All Forum Posts by: Josue Vargas

Hi all, I'm new to BP, and I have some questions about investing NOW or WAIT.  

I wish to have some advice; first should I focus on pay debt and wait and then save for invest in more properties, or should I start now, with some equity on my house?   What about 401K transfers towards investments?    

I got an increase of almost 30K from last year in average.  Looking to protest!  

@Dannielle Hoffman

I would not even bother to see any "you tube" foundation construction methods, unless you want to DIY for a fence or something small, not for a house. And if you do, good luck. No hard feelings, but unless you are building some of the "very tiny houses like you seen in TV (real estate pornography)", you are asking for trouble in the long run. Not to mention permits and reviews of plans, etc....

Be careful with "experienced" contractors. Remember, they want your business, they will likely tell you that you have to contract them because of maybe some minor, or major issues. Major issues are the exception to look to contractors, but please let them know you are looking for competitive bids and you are contacting others.

Foundation damages are not likely cause from plumbing issues, this is related to old plumbing issues like old materials and such, not a foundation issue unless the leakage is causing soft pockets of soil underneath the slab. And that should be a leakage form years affecting not a spot bot a big area of the house to reflect any foundation issues.

@Mark Trantham thanks for the post and welcome to BP! 

@Dannielle Hoffman

There is no solution for expansive soils once the house/foundation is built other than control the runoff water or underground water once foundation is repaired. 

The best solution, if there is for sure expansive soils, is to design the foundations to support that.  Examples  are, testing the soil before construction, and excavating the material and replacing with good compacted aggregate base course or other plataforms, then design the slab thicker enough to "bridge" any soil movements under the slab. 

Remediation of settlement or differential settlement issues usually works just fine for houses that have no expansion soils and have already settle for a long time (20+ year houses).  

Keep in mind that all houses settle some, specially new houses, but that doesn't necessarily means an issue to the foundation.  These settlements are uniform and small enough not causing issues to the structural integrity of the house.  The problem is large settlements and specially differential  settlements.  Like someone explained above, some areas of the house settle more or quicker than others, causing cracks on  slabs, structure issues, and the worst, water issues! 

@Mitchell Patterson, @Dannielle Hoffman, @Rick Pozos

Interesting the photos, I would not be concern of the plaster hairline cracks.  Anything above 1/4", I would if its on the structural side of things, not plaster. The cracks on the garage seems to be very normal, perhaps they were wider before the foundation repair. If this is the case, super really good job for the contractor!! Please let me know which one work on these! 

I would agree with Mitchell that expansive soil is a huge problem, and the best way to deal with it is replacing it or some sort of great drainage on the surface. Unfortunately, once the house is built and the topography or drainage can't be improve without extensive work or costs, there is little room. i.e. The soil expands, you repair the foundation, only to see it moving again because of the drought season, then the wet season (also cold and hot seasons, which are likely related here in San Antonio). Cracks will likely open and close depending on the season and moisture content on the soil and all that. For example, you repaired a foundation with a contractor, and you didn't take care of the major drainage problem, cracks will likely appear again, and you will complain about the "poor job" the subcontractor did on your house. Hopefully these cracks are minor and you can say that the house was repaired properly.

Loving this discussion, hope some geotechnical engineers can provide some advice.  

@Mitchell Patterson, @Dannielle Hoffman, @Rick Pozos

Did any of you read my post?  I'm sure there are static load testing for foundations, and yes, there are also pressurized static testing on water pipe lines or other pressurized lines; they are very different from each other.  There are also static loads (pressure) drain test.  These are likely done on sanitary manholes and pipe sewers before construction for storm water and sanitary systems of greater sizes (pipes ranging from 15" diameter or above, manholes or sections of 36" or above), not a 4" or at most, 6" drainage pipes coming from a house.  No need to do a water pressure testing, it will likely be obvious if there are any leaks in the house from broken pipes due to foundation problems, but be careful and always check the attic if you have access (also ask for water bills if available).   

