Retaining wall

[Codyboy]

On the bright side, they are following the property line.

Glad I'm not your new neighbor.

On another note though, that is a huge breaker box! Thing has to be 7ft? Just comparing to the 400 (320) meter base which is probably close to 3ft . Idk I've not ever measured one.

 

[PCustoms]

Glad I'm not your new neighbor.

On another note though, that is a huge breaker box! Thing has to be 7ft? Just comparing to the 400 (320) meter base which is probably close to 3ft . Idk I've not ever measured one.

I didn't catch it before, but NEC and power company might have some concerns about that wall too...

 

[dave*99]

I see 3 downspouts directed into that moat. Should be interesting when it rains. On a serious note, the roof runoff needs to be dealt with permanently. There should be local ordinances requiring that runoff not dump in your neighbor's window.

 

[bluedog225]

I see 3 downspouts directed into that moat. Should be interesting when it rains. On a serious note, the roof runoff needs to be dealt with permanently. There should be local ordinances requiring that runoff not dump in your neighbor's window.

Several general contractors ago, they promised to eliminate the front downspouts and route the rainwater through a pipe to the back. And in return I allowed them to access to my property to put up those rain gutters safely. And when I came home, the had done exactly what I was trying to avoid. Been this way for five years. That’s part of where my bad attitude comes from.

 

[dave*99]

I thought I mentioned earlier, I pulled a string between the pins during construction years ago. I believed there building was constructed in the setback.

Chief appraiser for city of Austin refused to look. Council member contacted. Nothing they could do. Corruption city process favors developers. Particularly in the boom days a few years ago. No houses around here made it to the market. All “whisper“ sales.

And I’m not inclined to go to the city on my neighbors.

Several general contractors ago, they promised to eliminate the front downspouts and route the rainwater through a pipe to the back. And in return I allowed them to access to my property to put up those rain gutters safely. And when I came home, the had done exactly what I was trying to avoid. Been this way for five years. That’s part of where my bad attitude comes from.

Seems no one is taking you seriously. If the building department is not interested in helping you, the neighbor and contractor are ignoring you, an attorney may be your only option.

Has the rain gutter run off made any demonstrable damage to your property? That may be a good way to start legal action and let it run from there.

 

[mm08822]

I see 3 downspouts directed into that moat. Should be interesting when it rains. On a serious note, the roof runoff needs to be dealt with permanently. There should be local ordinances requiring that runoff not dump in your neighbor's window.

Hopefully the backfill of that wall will contain drainage for the accumulated groundwater behind the wall and separate provisions for the downspouts out to the street. Easiest to incorporate as the wall is backfilled.

Hopefully someone is thinking.

 

[bluedog225]

Seems no one is taking you seriously. If the building department is not interested in helping you, the neighbor and contractor are ignoring you, an attorney may be your only option.

Has the rain gutter run off made any demonstrable damage to your property? That may be a good way to start legal action and let it run from there.

I should clarify. I didn’t mind going to the city on the builder. Or when the bank took it over. But I won’t drop a dime on actual neighbors. Just not my style.

In the calm light of day, having the new retaining wall, benefits me. Assuming they don’t totally fork it up. After all our discussions, them coming on my property like that when I’m gone pisses me off a little bit. Just like it pissed me off when they tried to build a retaining wall on my property without my consent.

I’ve got all the power I need. I can go out there and cut it up this afternoon. And nobody will stop me. No need for an attorney. But it’s probably best just to let them finish.

I am disappointed nobody’s to dropped by to chat or picked up the phone. I’ve got time to think about it and decide what to do.

 

[bluedog225]

Hopefully the backfill of that wall will contain drainage for the accumulated groundwater behind the wall and separate provisions for the downspouts out to the street. Easiest to incorporate as the wall is backfilled.

Hopefully someone is thinking.

Unlikely but yes, that would be best.

 

[RyanE]

This is an interesting thread to follow along. Some good advice/information has been provided by many others, including some that I believe are engineers or in the relevant field.

I too, practice professionally in this field, but not in your local area or country.

That said, considering the current stage of the neighbor's project, you would be well advised to reach out directly to the local governing jurisdiction (city I think?), and request confirmation that a proper permit has been issued for this work and that an engineered design has been reviewed and accepted as part of the permit approval process. If none of that has been done by the contractor or the neighbor, then you should request that the city issues a stop work order. If the city is unwilling, or blows you off, you should seek legal action.

