Reno gone wrong..

[MarkNov]

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/toronto-hou...193135374.html

[philthegreek]

Where's Mike Holmes when ya need him?? LOL

[dave_k]

Under the OBC 2006 all underpinning is supposed to be designed and supervised by a P.eng.

It looks like they saved a couple of grand on engineering fees and permits and lost $500k + demolition costs on the building.

I wonder if the fire department will charge for responding to a self inflicted emergency. If it was a commercial job they would.

[David Meiland]

Does licensing there require liability insurance?

[tomthetoolman40]

It looks like they saved a couple of grand on engineering fees and permits and lost $500k + demolition costs on the building.

From the article......."I don't want to speculate and say it's a contractor error," Mark Sraga, a building official with the City of Toronto, said Thursday. "We're not sure exactly what occurred ... From what we've seen, they did have permits to do the work, which is the first step of a responsible contractor."

[dave_k]

Does licensing there require liability insurance?

Licensing is up to the municipality. In our municipality there is no contractor licensing and no requirement for liability insurance. Liability requirements are stipulated in contract agreements, although anyone with anything to lose is going to carry insurance. Residential contracting outside of new home construction, which operates under an industry wide bonding and warrantee program is wide open.

[dave_k]

From the article......."I don't want to speculate and say it's a contractor error," Mark Sraga, a building official with the City of Toronto, said Thursday. "We're not sure exactly what occurred ... From what we've seen, they did have permits to do the work, which is the first step of a responsible contractor."

It's good that they have a permit. As I said earlier underpinning has to be designed and supervised by a p.eng. so my guess is either they were working on something that wasn't covered by the permit or the engineer didn't do his job.

[Total-Home]

There was a similar case around here about 10 years ago, except the work was not being done with permits or licesnes.

An owner hired a bunch of guys to dog out the basement and underpin. Something went wrong, the house shifted. A neighbor called the city who inspected that day, fenced off the house and demo'd it before the end of the day. They were afraid it would take down neighboring houses. The owners were not allowed in to retrieve any possessions.

The rumors were that the owner sued their insurance company and got them to pay to rebuild. I recall the new house was a god awful ugly thing in a neighborhood of really nice frame victorians.

[philthegreek]

I just designed an addition that requires underpinning of the foundation under the original structure. The "concrete sub" is telling the owners that it is not needed and would cost too much money to implement. I am requiring 2 different pours and additional excavation, but it's not extravagant. I have a meeting with the owners tonight to discuss the issue. I want the underpinning at load points done before the majority of the original foundation is undermined. Of course, when the house settles, that concrete contractor will be nowhere to be found. This is for an ADA compliant In-Law addition for a woman who will be confined to a wheelchair inside of a year. The foundation is fairly complicated to allow very close clearances to the grade and avoid extensive ramping all around, plus have a full height basement for storage and workshop area which would eliminate an outbuilding. When you cheap out, the situation in the article happens.

Phil

[dave_k]

When you cheap out, the situation in the article happens.

Four times out of five you're concrete sub would be proven right but that one time that he's wrong will wipe out all that you save on the other four time x 100.

I worked with a very good superintendent who took a chance one time too many when adding to an Anglican cathedral and ended up on the front page of the newspaper when the back wall of the cathedral collapsed and the pipe organ ended up in the ditch.

That didn't go over too well.

I like to play it safe and shore the crap out of everything then underpin in small bites.

[philthegreek]

I did an addition a few years ago that I posted on the forums. I took the same approach but with the original foundation being of field stone. Still solid without a single crack anywhere. After I underpinned load points, I nibbled away at 2 foot increments. Yeah it took a little time, but I'm not a minimalist so I'm pleased with the history so far.
I'm not building this addition, just doing the design work. I met with the clients this evening and explained my philosophy and told them I would not alter the design to suit the contractor because I was much more interested in the longevity of the structure than $2000 on the foundation costs.

Phil