Wichita poised to adopt tighter rules for slab construction

Betty Wiens hopes that no one in Wichita ever has to spend $80,000 to put a 5-year-old house back together.

The City Council is expected to side with Wiens today, if it follows a staff recommendation to enact a tougher set of regulations for slab home construction, homes built with slab concrete foundations and without basements.

A city task force recommended the changes after a seven-month study triggered by an Eagle investigation.

That probe uncovered a half-dozen newer slab houses in the Maple Shade subdivision at Harry and Webb Road that were cracking apart due to unstable soil, drainage problems and a lack of foundation reinforcement.

However, the task force determined that the houses were built to city codes, which The Eagle found weren't as stringent as several Kansas communities.

Wiens praised the new regulations. But she doubts the city's sincerity because officials plan no action against Maple Shade builder Clint Miller's building license.

"What makes anyone think they will enforce the new regs? Not me," she asked. "I only hope that these new regulations will help someone in the future."

Steve Garner, who also owns a damaged Maple Shade house, shares Wiens' skepticism.

"It is good to have the new regulations, and it should prevent another Maple Shade," Garner said.

".. Unless the city and Wichita Area Builders Association enforce the new rules, we are back to where we were."

Mayor Carl Brewer, who will miss today's council meeting, said he supports the tighter regulations.

"We think that it will help create a better quality of homes, take away some of that risk and alleviate some of the problems we've had in the past," Brewer said.

Miller's brother, Steve, sold the remaining vacant lots in Maple Shade this summer to Derby builders Joe and Curt Warren.

Steve Miller also is working with some of the people who bought the deteriorating Maple Shade houses, he and the Warrens said in August.

The proposed standards for residential foundation and slab-on-grade houses include:

* Soil testing and analysis at any building site, with the results provided to city building officials for permitting purposes.

* Plasticity index testing, a test that determines the potential for expansion and movement of soil over time based on the moisture content of the soil and soil type.

The severity of the new codes that homebuilders are required to meet will be determined by the results of those tests.

* Steel reinforcement bars or wire mesh, or both, will be required in all slabs. Fiber reinforcing material — such as what broke apart in Wiens' house and was the minimum city reinforcement standard — may still be used, but only in addition to required steel reinforcement.

* Specific materials and criteria are established for the fill dirt directly beneath slabs, as are appropriate depths, depending on soil analysis and required minimum footing and foundation design.

* Foundation and surface drainage design and maintenance are emphasized, to minimize the potential for foundation/slab damage from water.

* An additional city inspection in the building process. Inspectors will check and verify required steel reinforcement and under-slab material placement before the concrete is poured for the slab foundation.

This story was originally published September 13, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Wichita poised to adopt tighter rules for slab construction."