Korte Wamsley and I have lived with it for two years now. What? The damage done to our house by the illegal excavation of the hill above us. They brought in 20 to 60 feet of fill, built rock walls to contain it, and cut deeply in between for their roads. The end result? Diverted the underground water so it comes directly into the foundation of the house. 18 months ago it was a tiny shift, but enough to splinter one of our four large picture windows and put cracks in the brick veneer. This spring the back sank 3 more inches, but the front about 6. Water line broke. Gas line broke. Glu lam starting to twist and rip the wall apart. Stone walls pulling apart. Stone literally splitting. The house made it the first 32 years without a single crack, but these yahoos (David Tolman, Richard Lloyd, Whisper Ridge Development) have taken so little time to destroy it. The engineer came today...drilling shows exactly what we thought. Now the hill's underground streams flow directly into the home at a depth of only six feet!
Poor old house. It has been a beautiful retreat. Now it's time to walk away and build anew.
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