Cinder block support

[Richard W. Washington]

Since we do not have too many crawl spaces around here I wanted to get a take from everyone on this cinder block support. I've called for a SE but am wondering if I'm overdoing it. There were several like this.

[Michael R. Boyett]

You are not overdoing it. I probably would have recommended a professional foundation repair company instead of an SE but that's just me. In any case it is "In Need of Repair" or soon to be "Deficent".

[Richard W. Washington]

Thanks Michael. So the SE would not be necessary since it seems so obvious that their is need for repair.

[Dale Duffy]

Originally Posted by mboyett

You are not overdoing it. I probably would have recommended a professional foundation repair company instead of an SE but that's just me. In any case it is "In Need of Repair" or soon to be "Deficent".

Ditto....the engineer then says Yep...you need a foundation contractor, unless the foundation contractor does not have an engineer they work with (then of course the engineer will design a repair for a foundation contractor)...but I have never seen or heard of that being the case (a foundation contractor who did not have an engineer to refer to or design the repair).

So in my opinion, it saves people money referring "Foundation Contractors", not engineers.....

[Richard A. Hetzel]

Those look more like concrete block than "cinder" block...there is a difference, but yes, evaluation by a foundation repair contractor would seem to be in order, unless the photographer was standng at an angle. =)

[Russel Ray]

Ditto what Michael, Richard, Dale, and Richard said.

[George P. Wells, CMI]

Originally Posted by rwashington

Since we do not have too many crawl spaces around here I wanted to get a take from everyone on this cinder block support. I've called for a SE but am wondering if I'm overdoing it. There were several like this.

Not good. Also, it is probably not cinder block.

[David P. Valley]

Originally Posted by dduffy

Ditto....the engineer then says Yep...you need a foundation contractor, unless the foundation contractor does not have an engineer they work with (then of course the engineer will design a repair for a foundation contractor)...but I have never seen or heard of that being the case (a foundation contractor who did not have an engineer to refer to or design the repair).

So in my opinion, it saves people money referring "Foundation Contractors", not engineers.....

You got issues there.

I concur with Dale's thoughts. I've had bad experiences with SE's who over-charged my clients and then told them to simply monitor questionable cracks over time.

I do not recommend SE's anymore. I advise my clients to contact a home builder in the area who is familiar with foundations.

[Russel Ray]

Originally Posted by dvalley

I've had bad experiences with SE's who over-charged my clients and then told them to simply monitor questionable cracks over time.

I do not recommend SE's anymore. I advise my clients to contact a home builder in the area who is familiar with foundations.

If I have to recommend someone to look at a foundation, I'll "recommend further evaluation by a qualified foundation professional or a licensed structural engineer."

The difference here is that the "qualified foundation professionals" are usually people who were licensed structural engineers in other states but found the licensing process in California to be too burdensome. The "qualified foundation professionals," however, do not charge as much as the "licensed structural engineer," so that's a plus. We have a very, very good company here called Atlas that is owned and operated by a bunch of women who got their degrees in engineering and/or were licensed engineers in other states before moving here. They are extremely competent with excellent bedside manners, and if, after "further evaluating" the structure, their recommendation is to "simply monitor questionable cracks over time," then they don't charge. They only charge if there is something that needs to be repaired. Just an all-around excellent organization. (Hmmmmmmm. I should send them this advertisement. They've been on me lately because I haven't been advertising enough for them. ).

[Richard W. Washington]

thanks for all the input. helped alot for verbage.