All depends on who give you that advice of foundation testing... someone that is a professional engineer or someone that heard it before and somehow thought that all this is applicable for all types of foundation?

@Patrick Regan

I would consider @Scott Choppin great questions.  I might be wrong, but to me the comps you are listing are not near your 3500 sf new house on a 9K sf lot.  Still, I see your point on the old or renovated houses with less to offer and selling for an astronomic 1-2.2M.  Still, these are huge difference between them.  

Maybe you should consider spend some $ in an appraisal for your land "as is".  Also, from your comments, looks like some other owners (assuming same subdivision/comps) are revitalizing their properties by demo and new construction, and some other are just very old/tear down properties. This might be a factor for comps as well and scare a lot of investors. 

There is a service that I heard, thought never used it before but planning to do so before May 31 (deadline for filing the protest in my case).  The service is taxprotest.me and they actually have a webinar today (May 5) at 2 pm and its free.  Believe the service cost you only $20 for each property report.  PM me if you like to know the details of the webinar. 

@Danielle Hoffman 

It will be difficult to tell foundation issues by %, it is like everywhere else, poor quality construction leads to issues including poor compaction of base/soil where the foundation was built, which causes foundation problems. Houses here in San Antonio are mainly constructed on slab on grade foundations.

Houses in San Antonio topically do not have basements, so you will likely see any bowing walls (due to hydrostatic soil pressure against walls). Cracks and floors not level are some of the best indication of foundation issues. Cracks will developed particularly from openings, such as windows and doors. Open and close every single door inside the house, is any door not closing correctly and stuck in the floor/carpet? Look for recently repaired brick mortar, especially diagonally from the corners of the openings. Cracks are obvious, but also look for large openings on wooden floors or tiles; however, unfortunately is hard to know/feel cracks under carpet. Recently patch walls with fresh paint to cover repair of cracks. If you are unsure if the floor is level, buy a construction level with a laser from the big dollar store, and place on the floor and measure from one corner to the other on a room. Some of this may not be related to foundation issues but just poor quality construction and other, but I recommend using your judgment the best you can.

I’ve seen and inspected static testing. Basically, is a test to tell you how much settlement an existing pier foundation have with time when applying a static load (this loads are usually huge, 60 to 32 Tons of concrete blocks or a hydraulic actuator set-up to provide these loads). The settlement is measured by some gauges. The designer of records should have made the calculations for this piers to settle some, and the test will confirm the engineer calculations for the design before continuing construction of the structure (bridges, high rise buildings, etc, definitely not a single house or small apartment complex). That said, these tests are expensive and more for multi-million construction projects. I’m not sure how you can apply this on an existing home, especially if it’s likely to be built on slab foundation. There may be other simpler tests that could be done on existing houses and that could be affordable, none that I know yet.

If I were buying a house with foundation issues, I would likely call a structural engineer or geotechnical engineer and pay him to take a look and quick advice of what he thinks. Also I would call at least two companies that focus mainly in foundation repair and have them take a look for an estimate. 

@Peter Schaub, Talk to a Professional Surveying company in the Austin area.  They do subdivisions, and most likely know the Austin Metropolitan area, what is hot, what clients are subdividing, where new projects are coming into the area, etc.  Keep in mind that this service is often provided by engineering firms [Land Development companies] like @Jay Hinrichs said.  

Land development is very expensive by nature, depending on the upgrades to the facility (permits, earth movements, storm drainage, utility services connections, county and city fees, sanitary improvements that the city may assign with your improvement, permitting, storm water pollution fees and costs, roads improvements and parking lots requirements, etc.)  

Well done, is very rewarding.  I would recommend not to hire necessarily the less expensive engineering firm.  Must of established companies have great reputation and will do a great job for you, also they tend to be more expensive.  Just interview them with a plan, and you will judge from there and the experience with the city.  Also ask for references for the not so top companies.  There are few companies just starting doing great job and trying to compete.