I would have some serious concerns with the current state of the construction, especially with the seepage and apparent inundation and how this could affect your property since the excavation is directly on the property line. I'm also unclear on the dimensions, and how the contractor intends to construct an effective retaining structure with a simple straight cut excavation.

Keep us posted!

 

[dave*99]

This is an interesting thread to follow along. Some good advice/information has been provided by many others, including some that I believe are engineers or in the relevant field.

I too, practice professionally in this field, but not in your local area or country.

That said, considering the current stage of the neighbor's project, you would be well advised to reach out directly to the local governing jurisdiction (city I think?), and request confirmation that a proper permit has been issued for this work and that an engineered design has been reviewed and accepted as part of the permit approval process. If none of that has been done by the contractor or the neighbor, then you should request that the city issues a stop work order. If the city is unwilling, or blows you off, you should seek legal action.

I would have some serious concerns with the current state of the construction, especially with the seepage and apparent inundation and how this could affect your property since the excavation is directly on the property line. I'm also unclear on the dimensions, and how the contractor intends to construct an effective retaining structure with a simple straight cut excavation.

Keep us posted!

Well said. That is one hell of a hill between the two properties. Good engineering is needed to keep our GJ member afloat.

 

[bluedog225]

After thinking about it for the day, I went ahead and called the neighbor. He called me back and we had a nice chat.

Interestingly, I found out the general contractor does not work for my neighbor. He works for the bank. I’m not certain of the details, but I think the bank is paying for the retaining wall and it was part of the deal at closing. That would make sense because I made the lender aware that I had some concerns about the construction and the location of the house. I didn’t know anything had become of it.

The neighbor is well and truly pissed off at the contractor as well. The damage being done to the property is apparently somewhat significant. More than anything, the neighbor wants this to be finished. Also, there is an issue with them maintaining their home insurance because this is an ongoing construction site. I don’t have the details, but that makes sense to me.

I also talked to the general contractor. Apparently the owner asked him to call me. I asked him if he recalled our conversation about him staying in the eff off my property when I issued the criminal trespass. He said he remembered. But offered that he couldn’t frame up the wall without putting the supports on my property. I asked him if it would’ve been appropriate to give me a call first. He was appropriately uncomfortable.

The Neighbor and I agreed that we would meet on the construction site tomorrow about three or 4 o’clock. And the general contractor will be present. Together, I think my neighbor and I can set some expectations about the contractors behavior. About communication, about trash, about the trespass, about remediating the area he drove track vehicles over my yard, about removing the overburden of clay and concrete rubble.

I’ll also take the opportunity to find out the name and phone number of his employer. And get a copy of the stamped engineering plans. And get a copy of his liability insurance since he’s conducting construction operations on my property at this point. If you declines, I’ll have my sawzall out and I’ll cut that stuff out right in front of him and we can start fresh.

A little icing on the cake. This afternoon, his workers were taking that big impact hammer with the wide spade bit and undercutting the forms. That is cutting deeper into my property beyond the property line. I guess they’re trying to make this thing wide enough to match the engineer specifications. That’s going to have to be formed up before they pour.

I’m on the fence about calling the city. I do recall someone mentioned that a structure of less than 3 feet did not require a permit or engineered plans. I don’t know if that’s true or not. And I’m starting to think his trenches deeper than 3 feet. I’ll have to go measure it in the morning.

Anyway, it’ll all be fine. The neighbor and I are on good terms and are going to remain on good terms. Stay tuned.

 

[dave*99]

I applaud your diplomacy. You will have a new neighbor. Down the road, Being able to get coexist is adequate. A smile and a nod is a step up. Cracking a beer together or just a coffee, hey anything is possible.

 

[rharman]

As @PCustoms alluded to, the lack of setbacks is astonishing to me. There definitely is not adequate clearance in front of that panel and, as also mentioned, the roof runoff looks like an issue. Here in my city, there is a minimum of 4' side setback required. 20' in the back, and 20' or prevailing in the front.

I'm well aware of this as we had to go before the planning commission and get a variance when we remodeled as two areas of the house protruded 2' into that 20' rear setback.

 

[duneslider]

My city has a 4' height rule for retaining walls and whether you need engineering or not. That doesn't necessarily mean that you can do whatever you want at a 4' height, if it doesn't have a proper footing and isn't done right it still could fail but failing at that height isn't "catastrophic", kind of like the improperly built retaining wall that is already there and is slowly falling over. I doubt that little retaining wall is going to kill somebody or total a house when it falls over it will just be an inconvenience.

