# How screwed am I?



## Nick1001 (Nov 4, 2012)

My second floor toilet leaked through to my downstairs powder room, since I've wanted to make it a full bathroom I figured now is the time. So today I started to jack up the floor. Here's what I found:





























From as far as I can see there's about a 1' gap between the dirt and concrete. 

I'm just starting to make phone calls now to my mason and insurance company. I figured I'd throw it out to everyone on here too. 

My question is, do you think everything will need to be jacked up? Or can cement be pumped in through the hole?


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## fjn (Aug 17, 2011)

In my location (mid-west) there are companies that do pump a slurry mix of cement to raise slabs. The process is called mud jacking.How extensive of an area needs to be filled ?


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## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

Is it slab on grade or post-tensioned?


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## Nick1001 (Nov 4, 2012)

It's a slab on grade. My house is a split level. The ground level is my garage/shop and kids playroom. Playroom is 15'x15' and garage is 15'x20'. I'm not sure how much is affected, but it looks like everywhere. 








There was a crack where I made the hole. I figured it was just a crack, I wasn't expecting to find this. There's cracks in the garage, not as bad as the one in the powder room, but it makes me think that it goes all the way out to there.


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## fjn (Aug 17, 2011)

To get a feel of how large of an area may have voids,you can tap on the slab with a 3-4 lb.mash hammer.There will be a distinct sound (hollow) over the voids. You can then drill 1/4" pilot holes if voids are suspected,that will give a ballpark indication as to the depth of the void.


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## Nick1001 (Nov 4, 2012)

fjn said:


> To get a feel of how large of an area may have voids,you can tap on the slab with a 3-4 lb.mash hammer.There will be a distinct sound (hollow) over the voids. You can then drill 1/4" pilot holes if voids are suspected,that will give a ballpark indication as to the depth of the void.



I'll try that now. Thanks!


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## TheBuiltCo (Jul 6, 2015)

Your insurance company is not going to offer any coverage whatsoever-
They will however count this as a claim against your policy/premium and make it part of the CLUE database. If they've issued a claim # it is likely too late but I would try and cancel the claim.

Not trying to make your bad day even worse but your policy isn't going to cover defects or workmanship. You have a 1% shot of getting an inexperienced adjuster that may accidentally offer coverage but if his file gets checked they'll kick it back.


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## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

That is not a defect or workmanship. In a SOG there is no way for that to have been original. They covered my underslab water leakage without a squeak, and that is probably what that is.


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## Nick1001 (Nov 4, 2012)

TheBuiltCo said:


> Your insurance company is not going to offer any coverage whatsoever-
> They will however count this as a claim against your policy/premium and make it part of the CLUE database. If they've issued a claim # it is likely too late but I would try and cancel the claim.
> 
> Not trying to make your bad day even worse but your policy isn't going to cover defects or workmanship. You have a 1% shot of getting an inexperienced adjuster that may accidentally offer coverage but if his file gets checked they'll kick it back.
> ...



This issue has nothing to do with the toilet leak. I haven't called insurance yet, I'm still waiting on answers of how I'm going to fix it then I'll start getting them involved. They've been out for the damage the toilet caused, I'm still trying to straighten that out.


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## CompleteW&D (May 28, 2011)

Nick1001 said:


> This issue has nothing to do with the toilet leak. I haven't called insurance yet, I'm still waiting on answers of how I'm going to fix it then I'll start getting them involved. They've been out for the damage the toilet caused, I'm still trying to straighten that out.


I wouldn't even show them that, at this point. I would have a concrete raising company out first and get their take on what happened. They will have a pretty good handle on whether or not it's an insurable claim.

Like *TheBuiltCo* mentions, if it's NOT an insurable claim, the claim still goes against you and the noted problem goes in your data base. Which of course, then either gets your rates hiked tremendously or cancelled altogether.

Good luck either way. That doesn't look like it's gonna be any fun.


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## TNTRenovate (Aug 19, 2010)

Wouldn't a structural poly foam work? I would think much better than mudjacking.

You really need to determine why the soil is eroding first, a toilet did not cause that.


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## Nick1001 (Nov 4, 2012)

TNTSERVICES said:


> Wouldn't a structural poly foam work? I would think much better than mudjacking.
> 
> You really need to determine why the soil is eroding first, a toilet did not cause that.



Any thoughts on what would cause that? I haven't noticed anything outside that throws up a red flag.


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## JBM (Mar 31, 2011)

If you dont have perimiter issues then lets hope its an isolated occorance.


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## Nick1001 (Nov 4, 2012)

Outside of a mason, who else would you be calling? I've never seen or dealt with anything like this.


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## JBM (Mar 31, 2011)

Always a structural engineer.


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## Nick1001 (Nov 4, 2012)

Thanks to everyone who's responding. That's why I come to this forum daily. I highly respect this community.


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## Nick1001 (Nov 4, 2012)

Does anyone here work in the 19038 zip code?


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## TaylorMadeAB (Nov 11, 2014)

That is pretty amazing that you haven't seen any major cracking from that. I'd definitely look into structural foam


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## Nick1001 (Nov 4, 2012)

TaylorMadeCon said:


> That is pretty amazing that you haven't seen any major cracking from that. I'd definitely look into structural foam



I redid the kids playroom 3 years ago but I kept the floating floor that was in there. The whole floor slopes in but my neighbors floor does the same so I just assumed that it was poured that way from the start. I have to let him know what I found.


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## Fancis Casini (Jan 31, 2013)

Nick1001 said:


> I redid the kids playroom 3 years ago but I kept the floating floor that was in there. The whole floor slopes in but my neighbors floor does the same so I just assumed that it was poured that way from the start. I have to let him know what I found.


Nick there's a co. CT. Basement Systems that does the slurry pumping.

Do you have wetalnds behind you....high ground out front?


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