Failure Investigation
Failure investigation involves the application of scientific knowledge to reach a conclusion pertaining to the cause of distress occurred to a structural system.
SEG's engineers are well adept at performing failure investigations for commercial and residential properties, slope failure, and pavement distress.
SEG performed failure investigations for homeowners, homebuilders, general contractors, real estate agents, property managers, homeowner warranty companies, attorneys, and insurance companies.
Failure investigation is an integral part of any discovery procedure involving several parties. SEG performed hundreds of failure/distress investigations for insurance companies, attorneys and homeowners in cases involve below ground slab leaks or plumbing leaks into the crawl space for pier and beam foundation systems. In each of the aforementioned cases, SEG rendered an engineering opinion to the effect of the plumbing leak, if any, on the foundation performance.
Because SEG professional engineers worked on both sides of the isle, we are in a good position to render an unbiased opinion regarding the situation. If you feel that you are misrepresented, mislead or simply need a second opinion, please contact us.
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Plumbing Leaks
Plumbing leaks or slab leaks are perils covered by the standard homeowner insurance http://www.hannaplaut.com/pubs/slabonly.html. However, the influence of a plumbing/slab leak on foundation performance is often downplayed or confused with other environmental factors such as drought, tree roots affect, negative or flat subgrade along the house perimeter and the presence of fill materials beneath the floor slab. At least three of these factors are known to exist in virtually every house in the Metroplex.
It has been our experience that most insurance companies deny plumbing leak claims based on engineering opinions that rely heavily on environmental factors, with no consideration for the plumbing leak affect. In doing so, engineers typically use the following arguments/presumptions:
1. The leak did not discharge water or discharged limited quantities of water during normal
everyday usage (based on flow test results);
2. There is no hump or heaving soil at the leak location;
3. The subgrade movements and the related distress signs were caused by the recent drought,
the nearby trees, failure of the home owner to water around the foundation and flat or
inadequate drainage;
4. The subgrade soils at the leak locations are dry; and
5. There are no distress signs at the leak location.
Granted, some of these assumptions have merits; however, by far, the most frequent reason cited for claim denial is the absence of a hump at the leak location.
Our experience indicates that the presence of a hump at
the leak location is not the rule but rather the exception.
When the water escapes the plumbing lines, it flows by
gravity in the plumbing trenches. As it flows, it interacts
with the fill materials placed in the plumbing trenches
around the pipes. It is well documented that all
compacted soils (fill) are susceptible to wetting-induced
collapse or hydro-densification (decrease in volume
when wetted). Associated with the fill densification, erosion and weakening of the soil will typically occur. The combined effect of the aforementioned factors is slab dishing. The addition of water is necessary for collapse in compacted soil and could occur in a variety of ways including precipitation, regional ground water build up, broken water pipes and flooding. Therefore, it is prudent to consider the wetting-induced collapse potential for all compacted soil. In some instances, the water may pond in an area along the plumbing trench, and depending on the moisture content of the subgrade soils, heave or swelling may occur. Consequently, it is unrealistic and unscientific to always expect heave associated with distress signs at the leak location. Simply put, one of the major symptoms of plumbing leaks (i.e. slab dishing) is most often ignored or dismissed by the insurance companies.
SEG engineers have helped hundreds of homeowners in their plumbing leak investigations. If you need further assistance, please call us for details.
