I'm looking at buying a property in the Hollywood Hills, an existing tri-level house built on the decomposed granite that's prevalent in much of that area. Who can offer some opinion on the nature / quality of DG as a foundation? I'm not familiar with the area or with this geology. Yes, I plan to hire a soils engineer to check it out should I hit escrow, but any experience-based insight before I get that far would be very helpful. Thanks in advance.
DG makes a pretty good faoundation and has good bearing capactiy. One thing that you have to think about is rebound. City of LA often requires overex and recompacttion to about 2' below the footings for new construction. However, if you're buying something that's been there for a while the sponge effect has already taken place.
If you want to see something up close I'll suggest a drive up Glendower Ave. There's a new house being built on the hillside directly in front of the FLW Ennis House and they just finished drilling for the piles and have a lot of stockpiled material. Take a drive by and maybe even ask the contractor about his experience.
Thanks, this is great. Appreciate your input - are you an engineer or an architect?
I came across an article on liquefaction in DG somewhere on the web - typically not a concern but studies have apprently shown it can occur. I'd also wonder about slippage, given the hillside - any thoughts?
Will certainly go have a look at the Glendower project tomorrow. Thanks again.
make sure you get a pretty thorough soil report before buying in LA if you dont know much about the area. If you want to add on and the city requires 60' deep cassions to bedrock every 10', things can get pricy very quickly...contact me if you need a good soils engineer in LA
I'm a contractor. For slippage take a look at the FLW Ennis House while you're on Glendower. They are about to begin a major structural rehab of the house because of the damage over the years. There is currently a steel beam shoring system essentially keeping it from coming down the hill. From what I hear though this has more to do with the fact that the place was built in 1924 out of blocks cast from material dug from the site and the Northridge quake made it pretty weak. But mdler is right, the caissons into bedrock are necessary. On the Ennis house there will be about a dozen new caissons drilled about 40' into bedrock.
Apr 27, 06 5:58 pm ·
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Building on DG in the Hollywood Hills
I'm looking at buying a property in the Hollywood Hills, an existing tri-level house built on the decomposed granite that's prevalent in much of that area. Who can offer some opinion on the nature / quality of DG as a foundation? I'm not familiar with the area or with this geology. Yes, I plan to hire a soils engineer to check it out should I hit escrow, but any experience-based insight before I get that far would be very helpful. Thanks in advance.
DG makes a pretty good faoundation and has good bearing capactiy. One thing that you have to think about is rebound. City of LA often requires overex and recompacttion to about 2' below the footings for new construction. However, if you're buying something that's been there for a while the sponge effect has already taken place.
If you want to see something up close I'll suggest a drive up Glendower Ave. There's a new house being built on the hillside directly in front of the FLW Ennis House and they just finished drilling for the piles and have a lot of stockpiled material. Take a drive by and maybe even ask the contractor about his experience.
Thanks, this is great. Appreciate your input - are you an engineer or an architect?
I came across an article on liquefaction in DG somewhere on the web - typically not a concern but studies have apprently shown it can occur. I'd also wonder about slippage, given the hillside - any thoughts?
Will certainly go have a look at the Glendower project tomorrow. Thanks again.
make sure you get a pretty thorough soil report before buying in LA if you dont know much about the area. If you want to add on and the city requires 60' deep cassions to bedrock every 10', things can get pricy very quickly...contact me if you need a good soils engineer in LA
I'm a contractor. For slippage take a look at the FLW Ennis House while you're on Glendower. They are about to begin a major structural rehab of the house because of the damage over the years. There is currently a steel beam shoring system essentially keeping it from coming down the hill. From what I hear though this has more to do with the fact that the place was built in 1924 out of blocks cast from material dug from the site and the Northridge quake made it pretty weak. But mdler is right, the caissons into bedrock are necessary. On the Ennis house there will be about a dozen new caissons drilled about 40' into bedrock.
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