GRANDVIEW

Grandview grew up around the old air base and did most of its building in the two decades after the war, which means small to mid sized homes on full basements, most of them now sixty to seventy years old.

The ground on this side of the metro is heavy clay that swells noticeably after a wet spring.

A basement wall built to 1950s standards was not designed for the lateral loads we now know that clay puts on it, and the ones that have bowed have usually done it slowly enough that nobody caught it starting.

We have more than 50 Grandview jobs recorded, with more before the records begin. On mostly moderate soil, the useful pattern we have built up here is knowing which lots are the exceptions.

What the ground under Grandview is actually doing

Grandview runs on Sharpsburg and Arisburg, both around 5.1 for linear extensibility and roughly a third clay — squarely moderate. Then Snead takes up nearly a tenth of the city at 7.5, which is high.

Moderate soil under most of the city means most Grandview foundations are dealing with ordinary seasonal movement. It also means that when we do find real structural movement here, it is worth asking what is different about that particular lot — because the city-wide soil does not explain it by itself.