A heaving basement floor is not a cosmetic problem. It is the slab telling you that the soil underneath it took on water and grew, and that the way the home was built did not account for it. Slabs in Colorado are far more likely to go up than to go down, so what owners are told is settlement is very often heave.
Johnson Law represents homeowners, associations, and commercial property owners in slab movement cases throughout Colorado. The consultation is free.
What slab movement looks like
Most of our clients call about one symptom and then realize they have been living with five.
- Cracks running much of the length of the basement or garage slab
- A floor that is noticeably higher in the middle or along one wall
- Basement doors that stick, drag on the carpet, or will not latch
- Drywall cracks at door and window corners, and separation at the ceiling
- Gaps opening beneath the baseboard, or baseboard pushed up off the floor
- Cracked tile, buckled hardwood, or rippled carpet over the slab
- Basement partition walls jammed tight against the framing above, with no gap left at the top
- A furnace, water heater, or support post that has been pushed upward
- Under-slab sewer or supply lines that have separated and started leaking
By the time an interior door stops latching, the slab has usually moved close to an inch.
Why slabs move
Expansive clay and claystone beneath the floor swells when it gets wet, with enough force to lift a four inch slab and everything resting on it. The water usually arrives the same way it does in every other soil case: grading that slopes toward the home, downspouts discharging next to the foundation, irrigation and planting beds against the structure, uncompacted backfill, a defective or missing perimeter drain, or a leak in a line running under the slab.
Where the defect usually is
The design side. The geotechnical report may have called for a structural floor spanning a crawl space rather than a slab poured on grade, or for over-excavation and replacement of the expansive material, or for moisture conditioning, or for a specific subgrade preparation. We regularly find those recommendations followed halfway, followed on paper only, or dropped from the project.
The construction side. The item we find most often is the floating wall detail. Colorado basements are supposed to be framed so that nonbearing partition walls float above a slab that is expected to move, with a void left at the top of the wall and fasteners set so the wall can travel without loading the structure above it.
What we find instead:
- The void framed too shallow, nailed solid, or filled in with drywall, trim, or shims
- Slabs poured tight against foundation walls, or doweled into them
- Posts and columns bearing rigidly on the slab
- Gas lines, water lines, and ductwork run across the slab joint with no flexibility built in
- Furnaces and water heaters set on the slab with rigid connections
None of that is exotic. It is standard Colorado practice that somebody skipped.
Get the soils report
Colorado builders and developers must give a buyer a summary of the soils analysis and the site recommendations at least fourteen days before closing on a new home, along with a publication about expansive soils where the site warrants it. C.R.S. § 6-6.5-101. That report will tell you what the engineer recommended for the floor system, and comparing it against what was actually built is often where the case is won.
Who can be held responsible
- The general contractor and the developer
- The concrete, excavation, and grading subcontractors
- The framer, on the floating wall details
- The plumber, where an under-slab leak wet the soil
- The geotechnical engineer and the structural engineer who designed the floor system
- A seller who knew the slab was moving and did not disclose it
The strict deadlines to file construction defect claims are unfair and faster than most owners expect. It is a complicated analysis and must be evaluated on a case by case and even defect by defect issue. Our recommendation is to CONTACT US as soon as possible for a free consultation so that we can advise you on these issues.
Johnson Law has handled hundreds of cases involving slab movement and can help you determine your options and next steps. Please CONTACT US for an evaluation of your potential claim or case, or call (303) 586-4829.
Johnson Law does not guarantee any results. Each case is different.
