of this roof. If you calculate the length and width and depth of one-inch rain on top of this roof. And then you consolidate it and force it near a 12 inch post tension foundation, you’re going to get moisture in the soil that’s holding up the vertical load being applied down to it but gravity. Six inch aluminum seamless rain gutters is a must for this home. Going into the garage.

On my way to the garage I forgot about this vertical break in the foundation. This is what I look for, vertical breaks in a monolithic foundation. Meaning monolithic, the foundation perimeter and interior floor are all poured in one piece, monolithic. So when I see a break here, there’s a break on the interior floor when you see a break, the crack is bigger at the top than it is at the bottom. That means it’s opening at the top, so one side, this side, is moving down. And we see there is moisture. This separation if this is a construction joint. It’s always going to move independently. The house moves differently than this gait section here. if you put a rigid material here, it’s going to continue to break open. Just a cheap, inexpensive caulking that has elasticity to move back and forth, control the water.

Going around the corner. So this section of the garage here. Another gutter, bring this gutter around and put it just to that sidewalk right there, Just so it has an opportunity to come down and sit right there. You can put it on the other side, bring it around and set it right there. It gives it the mobility and flow to move away from the home. Other evidence is spalling. The degradation of the surface of concrete whether it’s horizontal or vertical. The efflorescence salt deposit chews into the surface of the concrete deteriorating, causing spalling and then you see these aggregates. A crack in a slab. If you see a crack put one foot on one side, one on the other and point at a ninety degree angle to where the issue is going to be, there is too much water over here that’s the driveway.

Coming into the interior floor of the garage post-tension. This slab has darkened areas in this crack. This is evidence of moisture, darkness inside of slabs underneath slabs will show darkness. Water vapor transmission. This would be a great example of what is going on on the interior of the floor where we started this video. There’s enough water vapor here that’s causing this staining and efflorescence salt is migrating up through. So four pounds or higher of water vapor. If this floor had tile on it, there would be delamination from this floor. Same thing is happening on the interior floor. So if you have cracks in the floors you look up and see if there’s any cracks in the ceiling in the drywall. There is. So with these suggestions and expressions that this home is giving, it all comes back to control the water. Termites need moisture in the soil to tunnel. This is a termite tube, but can’t tell, I’m not a termite guy. I know what termite tubes look like, cuz I’ve had them. Termites need moisture in the soil to tunnel. We got another crack here. One foot on one side, one on the other, in this case my two fingers. Boom that’s where the moisture is, that’s where the termites are. That’s where this is coming down. Need rain gutters. Control the water, you will control termites, you will control settlement. This side of the garage has a crack at the weakest link, which are doorways, windows and thresholds. So if this is moving down, we’re gonna see a triangulated crack right here, and this with the termites, it’s undisputable, it is moisture.

And this is a side I was talking about. About bringing these gutters out. Six inch aluminum seamless with the bracket to hold it out away from that fascia so it’s level on top and you can just bring it on the other side. Put another gutter out here – two down barrels, a double barrel. It’s a pretty good size roof, and then landscape this area so there’s this little swell that runs through here, french drain if you will.

This concludes my evaluation of this home. For more information, watch my videos, Concrete Repairman LLC on Youtube.

Thanks for watching and have a great day!