With so much flood plain land around Texas, I have seen builders bring in fill dirt to raise and level the land, so that it no longer falls into the flood plain category. However, the problem with fill dirt is that is has to settle for at least a year or more prior to that soil being built upon.
Having lived this same situation in Grapevine, we found the hill our house was sitting on was all fill dirt, and that the foundation was laid immediately after the soil was in place. The problem with not allowing fill to settle is that it will develop sink holes and shift; especially when there is a lot of rain such as we’ve been seeing both here in North TX and in SA.
I believe the engineers will find this is the case for this subdivision. Otherwise why would such a tall retainer wall have been installed? It is my understanding that there was no permit for this retaining wall obtained from the City of SA; as in this case retainer walls of this height are rarely approved.
The City is at fault for allowing 1)fill dirt to be built upon without being allowed to settle and 2) if a code officer saw that retainer wall it should have been disclosed immediately to the City. Why did SA look the other way???
The burden is both the builders and the city’s issue. They did not stop the builder from building on this land; nor did they stop the installation of a retaining wall that could only bear so much weight prior to collapsing.
I feel horrid for these homeowner’s as of course none of this was disclosed. Just like our home in Grapevine. The developer of the subdivision is as liable as the city in our case; thus the only thing we could to to save the house was to continue to add support beams to keep it from collapsing. The yard was full of sink holes yet there was no disclosure.
Check it out engineers as a topography map would show the land prior to build up in the City’s records.
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With so much flood plain land around Texas, I have seen builders bring in fill dirt to raise and level the land, so that it no longer falls into the flood plain category. However, the problem with fill dirt is that is has to settle for at least a year or more prior to that soil being built upon.
Having lived this same situation in Grapevine, we found the hill our house was sitting on was all fill dirt, and that the foundation was laid immediately after the soil was in place. The problem with not allowing fill to settle is that it will develop sink holes and shift; especially when there is a lot of rain such as we’ve been seeing both here in North TX and in SA.
I believe the engineers will find this is the case for this subdivision. Otherwise why would such a tall retainer wall have been installed? It is my understanding that there was no permit for this retaining wall obtained from the City of SA; as in this case retainer walls of this height are rarely approved.
The City is at fault for allowing 1)fill dirt to be built upon without being allowed to settle and 2) if a code officer saw that retainer wall it should have been disclosed immediately to the City. Why did SA look the other way???
The burden is both the builders and the city’s issue. They did not stop the builder from building on this land; nor did they stop the installation of a retaining wall that could only bear so much weight prior to collapsing.
I feel horrid for these homeowner’s as of course none of this was disclosed. Just like our home in Grapevine. The developer of the subdivision is as liable as the city in our case; thus the only thing we could to to save the house was to continue to add support beams to keep it from collapsing. The yard was full of sink holes yet there was no disclosure.
Check it out engineers as a topography map would show the land prior to build up in the City’s records.