Setbacks are different everywhere, so who knows what it actually is here. My neighborhood is 10' on the sides but other areas in the city are 4'.

Looks to me like some pretty impressive houses are being built in this neighborhood, maybe the op should look at selling, property values have probably skyrocketed, and it's no longer the quiet, quaint area it used to be.

 

[fourjeepin]

Any updates BlueDog?

 

[bluedog225]

Any updates BlueDog?

I’ve been out for the weekend. I’ll go check on it in light of day tomorrow. A neighbor tells me they were pouring concrete, but I don’t know that for a fact.

Late last week the neighbor and I met. Along with the contractor. They’ve put three-quarter inch plywood on my side of the form to keep the concrete from flowing onto my property. I’ve allowed them to put their form supports on my property.

More tomorrow.

 

[bluedog225]

A different neighbor says the poured concrete. It’s hard to tell since they’ve kicked so much dirt on top of it. No idea how thick. Looks like they’ll pour the vertical after the footer cures. I guess a cold joint is ok. It will be a traditional ”L” shaped wall. Drainage on the uphill side.

They did put the 3/4 on my side to keep the pour out of all the undercut. Looks like 8 mil moisture barrier plastic is on the side.

 

[bluedog225]

There’s a lot of dirt inside the vertical form.

 

[PCustoms]

There’s a lot of dirt inside the vertical form.

Who cares, it's not your wall and the owner isn't paying you to critique the contractor.

Is there anything about this that meets your standards?

 

[bluedog225]

Who cares, it's not your wall and the owner isn't paying you to critique the contractor.

Is there anything about this that meets your standards?

Relax. Somebody asked for an update.

 

[fourjeepin]

Who cares, it's not your wall and the owner isn't paying you to critique the contractor.

Is there anything about this that meets your standards?

Someone is taking this thread a little too serious.

 

[RyanE]

So did you ever see any evidence of an engineered design or is this just something the contractor is "winging"?

I can't clearly see from the photos, but the "footer" doesnt seem much wider than the actual wall forms, so it won't be very effectual as an actual retaining wall. Looks more like a concrete "wall" or fence to me with very little resistance to overturning. The poly on the side must be some sort of attempt at making it easier to strip the "forms" since it won't serve any other purpose.

What about drainage behind the "wall"? One of your previous postings suggested that groundwater was encountered during the excavation. What is their plan for that? Given the grades, if they simply daylight any drainage, it looks like it will flow right at your house?

Whatever you do, don't go removing any of the soil on your side of the property line because based on what I can see so far, you will very likely compromise this new installation.

Looks like to me the contractor is throwing something together to get the property owner and the bank off their back and nothing more.

Good luck.

 

[bluedog225]

So did you ever see any evidence of an engineered design or is this just something the contractor is "winging"?

I can't clearly see from the photos, but the "footer" doesnt seem much wider than the actual wall forms, so it won't be very effectual as an actual retaining wall. Looks more like a concrete "wall" or fence to me with very little resistance to overturning. The poly on the side must be some sort of attempt at making it easier to strip the "forms" since it won't serve any other purpose.

What about drainage behind the "wall"? One of your previous postings suggested that groundwater was encountered during the excavation. What is their plan for that? Given the grades, if they simply daylight any drainage, it looks like it will flow right at your house?

Whatever you do, don't go removing any of the soil on your side of the property line because based on what I can see so far, you will very likely compromise this new installation.

Looks like to me the contractor is throwing something together to get the property owner and the bank off their back and nothing more.

Good luck.

There are stamped plans. They show 2 feet wide at the base. And drainage is addressed.

And getting to know the owner better, his dad was a civil engineer and apparently he helped with a lot of concrete work. So he generally knows his way around. Though I don’t know if he’s interested at his current age to be closely involved with this work.

He’s going to be happy to get this done. The construction site atmosphere is not sitting well with him or his family.

 

[gba2331]

And to think that most / all of this could have been avoided with some basic courtesy and communication. Glad to see that it seems to be closer to resolution.

 

[Firstram]

Updates?

 

[bluedog225]

D

Updates?

 

[bluedog225]

D

Updates?

Done. Ugly as a dog’s ***. But we can cover it up.

On plane to Japan. Can post more later.

 

[RyanE]

Ugly as a dog’s ***.

You can say that again!

I guess they planned to leave the outside plywood and poly "forms" on your side permanently?

At least you didnt have to pay for it!

Enjoy Japan.