Drought condition impact on new concrete slab
Drought condition impact on new concrete slab
(OP)
We are experiencing a drought condition in Dallas that has left the area without rain for 60+ days. I am about start construction on a large home that will be on a "engineered" post tensioned slab on piers. The soil is black clay and I am concerned about the possibility of heaving once the water returns to the soil. Comments?





RE: Drought condition impact on new concrete slab
The heave potential of these clays is significant!
RE: Drought condition impact on new concrete slab
You might check with a local geotechnical engineer to see if there are any soil/ground improvement techniques being used on the residential scale (i.e. lime treatment) These can be cost effective for commercial construction but not sure about residential.
Good luck.
RE: Drought condition impact on new concrete slab
If your grade beams were on piers, I hope you used void boxes underneath them. Some of the electrochemical products seem to work well on some of the fat clays, but not all. If your slab was fully structurally supported rather than soil supported, you probably don't have too much to worry about providing you used void boxes there as well.
RE: Drought condition impact on new concrete slab
We havn't seen any signs of stress or problems with the foundation during this extreme re-hydration of the soil. I'm guessing that if there were issues, we would have seen it by now.
The slab is post tensioned with beams that are on piers. I'm not a structural engineer, so I'm not sure what a void box is or what it function it provides. I'll have to contact the engineering company that designed the slab to find out if void boxes were used. Can you explain what I should ask?
RE: Drought condition impact on new concrete slab