So, we just had a pretty big earthquake up here in Alaska. I now have a wall that is bowed in. After doing some digging around i think I found the problem. There is a “tab” on the floating garage slab that has about 3-4ft of the wall attached to it. When the slab shifted during the quake, it pulled the wall with it.
I have attached a crude drawing of what I think is going on. I think the main foundation runs next to the slab. It then turns and go toward the laundry room. The garage extends past the laundry room, so they attached the wall to the floating slab “tab”
Is this a normal way of doing it. What are my options for correcting this problem. I assume there is not easy way of pulling the whole slab back and even if that was possible the frameing would be cracked or broken.
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One option would be to excavate the involved corner and put in place a proper footing, rigidly connected to the house foundation. Achieving a rigid connection will be tricky, though.
And a lot depends on soil conditions.
From the first picture it looks like the slab shifted to the right. Because the corner is tied together it went with the slab while the more flexible center stayed in place. Lifting the slab can be done by any slab jacking company. Since the lateral movement could be anywhere, and almost has to involve one of your fotings, I'd want an expert opinion on what to do next. Since the slab is inside the footings I don't see any reasonable way to move it back. I'd say you'll need to demo the floor, get the footings back where they should be, and pour a new slab.
That's what I was thinking as well. Unfortunitly I have in floor heat and just cutting a section out isn't possible.