Study: Public Buildings With Foundation Issues In The Minority

NORTH CENTRAL, CT — The crumbling foundation crisis that has impacted thousands of structures in Hartford and Tolland counties and into parts of eastern Connecticut seems to be predominantly affecting residential units and not public buildings, according to a new report by the state's captive insurance company in charge 0f repair subsidies.

Connecticut Public Act No. 21-120 set aside up to $175,000 from the indemnity company's coffers to pay for the study.

Data from the the study by the Connecticut Foundation Solutions Indemnity Co., dubbed, "A Study Undertaken by Connecticut Foundation Solutions Indemnity Company, Inc.:Public Use Building Foundations and Manifestations of the Existence of Pyrrhotithe," was released last week.

According to the study, a series of inspections was performed on non-residential structures like schools, fire houses, police stations and municipal office buildings to supplement the "extensive research" on private homes using the CFSIC's "standard severity class code system."

CFSIC officials said it was "clear" from the results that the number of foundation issues in public buildings is not widespread regarding the presence of pyrrhotite, a mineral that has been causing foundations to break down via a bad stash of concrete from the J.J. Mottes quarry in Stafford.

Two prominent public buildings were not part of the study. Birch Grove Primary School in Tolland had to be replaced (with the help of grants) because of foundation damage, and because of that, it was not included, officials said. A firehouse on Crystal Lake Road in Tolland was also not included because it was determined not to have an immediate impact as a crumbling foundation.

Four of the 100 public buildings examined were determined to be of Class 3 severity, indicating a dangerous level of deterioration. They included two in Stafford — an ambulance building on Monson Road that has extensive cracking and staining, and a road treatment storage building on Upper Road. The other building deemed to have Class 3 status are a road treatment storage shed in Ashford and a fuel depot shed in Union.

In contrast, 91 percent of residential foundation claims were deemed Class 3.

According to the report, inspectors were not able to collect data on 14 buildings because of poor visibility and bad sight lines.

According to data obtained through interviews with retired employees of J.J. Mottes, more than a third of the quarry's annual deliveries were to locations outside Connecticut. According to the report, production data further suggests that Mottes' concrete placements were "skewed to between 85 percent and 80 percent residential construction in each year during the timeframe 1983 to 2015."

The report states that, "All this data supports a reasonable conclusion that concrete poured by J.J. Mottes was involved only in a very limited way with non-residential foundation placements in the epicenter of the crisis."

Click here to access the report in full.