Nearly two months after a retaining wall split open at the Hills of Rivermist in San Antonio, Centex Homes submitted plans to the city for a new wall that is reinforced with concrete piers and will cost at least $4 million:
Centex Homes is hoping the third time’s the charm. This week it produced a preliminary design concept for a new retaining wall to replace one that collapsed in January in a Northwest Side neighborhood — which in 2007 replaced one that was not “performing to expectations.”
But homeowners say they are weary after two months of stress and uncertainty and are still on the fence about whether to trust that this latest fix will last.
The builder and developer of Rivermist and The Hills of Rivermist told the city it plans a wall 1,700 feet long. The new wall will be built in front of the existing retaining wall, and will include reinforced concrete piers driven 10 to 30 feet into the ground and reinforced concrete panels between the piers, Centex said in a news release.
The company will give the city formal engineering plans by April 30. It expects construction to take four to six months and cost $4 million to $5 million.
The original structure was a gravity wall, which relied on the heavy weight of stone and mortar to remain stable. But after the collapse, city officials inspected the wall and claimed it lacked a solid core of mortar, which makes the wall lighter — and unstable.
Even without seeing the engineering drawings, HOT worries about the affects of expansive soil on the new retaining wall design that Centex proposed. If our analysis of USDA Web Soil Survey data (http://homeownersoftexas.org/Rivermist_Soil_Survey.pdf) is correct, our water balloon theory (http://homeownersoftexas.org/Rivermist_Water_Balloon_Theory.pdf) should cause people to question the structural integrity of the new design.
Thanks for the comment and the links, Wayne.