Foundation Stage

The main reasons behind foundation failure or movement are related to soil conditions and its surrounding factors. Changes in ground conditions, formation of sinkholes, unexpected geological hazards and poor drainage contribute to the instability in building foundations. Unwieldy growth of the roots of huge trees right into the foundation might also destabilize the structure.

Human error can also be a contributing factor to foundational disturbances. Incorrect foundation depth, steel reinforcing or just lack of it, erroneous foundation strength, poor design or just taking the shorter way during construction; all these can become serious causes of instability.

Fundamental Inspection Elements at Base Stage:

• The site must be identified by a builder’s sign or survey pegs. This site condition includes cross over, safety, access, fences, retaining walls, and driveway slopes.
• Weather condition, site gradients, orientation of building and access road.
• Positioning of the external wall location in correspondence to footings and inclusion of reinforcement starter bars that can be tied to the slab mesh. The steel must be visually checked for clearance from the base (40 mm) and from the slab finish (20 mm).
• Thorough checking for the under-slab services electrical/phone/data cabling for defects along with the quality of materials used.
• Storm water pipe system installation also needs to be fixed.
• A peer into the including plumbing or drainage is a must
• Control of termites including the location and type of barriers related to the drainage pipes.
• Location of electrical meter box along with the provision of a safety switch.
• Possible termite nesting spaces and inspection of other spaces conducive to pesticide damage.
• A visual check of the site, to ensure it is clear of building materials and rubbish.

How a Building Inspector Conducts the Inspection

• The duty of a building inspector also entails inspection of site conditions including the site gradient, general soil type, cut /fill/cut and fill, orientation to road, surface drainage, subsidence, weather: raining/after rain/dry, seepage as well as retaining walls & location.
• The under slab scrutiny will include inspection of plumbing, underground wiring and sewage pipes.
• Special attention is given to the detection of termite infestation.
• To measure your site conditions it is required to look into the fencing, paving, crossover, landscaping, storm water pipes, driveways, slopes and the builder’s site inspection board.
• For the floor structure it is important to check for the suspended floors, sub-base compaction, footings, damp-proofing membrane, brick work, thickening beams, pipes, steel fixing, sub-base compaction, suspended floors and floors.

Cracks formed in walls, sagged floors and difficulty in usage of windows or doors are other signs of unhealthy building foundations.

You can hire our experienced building inspectors to unearth any defects in the pre handover completion stage inspection to avoid future headaches and huge repair expenses. We have offices in the Gold coast and Brisbane and our inspectors operate across the coastal belt of Queensland. We have conducted thousands of inspections. We make use of images captured using scientific methods like thermal mapping. Our detailed inspection reports are prepared by qualified builders and presented in simple language.