Mudjacking!
 

Our basement floor has dropped almost 2 inches in one corner. I didn't realize how bad it was until I took out our hot tub last year. The house is built into a hillside and the part that has dropped is above grade (it's a walk-out basement).

I'm considering mudjacking (concrete raising) and am looking for any experience or opinions that others might have on the subject.

It sounds like you have a problem too common with lesser builders. Part of the foundation is either on fill. Or not deep enough below the frost line. Obviously you must raise that part of the house. I don't see where you have also mentioned binding windows, skewed doors, or foundation cracks. But the ultimate solution is to build a foundation under the house that is down to virgin earth and below the frost line.

It sounds like fun but isn't there a chance of infection or something? Just go with a clean water-soluble lube.

I think that most of the settling occurred in the first few years after the house was built (~1983). We didn't move in until 1998. There is evidence of cracks in some of the walls, and separation of the bath tubs from the tiles.

You're right - the house is not very well constructed. There's a lot of evidence of that. We're slowly trying to improve it, and there's still a lot to be done.

I believe that problems are partly due to expansive soils:

We get a lot of snow in the winter (October to April or May), then it's very dry in the summer.

I need to do a visual inspection of the exterior foundation, but much of it is currently under snow.

Unless you have rare and unusual soil (such as Dallas), then expansive soil is a myth created so that the building need not admit to his negligence. The term 'virgin soil' was critically important.

I wonder if we're blending terminology a little sloppily here. Soil usually refers to the upper layer of earth which is full of organic matter and is unsuitable for construction. I would tend to agree with tw though that they probably built on fill rather than virgin subsoil. I wonder if there are other things to consider, like improperly installed drains and whether the footer is below the frost-line? I don't know anything about mudjacking, keep us posted.

Here's a brief description of what I'm talking about:
http://geology.com/articles/expansive-soil.shtml

Soil does expand, but if you backfill with the proper material the "expansive soil" is isolated from the outer walls of the house. ymmv as I'm strictly an amateur and this is the innertubes.

We don't have much frost, but most of Adelaide is built on Clay. In my current rental I can watch cracks open and close a few millimeters with the dry and wet times. It is only really noticeable where it had got a bit wide and the landlord had it filled and painted. Then we had good rains for a year or so and the crack has tried to close up, causing a mini-mountain range to pop out of the wall. :smack:

I agree.

If we do the mudjacking and get everything level, I wonder if this will lead to problems like Dr. Gum mentioned.

I'm glad you went there, means I don't have to.

:D

I also agree with Griff.

Do you now, spencer? Nice to meet you, but this is kinda an old thread to dig up? What are your plans for the holiday season?

I went to school with a Jennifer Moseley.

We lived in Moseley

Moseley was a servant on Downton Abbey. Poor Moselely. Such an awkward man.

Mos Eisley was a spaceport on Tatooine.

Rudolph's on strike. He wants mo sleigh.

The comments in this thread are mos'ly below the level expected of the Cellar. Our standards are sinking, we need a concrete plan for raising our expectations.

Maybe that expanding foam could raise the level?

"Foam Jacking"??
Hope it doesn't turn out like this:
4/12/2006: Ellsworth AFB foam test

I't's only in one corner of the cellar, I suspect due to expansive posts

Maybe the Cellar's foundation of soapboxes was undermined by hot air.

Well, The Cellar was built on a slippery slope, with a walk-out option

haaahahahahah!

Well.

Mudjacking sounds like a sexual act.

It can be. ;)

I just want to interject a little something here.

Seeing this thread revived makes me really miss hunglikejesus.

No problem, interjecting is the subject under discussion. ;)

Wink wink