Here in Maine there is a house lot for sale that has a foundation poured. I’m guessing it has been there for 2.5 yrs. now. The first floor deck appears to be on the foundation w/a poor cover on it that may have been water tight when installed but isn’t now. How do I determine if the foundation is OK to be built on? I’m a carpenter, not a concrete guy. If standing water has been in the foundation for a while, is that OK? Assuming the foundation doesn’t leek groundwater and just has been filled w/ precipitation/open to the elements, is there anything to watch out for. It has been backfilled and slab poured.
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I have always heard that concrete under water only gets stronger not weaker. That is why they want it kept wet as long as possible covering it with plastic.
I'm guessing the only issue would be are the walls still plumb and square. If it has a deck on it then I'm guessing yes but without a deck all you have is a retaining wall without any support.
Has the foundation been back filled yet? You need to pour a floor and put a deck on it before you back fill. As long as water hasn't frozen and heaved the foundation, I'd say you're alright. 3 years is a pretty good cure time!
As long as all the footings were below frostline (as they should have been) you should be ok as long as you can't see any large cracks etc.) Would be easy to do some checking for plumb/square. Might have to replace the floor deck.
I would also try to find out why construction was stopped, could be inspection or zoning issues. talk to the inspections dept.
put a string line on the foundation from corner to corner
the thing you are trying to determine is did the weight of the earth push the walls in ?
does it have a slab poured in the basement ?
usually,, a slab will protect the bottom of the wall,
and the first floor deck, if it was fastened to a sill bolted to the foundation, will protect the upper part of the wall
other than that,, there is not much that can go wrong with a concrete foundation
How tall are the walls? Is it a poured wall basement on spread footings and is there a slab present?
check plumb, level, square, and no cracks.
Any damage would be from a bad pour to begin with or frost heaving.
Look for drainage system exit. Some will backfill with none in place which is bad in Maine's clay soils. That is bad. You do no t want water in the soil expanding with frost and pushing on the crete.
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I suppose if it had enough water in it and it froze you could possibly also have damage from the inside out but again checking for plumb and square would let you know that. Of course, depending on who poured it, it may not have been right from the start.
I'd set up a pls 180 inside the foundation and start taking some measurements.
Other than that you may want to verify the existence of correctly installed footing drains.
Have fun drilling for anchor bolts!