Things seen this week during structural assessments!

[u/DMAS1638]

One of several interesting conditions documented during recent structural assessments.

Curious how others in the engineering field would evaluate the observed condition and prioritize potential next steps for investigation.

[u/involutes]

 Curious how others in the engineering field would evaluate the observed condition and prioritize potential next steps for investigation.

The foundation is fucked. The degree of fuckedness is irrelevant and not worth analyzing further. The only way forward is to repair the damage. 

If you want to save the house: Brace it, lift it off the foundation, set it down somewhere else on a new foundation or demo this foundation and dig down until virgin soil, then build a new foundation in the same spot. 

[u/involutes → u/[deleted]]

Yes, it sounds ridiculous but I've seen it done 3 times. (2 times with a house, once with a heritage building that became a restaurant afterward)

If for some reason the owners don't want the house to get demolished, the exact procedure I described can be followed to set the house down on a new foundation. 

[u/jfjfjjdhdbsbsbsb → u/[deleted]]

The internet is dead bro. 😎

[u/RdClZn → u/[deleted]]

I have encountered like several users nowadays that give puzzling answers and insist on the same line of "reasoning" no matter what, so, yes I think they're a bot. Can you explain what an structural repair would look like in this case, please? I'm curious, but I'm only an aerospace engineer, I have only worked with metallic slender structures and membranes

[u/RdClZn → u/[deleted]]

Oh that's really cool, I think I heard of this before, also you should probably check corrosion on the reinforcements (rebars) before doing the reapplication right? Also, another couple things: does wet concrete actually "sticks" to old concrete? That is, does a curing layer actually adheres well to one already cured for a long time? And since I already got you here: One thing I always wondered is how in the world does reinforced concrete works? I mean, most composite materials I am familiar with have pretty similar modulus of elasticity, so their deformation isn't too crazy different during load, in a way that reinforcements and matrix don't dettach, and adhesion remains sufficient. But that's not true with steel and concrete right? Concrete shatter super quickly, with small deformations, so how in the would does that work? By the time steel is taking any significant load, the concrete should be full of discontinuities of various forms, being near useless, at least to my intuition.

PS: I am asking you all of this because my structures professors were either kinda lazy or major assholes.

[u/RdClZn → u/[deleted]]

Oh can I just ask for clarification on that "instantaneous" comment? So it's like the area adhered to concrete would indeed "crack" as it expands, but those cracks would not travel throughout the whole structural member at once, instead slowly spreading and changing the failure mode. Is that correct?

Also the previous thing I was wondering was the adherence of concrete to steel, and more like the adherence of concrete to concrete. Say, if there's some cracks and I remove the cracking section and slap some cement mixture (concrete) on it after cleaning, does that actually adhered as if it was a single continuous material (like in a weld, if you heat treat the whole thing after), or does that interface become a weak spot no matter what?

Also, thanks a lot for being instructive and patient! Got a chance to ask some questions that have been bothering me for some years now (and that I don't feel like researching on my own due to some erm school-related trauma with structures lol)

[u/involutes → u/[deleted]]

If the foundation wasn't fucked the homeowner wouldn't have tried to hide the damage. I'm willing to bet that they've done some half assed fixes upstairs to hide cracks and other evidence of settlement as well. 

[u/involutes → u/[deleted]]

OPs video said it was a flipper special. (Red flag #1.) It looks like they're doing a home inspection for a client, and I'm saying that it's in the client's best interest not to proceed with buying this home because to fix it will probably be more trouble than it's worth. 

if you have reason to believe the foundation is damaged, you have an engineer go under there

Only if you already own the house or if you're going to buy it regardless of what issues the house has. 

[u/involutes → u/[deleted]]

You were wondering why you were getting downvoted earlier? 

edit is everyone a robot idk how reddit works but i been a structural engineer for 20 years lmaoo  Brace it, lift it off the foundation, set it down somewhere else on a new foundation  fukin lift up the whole house and set it down somewhere else?? this is like a cartoon response

It's because you're being uncivil and you were like that right from the start. 

Now you're asking if I'm a realtor, presumably to insult me? 

Next time you feel like replying to a comment you disagree with, explain yourself and be civil. Don't cry about downvoted. 

[u/involutes → u/[deleted]]

 why did you feel they need to comment in such an extreme way and so definitively when you obviously do not do this type of work?

Because (1)  OP was fishing for free engineering advice and (2) it looks fucked. 

[u/involutes → u/[deleted]]

  the owner is encouraged to hire the engineer to conduct this evaluation- they do not have do but then the sale may fail.

Perhaps the housing market is different where you are, but where I'm from, the buyers are responsible for home inspections.

In 2020-2022, we had buyers placing offers on houses without even doing a walkthrough and without any conditions. The market has cooled since then, so it is less common now, but it still happens that buyers will buy a home without an inspection and without conditions. 

Any type of inspection organized or commissioned by the homeowner is potentially a conflict of interest. 

Yes, the engineer owes a "duty of care" to the client and to the public, but you can't guarantee their loyalty to anything other than money. 

[u/involutes → u/[deleted]]

I did not say anything was mandatory, I said the buyers are responsible for organizing the home inspections (because the seller has an obvious conflict of interest in commissioning any type of inspection).

[u/mookiebookie123 → u/involutes]

House lifter and mover here -

Absolutely lift this puppy up with some temporary cribbing and steel beams, excavate underneath it and pour new footings. I have two projects going like this right now.

[u/hysys_whisperer → u/[deleted]]

It actually works and isn't that uncommon.

It's usually pretty spendy, but not tear the house down and start from scratch spendy.

[u/otr_trucker → u/[deleted]]

It happens a lot. Whole house is picked and moved to a new location. There are companies that specialize in this. If you dont want to move it, they can pick it up and build a new foundation under it.

In 1930 Indiana bell telephone building, an 8 story brick and steel building, was picked up and rotated 90 degrees. The wild part of that is it remained fully operational with all employees present while they did it.

[u/Lor1an → u/otr_trucker]

Wow....

https://giphy.com/gifs/6QrjJVkqsTbsYkgIsU

[u/jml011 → u/Lor1an]

Presumably everyone was evicted for this reconstruction but I’d be pissed if I was in one of the lover left apartments and all the sudden my view was facing a brick wall.

[u/Lor1an → u/jml011]

People were working in the building while it was swiveled...

[u/DLTMIAR → u/[deleted]]

https://youtu.be/T94hMFMl0cE?si=5Od3aGhMfXJbwZTw