Commatoze

After 3 years of solitude, I'm about to get neighbors. I tried to buy the land next to me to stop it, but seller wanted an arm and a leg, and my first born ($50K per acre). But about a third of the land is under water courtesy of the local beavers so I didn't think it was worth it. Now the problem, The house is going on top of solid New England ledge left behnd by the last Ice Age. The backhoe dude took one scoop, and shut it down. Today, there's a drilling maching over there, and I'm thinking one thing. BLASTING. I was wondering if anybody here ever had that go on next to their house and experienced any structural damage afterwards? I think the only thing I got in my favor is that the blasting area is slightly above my grade so there's no opportunity for the shock wave to travel underground.

DieselDaze

You could move to California... the ground is always moving there.

First, find out why they're drilling in the first place.
If they are drilling for purposes of blasting, then find out if they plan on covering you for any damages that will cause.
You might also want to notify your insurance company.
:-

Rich

TPilaske

A buddy of mine's neighborhood is pretty close to a quarry. They blast down in there all the time. The driveways in the neighborhood are pretty cracked up and I guess the nails don't stay in the rafters too well on the house. Not sure how a couple of blast's would affect the house... other than having to leave it while they blast.... ya know, like when they stop traffic on the freeway for 800 miles when they are blasting to widen it... ;D


Tony

DPG

Commatoze: Do you own a good pair of shooting muffs? ;D

Seriously, I think notifying your insurance company would be a good idea. Also, I think that if they are going to blast next to you, they ought to provide you with something in writing that gives you the name of their liability insurance carrier.

Mostwanted

Don't know about all the blasting but I have an idea to change there minds about being your neighbor.

Do you live in a nice "subdivision"? If you don't have a homeowners assc. I would park a bunch of junk pickups on blocks in the front yard and make it as hillbilly looking as possible. That may ward 'em off

shortround

I don't really appreciate the "hillbilly" remark, but considering the source, I will not comment further.
As to the blasting. Much depends on the type of rock. Rock that fractures well usually doesn't create many problems. Usually those are like slate/shale types. Granet(?) tends to "funnel" many of the forces to a weak area. The majority of the blasting I've done utilized the formula P=E, Plenty = Enough. Suggest you talk to a geologist in the area and get his feel. I shot a basement for my parents and didn't have a problem and then turn around and blow a stump out here and rattle windows for two miles. If a guy does small charges to just fracture the local rock formation so that a backhoe can get in, no problem. However it does take time. Something they might not want to spend. Another thisg is that if you have a well, it can change the amount of water available.

Shortround out

Commatoze

Thanks for all of the helpful information here and via PM. I'm going to speak with my insurance carrier on Monday, while the wife is going over to the site to speak the contractor. No sub-division here. We're up in the woods. There's no Associations here either, as you'll find a hard-headed New England yankee hates to be told what he can and can't do to his own domicile. ;D Consequently, you'll find a real mix of housing up here in the hills and hollers......if you know what I mean. : ;D

Tom

[edit] Shortround, the ledge here is comprised of sedimentary rock, sandstone, and granite that's been compressed into a solid deposit. I'm thinking it should fracture pretty good. Looks like they're drilling down about 10 feet, the depth of a typical basement. Yeah, I do have a well, but it's down 500 feet so I would hope it wouldn't be affected.

shortround

When I shot mom and dads, it was right next to the house. Hard black slate. We drilled 80-100 holes about 15 ft deep and used an ounce and a half or so of gel.With a 3 millisecond delay between each shot, it sounded like a short burst from an A-10 Warthog cannon. Had one piece of rock get the house. Haven't been able to do as pretty a shot since. We drilled a half a day, spent that long to wire it, and the backhoe wasn't in there 2 hours.
Sandstone is weird to work with due to the many density changes. Contractor at camp was digging a utilities line and screwed up by not using a delay on the charges. It cost him over a million bucks to repair the new warehouse area. It sure was spectacular though. Looked kinda like a good air strike.

notblowingstuffupveryoftenanymoreShortround out

VPI

I have been around several blast sites while putting in utilities like sewer in new neighborhoods here in Chatanooga and never had any problems. We blasted within 200-300 ft of a 3 million dollar house one day and I have not seen any problems. Most of our rock is sand stone and lime stone all sedimentary rock which fractures fairley well. I think blasting is better than having a hoe ram hammering for days on end near you house. Have had complaints about the hammering. If the blaster is worth a flip you will have no problems.

With that said about a week ago a quary near a VW dealer had a little mishap and the dealer is having a scratch and dent sell now. :

I think that talking to the contractor and expressing your concerns is a very good ideal. He should be willing to work with you. If nothing else the blasting company has insurance if something happens .

Bodey

I would see if they would be willing to lay blast tires down to make sure there is no damage from flying debre, even the best miscalculate right. We do alot of blasting in northeren Canada and i've been around my share of it in the mine sites. In Flin Flon, Manitoba many basements were poured with large portions of bedrock sticking up in the basements due to high risk of property damage in neighbouring lots.

Redleg

How about some "before" shots of the basement walls?

Tartarus

Water? Beavers? Fragile sedementary topography buttressing a body of water?

Commatoze, before anyone does any blasting or building, an expensive, time-consuming environmental impact statement needs to be filed and approved. That sounds an awful lot like the conditions of a wetland preserve out there. In fact, it might be a crime against nature to allow such an irresponsible land owner to improve (degrade) a site like that. Sounds like the state might want to take it over and preserve it for generations to come. People will thank you, if you call attention to this potential atrocity against our scarce New England aesthetic resources.

;D

Commatoze

[quote author=Tartarus link=board=10;threadid=20201;start=0#msg190194 date=1064762123]
Water? Beavers? Fragile sedementary topography buttressing a body of water?............

[/quote]

The procedings have gone way beyond what your suggesting. This parcel of land is signed, sealed, and only needs to be delivered. It's been approved for at least 3 years. Fortunately, to the other side of me, the land is zoned for forestry, Chapter something-or-other, so it may be a long time before I see any development there. As for the beavers, while they may be fascinating critters, I've watched them destroy the back end of my land, and flood my distant neighbor's basements. I have ancient maples that have been girdled and are just skeletons waiting for a good blow to topple, leaving a daunting clean-up task for me. I am prevented by law from removing them be any means whatsoever. When things reach a breaking point with the neighbors, the Conservation Committee in town live traps, and relocates them. But, they are quiclky replaced by others which come down the streams from the north. The town has gotten smart, and is now buying up choice parcels of land with the intention of preservation. The one next to me though has been lost to development. Here's me with my limbing saw and the next big one to fall courtesy of my flat-tailed friends :. I believe it's...I mean was a Hickory about 60 feet tall.

Tartarus

Well, I just thought there was a way to put those flat-tailed varmints to work for -you-, for a change. Kinda joking, like.

Out at my place, we blocked off development on the south alluvial fan by stocking a stream with Lahontan trout and taking photographs of a bighorn sheep and some mustangs. BLM was on our side, that time.

Mr.Goat

I thought under your second ammendment you fellows had the right to keep and bear arms to protect yourselves. I would have presumed that also to include property destoying beavers. Besides there good to eat too!

"G" day Eh! Pete