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Memo to Dan Mathews <br />Red Canyon Mine Structure Examination <br />page 2 <br />well above the frost line on the south side of the structure. Hairline cracking in the basement <br />floor suggest a slight opening resulting from a slightly convex heaving. Basement level bearing <br />walls are placed on the slab-on-grade without expansion voids. No caisson elements were <br />included in the foundational system. <br />The upper story of the structure consists of a cellular structure of walls defining rooms in the <br />eastern 2/3's of the structure. The western 1/3 is a large open living area. The interior drywall <br />cracking is concentrated in areas near the center east -west ridge line of the roof. Cracking also <br />exists along interior walls where they meet the ceiling. Cracking appears more concentrated <br />adjacent to the walls which separate the boxed east portion from the open west living space. The <br />bearing wall of the basement level extends generally beneath and supports the western boxed <br />portion of the upper story. <br />Cracking exists at the lower corners of asemi-circular clear story window high on the northern <br />wall eve of the large open living azea. This clear story window sits above a multiple header <br />beam which appears adequately sized for window wall which it spans. Without precise <br />monitoring, it appears that beam deflection of the wide roof span in this open area may be <br />deflecting the cleaz story wall outward above the header, causing the drywall to crack <br />immediately above the header. The clear story wall does not appear noticeably deflected, <br />suggesting that the cracking may be resulting from cyclic flexure in response to wind uplift and <br />snow load. <br />Recommendations: <br />(1) The coincidence of the foundation cracks to the wall deflections and damp backfill areas <br />suggests that the water service may be leaking into the foundation backfill outside the half <br />wall. The service water flow should be monitored. If necessary a test hole could be <br />excavated in the immediate area to determine whether the backfill is abnormally damp. <br />(2) High-clay content soils, such as those weathered from the siltstone and claystones <br />common in the Williams Fork formation, can swell upon absorbing water and shrink <br />upon drying. The result of these alternative wetting and drying cycle movements can be <br />damaging to an overlying structure. Shrinklswell potential of soils and bedrock can be <br />easily and relatively inexpensively determined in the soil laboratory. Minor cyclic shrink- <br />swell of the soil beneath the slab-on-grade could cause the minor heaving of the basement <br />floor. At this point the damage appears minimal, so I suspect the swell characteristics of <br />the foundational soils is low. Remedial methodologies exist with which to stabilize <br />moisture and preclude significant deflection. <br />