Question about concrete movement tolerence

[regan32]

Hi all,

I have a problem in the house I am living at and could use some advice from the knowledegable. The house is a concrete slab construction with concrete support post and steel beams. The problems started with the floor of the upstairs master bedroom, the tiles "exploded" out of the floor in a line about 4m long by 2m wide. When all was said and done the tiles were "tented" up against each other and off the floor by a good 30cm. Also noticed are some large cracks in the concrete walls and outside path downstairs of the room with the possesed floor. Now my question is what would you consider acceptable movement of a concrete floor before being freaked out about structural weakness? and what are the danger signs to be looking for taking in to acount that im a total layman? Another point of note is this house is over 8 years old (not sure if that is valid or not) and the local building standards in this country (Brunei) are haphazard and dangerous at best.

Any advice on what to look at, what to read, properties of concrete or so on would be greatly appreciated as im kinda freaked out by the creaking noises.

Thanks Shannon

[dpb]

30cm???!!! If that's not a typo, this ain't concrete "movement", it's an actual structural shift and I'd say you need to find another place to live _now_ until someone really knowledgeable can do an inspection. Sounds like the whole thing could potentially collapse at any time--I'd not trust it as such construction is prone to catastrophic failure rather than gradual.

[regan32]

Doh that was a typo, 30mm is what I meant. Even so it was alarming to see.

dpb wrote:

[AndyS]

Andy writes:

Still, 1 and 1/4 inches ( good Christian measurements :>))) ) is a hel of a lot...

Something is wicked wrong !!!!

Did you experience an earthquake "?

Did the house float off in a flood ?

Well, if the above didn't happen, somebody screwed up...

I suggest you check for a cracked 1st floor slab...

If this happened on the second story, something bad happened on the first...

Carpeting covers up a LOT of really bad cracks.... and you probly can't see them till you pullup the carpet..

Don't fall in..!!!!

Andy in Eureka, Texas

[CWatters]

Perhaps not. If tiles are laid tight (too tight) against each other they can pop up quite alarmingly _without_ the floor/wall moving very much. It's all to do with the angles. Sometimes it's just caused by water getting behind the tiles.

Best call in a professional. In the UK we would contact a Structural Engineer to look at the cracks. Not sure who you call in Brunei