A carpenter friend of mine called just recently saying I had to see his buddy’s house right away. Seems it was used to stop a runaway truck- a giant dual wheel, but single axle one at that!
The street that leads downhill straight for his house provided quick egress for the unmaned rig to slam into the corner of the 50′-0 ranch house. The local building inspector who came and left before I arrived assured everyone they could reinhabit the place- everything met his safety standards. The thing is, the impact occured directly above the main gas line and the impact was so hard the house pushed back about 3″ on it’s foundation and every plaster ceiling was cracked. I could still hear the house “recoiling” over the length of the oak strip flooring. I told them this inspector had no experience in the building trades and had no business, not being a structural eingineer, telling them they could safely go back inside.
I was afraid the heavy brown coated plaster panels could drop off the strapping, as you could clearly see the outline of each 18″ X 36″ panel cracked out, especially since you could clearly hear the house was still reacting to the impact. They moved out with their kids. Two days later the main gas line fatigued and broke filling the house with fumes ready to blow!
Anyone have any experience with an incident like this? The dealings with insurance, settlements reached,etc.???
Edited 4/7/2005 8:30 pm ET by byrnsie
Edited 4/7/2005 8:32 pm ET by byrnsie
Replies
pictures, we want pictures!...
were it me, I would expect insurance to make me well and keep me comfortable while healing - were it my truck, I'd expect the insurance company to make the homeowner well and keep him comfortable while healing - - were I the insurance company, I'd probably act like a weasel....
Roar ha ha
I think if that were my house I'd go drag that inspector down to the house and shove his nose inside!
Doug
I don't know about the insurance and things like that. But it sounds like to me they need to file a complaint to the county supervisors about that inspector.
Where I grew up in Michigan the road going south out of that crossroads town made a jog at the county line. Made no difference which direction on that road you went you were looking at the front door of a house when you came up to that jog.
The owners of those two houses finally put a stop to having cars enter there house threw the front doors. They took 3 24'' culverts, stood them up on end and buried them like you would a fence post. Then filled them with concrete. This was back in the late 60s. I went threw there a few years ago and they were still there. A bit scarred up but still standing.
Glad to hear that nobody got hurt.
Dane
I will always be a beginner as I am always learning.
there a house up the road that people keep driving through the back yard, shape corner. so he installed a stack of rail road timbers and filled middle with dirt. the city made him take them down. road hazard. they was ten feet off the road. he tried to sell the house for 65k for a 120k house and could never sell. Me, I would of built the thickest concrete wall garage that I could afford.
the inspector sounds like an idiot...
big hole in house
right above main gas line
house moved 3 inches
meets saftey standards
one of these doesn't belong
Edited 4/7/2005 10:54 pm ET by CAG
I've done a little insurance work. I'd offer to do that job for whatever we jointly (the homeowner and I would become a team) get from the insurance adjuster.
My first call would be to my lawyer if I was the contractor, or homeowner.
blue
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should!
Warning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. There are some in here who think I'm a hackmeister...they might be right! Of course, they might be wrong too!
That inspector needs to be made to live in the house!
I agree that if the guy was not a structural engineer... he had no business telling the family the place was safe.
I have only watched as a house was brought back up on foundation after an accident. If it is the average house (1500 sq ft, yada yada)... it HAS to be cheaper to bulldoze and start again. They had cranes and lifts on that site for many weeks.
I could only shake my head when thinking about the cost. I have used the crane company that was doing the heavy lifting... and they DEFINITELY aren't cheap! Let alone the engineers, the repairs, etc.
But... one good thing.... it created one heck of a spectator sport for the neighborhood! Ancillary bad thing... it created the perfect environment for rubber-neck accidents (it was on a major roadway).
FWIW... the homeowner need to hire a public adjuster right now. 20-1 that it is gonna be a fight to get it fixed right. Hopefully, they have "replacement cost coverage".... worth every penney of additional premium.
Edited 4/8/2005 1:37 am ET by Rich from Columbus
Not only the building inspector, who really is inept, the gas company's own rep told the homeowner it was safe. The gas guy's reasoning was that there were a few elbows going with the direction of the impact, he felt these all took a little movement- but the pipe was original to the house- probably 40 or 50 years old.
I like the idea of the stand up concrete culvert, I was thinking bollards, but that's serious.
I'm really hoping someone out there knows of an actual incident that happened and what the outcome was. I agree that it's probably going to be a long fight for them. It just isn't right that a company can run unsafe trucks, even using a brick for a chock block. It left a chock mark as it got dragged down the road til it cracked into peices!
There is the other issue of who is paying.Now HOI will cover this, but it is limited to the type of coverage and limits. Which may or may not be inclusive enough.The other is the owner/operator of the truck. Now they are liable for the damages (from what is said) what what insurance/assests do they have.But I don't think that replacement cost comes into play here. I think that is mostly for contents which does not sound like there was any magor damage. However a good ademdum is one that covers code upgrades.But I agree not just a public adjustor, but hopefully he could find one with some experiences with something like this. The tricky part is how much hidden damage that there is.And if would not hurt to get an attorney now. Not one to file lawsuites, but one to review the HO inusrance and also find out the assests insurance of the trucking company and where to start collecting from in a way that he can still recover from the other one if the first does not cover everything.