Hey everyone! I'm facing a situation where the soil and my lawn have separated from my foundation wall because of some excavation work happening next door. I can actually see the vapor barrier now. I'm wondering how serious this is and what steps I should take next. Here's a link to the image: https://imgur.com/a/144e0o7. Any advice would be super helpful!
4 Answers
You'll definitely want to get that grading redone along your foundation once they fill in and grade their side. Make sure to keep taking photos of the damage for documentation, and if you have pictures from before they started the work, they could be super helpful for comparison. Talk to the builder about fixing your grading when they do theirs, or at least get a repair quote to give to them for coverage.
Honestly, it's not going to cause any immediate harm, but you will need to fix it once they finish their work. Also, having that downspout dumping right by the wall probably didn't help the situation.
Remember that the soil next to your house isn’t really structural. It’s just backfill from when your house was built. The foundation relies on the soil underneath, which you can’t see. However, it might be a good idea to have an engineer check if the soil below your foundation was impacted. You could ask your neighbor to cover the costs of that report, but if they refuse, I’d still get it done and perhaps consult a lawyer if any damage is detected.
How deep exactly is the excavation? From the photo, it’s hard to gauge if it's just a few inches, which might just be pulling away, or if it's a serious issue like potential wall exposure. One scenario isn’t a big worry, but if it’s deep and could cause a collapse, then you should definitely call the city and consider legal action!