Anybody going to Big Bend any time soon.

Dude you would say the same thing as me if ya came out here and tried to git in the crawl Space
WTF !:gah::cussing:

Stupid City Slickers here build houses on Concrete Slabs.
When it rains and the water comes up. Everybody has to claim insurance for their house being flooded.
And when their slab drops due to soil conditions, the foundation has to come out and dig holes all alone the side of the house to git where the beams are and jack hammer holed in the center parts of the house so they can did a hole and jack round concrete cylinders down in the ground with a Hydraulic jack so they can git her house level.
Now tell me what all that cost.

Plus yer drain pipes are in the concrete.
Yer water pipes are in he ceiling.
If it gits cold and you have no heat in the house, the water pipes freezes and bust. Then guess what happens.:roflmao:

When I 1st come out here in 84, there was a dude I worked with. Became friends with him, and he invited me to his house to have a drink and shoot the bull and meet his wife.
When I got there we was drinkin some whiskey. He has just bought the house.
He said ya know the only thing I don't like about this house that I liked about the other house is it don't have enough telephone jacks.
I said that ain't no problem dude , I got a flex drill bit for drill in the wall and turnin it up or down, come outside and let me show you.
We walked outside n the dark.
I started walkin around his house lookin behind the scrubs for the door to the crawl space.
I asked where is that door to the crawl space at and was walkin around the house in the dark. He followed me around the house and said what crawl space are you talkin about
Comon man the space where you can git under yer house, ya can put shovels and hoes and rakes and yer dog can git under there when its hot or it rains.
He said man how the hell you gonna git a crawl space from under a concrete slab.
Huh, y'all build houses on Concrete slabs.
Yes man we have Black Gumbo in the ground we build houses on concret slabs.
WTF do you do when it rains and the water comes up.
We leave and look for higher ground .
Then yer house floods.
Yes he says.
We have to take ever thing out and cut the sheet rock off to the flood line and replace everything.
What a dumb ass way to do things.
The builder should be fined 50,000 for ever house he builds from the start.
That ain't the way you do things here man, he said. You can't build houses off the ground.

My house in the country is on 12x12 square poles and the front is 8' in the air, the back is like 10' in the air.
If houses are built on concrete slabs, where would you find crawl space ?

Crawl spaces are breeding grounds for man killer things. I had a house on a slab, like CB said, It sucks. Basements are the best. Wife can save all kinds of manure that a man would throw away. Leaves the man with the garage all his own!

You'd love it till the foundation shifted and door won't open or close and yer walls cracked and ya had to have the house releveled
And here with the concrete slabs built on ground level and not raised. If your house gits flooded, it cost a minimum of 40,000 to repair it.
Not to mention the sand that gits in the drain pipes.
It cost less than 1/4 the cost to relevel a house off the ground.
And if you need plumbing work done its much easier.

The cost that goes to insurance companies, I mean Billions cause so many people git flooded out. I mean man hundreds at a time.
That drives insurance rates and all up.

Dude Houston is 50' above sea level. Think how things drain.

Got a dude that bought some land here and was going to build a house for him and his family. He went to a arcitech and had plans drawed.
Showed them to me.
I said man there is no way I would build a house on a concrete slab.
He said I checked for 150 yrs and this place hasn't flooded.
I explained everything to him about a Pier and beam foundation.
He went to the architech and had the plans changed to a pier and beam foundation.

I tole him to build it a minumum of 36" off the ground, he build it 50" off the ground and instead of laying blocks he did a solid slab. I also told him to allow access to go under the house from upstairs and build a tornado shelter. He did.
Well we got a tropical storm. It droped so much water two or so rivers filled up and ran across his farm, went over the hood of his surburban and his wifes suburau.
It can to within 5 " of the 50" of being in his house.
All his neighbors houses got flooded.
His insurance gave him money for his vehicles , which he went and got new ones.
But he had a place to live and sleep and not the stress of everybody else that couldn't live in their houses and they had to go to motels and rent them for months.
Know how many times he thanked me.
I asked him, Hey Curtis how much more did it cost you to do a concrete foundation 50" over a concrete slab.
15,000 he said, and worth every penny of it.
Can't tell you how much I'm glad I listed to you and went with the way you said.
Thank God we didn't loose a brand new house we just build 3 yrs ago.
I see the light.

Great place for a Basement too if the house was built right.
There's nothin in the world like a house with a basement dude.
Trust me I know they are all over northern Alabama
That's how you build houses.
And if a tornado comes it gives you a place to hide.
Cool in the summer to sleep in the basement not to mention Quiet down there.

Effects of Tropical Storm Allison in Texas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Is this worth Concete slabs man.
Think how many homes and how much money would be saved, if they had standards on how high a house is build off the ground.
A minimum of 36"
Billions would be saved.:rant:

2001 Houston Flood - YouTube

Medical Centers and Hospitals ground floors went under water.
All kinds of stuff downstairs was destroyed. They lost generators too.

Allison-Healing from the Storm: Baby Zachary's Story - YouTube

Ya can't talk Concrete Slabs to me. I knew before this and after this folks started listening to me.
I bass fished with City Building Inspectors.
Folks that got Fema loans. I tole them to git their house off the ground
A couple listened to me.
Already told me they would of lost their homes 3 times again if they hadn't of got it off the ground. ONe house was raised only 24" and it saved his house man.
Life was devistated here. Interstates went under water and you had no place to go.

Bought a Old house built in 69. Wanted somethin I could afford and pay for.
I leveled it 8 yrs or so ago. Couldn't git the civic club to git the county out and dig the ditich's out. So water ran against it.
Its been threw like 3 hurricanes from the devil. All that knocked it back of level.
Not to mention I live not far from the water on the lake.
When the lake pounds the banks, it shifts the grounds here.

But its mine and its paid for and I'm not fightin a Bank to keep it.
Spend my money on Harleys and toys........