Thanks to the few folks who provided some response to my posting a couple of weeks ago on "BLASTING DAMAGE TO MY HOUSE". But I still need documentation sources or references to help me proceed with this thorny problem. With millions of homeowners in our great land, I am certain others with common house construction have experienced a situation such as ours. Surely we are not alone!
More details of our situation are in this message. I WILL TRULY APPRECIATE any response or guidance specific to our problem.
Several blasting sessions were done in our neighborhood at a construction site, about 1/4 mile from my house. The measured level of blasting recorded by a small engineering group shows only lower levels at their few monitored locations, which did not include our property.
My basement is a 2-car garage and large finished room. When first discovered and shown in photos taken by my insurance company's engineer, there were several slightly noticeable, hairline cracks "stair stepping" down my foundation. . The stair-step cracks start at the top of the foundation, and extend several feet down to approximate outside ground level. Previous to discovering the cracks our foundation and basement had always been very tight and dry. My wife and I saw no cracks during 11 years of ownership, including accompanying a pest control person in annual foundation inspections, and my daily parking about 2 feet from the foundation . I have documented the foundation cracks with many good photos and have a copy of the insurance engineer's photos.
In both bathrooms the tile was previously intact, but both now have long horizontal cracks through the tile. Also, we discovered several interior door frame mouldings throughout the house that separated slightly from the wall. There were no separations before the blasting. During the blasting period my wife found picture frames throughout the house hanging un level, but none fell off the wall.
Initially by phone, several repair contractors and people with basic knowledge of blasting all confirmed with me that we had no previous foundation cracking, and asked if the cracks were horizontal or "STAIR-STEP" in appearance. All said stair-step cracking is a characteristic of blasting. And that horizontal-lateral cracking is characteristic of outside earth pressure on a concrete block foundations. A structural engineer who inspected for us discovered the hairline cracks in the bathroom tile, and said that is another characteristic of blasting damage. He said "you have plenty of things to work with" related to the blasting.
My homeowners insurance company continues to maintain that because measurements of the blasting show only lower levels it didn't cause any of the cracking. Yet we had none of this before!
I've had to file my one and only law suit (in 60 odd years of life) against my home owner insurer and the blasting company. But my lawyer has not been able to find any DOCUMENTATION which supports the common knowledge that shock waves from blasting cause "stair-step" type cracking in concrete block foundations. My lawyer in the small firm has no experience in blasting related cases but he and the owner have a reputation of being very honest, meticulous, tenacious, and successful attorneys. They came very highly recommended and have definitely lived up their reputation in working with me.
This is why I am searching via the Usenet for some documentation showing that LOW LEVEL blasting or FRINGE-AREA disturbances of higher level blasting are known to have caused the types of cracking we've experienced. Documentation such as engineering studies, court trial records, or out-of-court settlements or repairs by blasting companies would be very helpful.
Specifically, I need to locate any documentation which discusses the following: (1) Stair-step type cracking in concrete block foundations being characteristic of blasting.
(2) Typical damage appearance from low-level or fringe-area blasting in above- ground below-ground, and sloping above-below ground, previously intact foundations. Appearance initially and in the months and years that follow is very important.
(3) Typical, initial blasting damage appearance in bathroom tile.
(4) Good practice requirements for geo-technical surveys before blasting.
(5) Good practice requirements for placement and density of seismometers in residential environments.
(6) Higher damage probability in certain types of soil, faults and rock formations, etc, etc.
(7) Higher damage probability during rainy periods.
(8) Other documentation which can help one understand and realistically deal with this situation. As a layman I have come to believe that shaking of house structures, even due to lower-level or fringe-area blasting can slightly damage and weaken foundations and other masonry, especially in older structures. Then over the next year or two, weight and forces in mother nature expose these flaws as major problems. And I think insurance and blasting companies work hard, incurring very considerable expense, to keep the issue from becoming public knowledge and well documented. I don't expect I can slay this sleeping giant but I certainly hope a few fellow citizens out there in "Net Land" will give a some guidance to help me clear a little of the muddy water, and get some justice.
Also, are there any true investigative reporters out there? This is an IMPORTANT ISSUE which ultimately costs american home owners major bucks. snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com