"Swingman" wrote in message
...

On 7/28/2012 6:17 AM, Dave in Texas wrote:
"Leon" wrote in message
...

Well you either knew how to build homes or you did not. These homes in
the Texas area still look relatively good. You seldom see any
indication of foundation problems or cracks in the brick. I have
probably helped to repaint the interiors of a dozen of these homes and
they still look great, no cracks in the sheet rock.

That would explain why I see Nolan Ryan pitching Olshan foundation
repair every time I turn on the tube.
Actually, foundation failures are very common in the Houston area.

We were discussing tract homes built in the 50's to mid 60's. Those did
not have post tension slabs, which are the majority of the slabs that
Olshan specializes in. PTI slabs became ubiquitous in this area in the
late seventies, and are the one's that pay Nolan's fees. Almost every
tract home built in this area since then has a PTI slab.

You are right about the high failure rates for post tension slabs and I
will certainly take your word that those are Olshan's bread'n'butter. I
well remember Tom Tynan preaching the the negatives of the post tension
foundation when he blew into Houston back in the early 90s (?) all the while
he was selling Du-West Foundation Repair. I grew up in a 1953 tract house
(South Post Oak and Willowbend) that years ago acquired a slew of concrete
piers (before they started driving the round concrete blocks into the gumbo)
and my current 1957 [non-tract] NW Houston, one-story ranch has 23 piers
under it, done before I bought it in 1990 (me bad for buying into that).

Dave in Texas