What are major concerns with slab construction houses?

Question

I have had people tell me to stay away from slab construction houses and not to sure why. I am looking at buying another rental and stayed away from slab construction but have noticed the ones i liked but stayed away from sold fairly quickly. Just wanted to know what the disadvantages were to slab construction?

Jeff B. · Answer

They are cheaper to build.  However

• all plumbing is laid and the slap is poured over it
• thus it can be very expensive to repair

There are areas where the soil is said to be "massively expansive" and it expands or contracts with water.  A few cycles of this and the slap gets cracked, even displaced vertically by some height and now you're tripping when walking across the room.

When there's significant displacement, the pipes can break, the water bill goes thru the roof AND you need a total plumbing reroute to the attic and down the walls to the fixtures.  I've also seen the entire interior jack-hammered out to get access to the plumbing.

Getting a soil engineer to evaluate the ground and asking your agent about

"massively expansive soil" in the area should be sufficient to know where you stand.

I live in such an area and have not had a problem since we moved in 24 years ago.