BigFootsSocks Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 I don't think it's the soil that makes us not have basements, it's the constant flooding that keeps us from building them. Also we rarely have tornados like the rest of the nation does. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminare Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 (edited) Most of the "soil" here in Houston consist of a very muddy clay. If you have ever had to dig into it (good freakin luck xD) you will know its probably the messiest thing ever. We don't even really have that deep of a top soil. In fact if you ever want to grow anything here I suggest that you (and is recommended by others) build up whatever beds you are making before planting anything (plant it about 6" to 1' off the ground). The ground soaks up so much water here its just silly. The geology overall consists of a thin layer of top soil (maybe a few inches), under that is about 50-100 even 200 ft deep of nothing but clay (in some places its even further down). Under that is usually some sort of sandy clay. Even further than that is bedrock. If you ever look into construction and what people do in the area, we rarely build at grade. Instead we will build almost another type of framing plan but with what are called grade beams made of concrete. Below the grade beams are called bell piers which go underneath any columns and perimeter of the building. These might be anywhere from 2-3 feet in diameter (sometimes a tad larger) and go about 30-40 feet into the ground to help distribute loads and stabilize the foundation. A good example of what I'm talking about is that latest midrise they are building near Minute Maid. There, you can clearly see the grade beams I was talking about. It almost looks like they are digging up ancient ruins After the grade beams are positioned then they will pour the first foundation and then rise from there. The geology is like this because at one point millions of years ago this part of Texas was completely underwater and even after it started draining away was still a large flood plan for the rest of Texas. This means unlike other areas where they can easily build into bedrock we can't because its buried at least several hundreds maybe even a mile under thousands of years of deposit sediments. It also explains why all the trees in the area have such shallow root systems that stay very close to the top layer of the soil. I'm certainly not a geology expert, but this is what I have researched into the topic from doing architecture projects in school. I hope that helps Edited May 26, 2014 by Luminare 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rechlin Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 Digressing from the topic here, but... Basements are always expensive. People don't have basements unless there is a good reason. In the north, you need the foundation of the house to be below the freeze point, to avoid problems with the foundation shifting, so you have to dig. If you're going to dig down, you might as well have a basement, even if it's only halfway undergound (in North Dakota, where I am from, basements are typically at least 3/4 below the ground to ensure stability of the foundation). Also, the basement provides better insulation from the cold, so you have reduced heating expenses if you can have more of your house underground. In northern cities of Texas like Dallas, you can't easily get a basement because the bedrock is so close, meaning expensive blasting would be required. My parents went through this in Arkansas -- when they built their house they spent something like $20,000 on blasting just to get only a third of their lower floor below ground. So basements are actually even less feasible there. In Houston, we don't have that problem, but the cost of digging the basement still makes it not worth it for most residential homes, since there's no real need for one aside from slightly better insulation in the summer (though a lot of commercial construction uses basements). No, the water table is not much more of a concern than in other places -- even in places like North Dakota, most modern homes have sump pumps to keep water out of the basement, and people still get flooding occasionally. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UtterlyUrban Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 Looking at that dirt, what kind of soil does Houston have and why, for example is it not amenable to basements for homes? Us there anything done differently here for Office Buildings that does not take place in say, Boston or Baltimore when they build because of the soil composition?I understand the reason to be a construction cost (due to the clay soils and the related techniques needed to build underground foundations in them) and maintenance issues for the home owner over the long term. Others will know more! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbannizer Posted May 29, 2014 Author Share Posted May 29, 2014 New camera angle: 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThirdCoastRyan Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 (edited) Construction 2014.06.01 5030 by ThirdCoastRyan, on Flickr Construction 2014.06.01 5016-9 by ThirdCoastRyan, on Flickr Edited June 2, 2014 by ThirdCoastRyan 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triton Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 Didn't realize this place would have a lake front view. Thanks, ThirdCoastRyan!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard Huge Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Construction 2014.06.01 5030 by ThirdCoastRyan, on Flickr Construction 2014.06.01 5016-9 by ThirdCoastRyan, on Flickr Alright thirdcoastryan, love your Flickr pics bro, welcome to the forums! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArchFan Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 (edited) is 50 a resonable guess? Or is there more / less? How many were up in the 1980's? I work in a high-rise in the vicinity of Uptown Park and I could see at least 28 cranes from there. I didn't count some that I know are there, because they were obscured by other buildings. Also, I could not see the ones at the Exxon Mobil site. I was surprised at how many were out west, which I could barely make out with bare eyes. A lot out toward the energy corridor, plus more to the south of that, some of them along Sam Houston, I think. We had exceptionally clear air yesterday, so the refineries to the east stood out quite well, also. They are interesting from a distance, at least :-) Edited June 4, 2014 by ArchFan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 (edited) I work in a high-rise in the vicinity of Uptown Park and I could see at least 28 cranes from there. I didn't count some that I know are there, because they were obscured by other buildings. Also, I could not see the ones at the Exxon Mobil site.I was surprised at how many were out west, which I could barely make out with bare eyes. A lot out toward the energy corridor, plus more to the south of that, some of them along Sam Houston, I think.We had exceptionally clear air yesterday, so the refineries to the east stood out quite well, also. They are interesting from a distance, at least :-)Nice! Definitely 8 or so cranes along San Houston south of i10. On a side note, I always wondered if the folks on the upper floors of Anadarko can see downtown/the various skylines from The Woodlands.. Edited June 4, 2014 by cloud713 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 Nice! Definitely 8 or so cranes along San Houston south of i10. On a side note, I always wondered if the folks on the upper floors of Anadarko can see downtown/the various skylines from The Woodlands..Sorry to keep this off-topic but I had a friend whose father worked on the 75th floor of the Chase Tower and claimed he could see Galveston on a clear day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tumbleweed_Tx Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 also sorry about the OT post, but, I know that from the 60th floor observation deck at the TCT, you can see the power plant off of 762 near Rosenberg that's 25.5 miles away Hi, Jack 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 Since we're hijacked... one of my metrics for a really clear day is whether I can see arriving and departing planes at Intergalactic from downtown. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobruss Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 I can see Russia from my front porch! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 Anyone want to split this discussion off? So no one knows an Anadarko employee with access to the upper floors of the tower on a clear day? Heh.. Wxman? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swtsig Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 i can see anadarko from uptown on a clear day. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
infinite_jim Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 i can see anadarko from uptown on a clear day.Ditto from downtown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 (edited) i can see anadarko from uptown on a clear day.Ditto from downtown.ugh.. why cant anyone that works for Anadarko be a HAIFer, and/or why cant any of them do photography for a hobby and post photos of Houston from their office? heh.. imagine a panorama of Houston from the Anadarko towers.. San Jacinto Monument on the far left left (might be too skinny to see?), and the Energy Corridor to the far right.. with all the skylines and high-rises in between. obviously there arent really high-rises on the east side of town, but id imagine the refineries have a small presence on the skyline?there are photos of Dallas from downtown Ft Worth that are really cool/show practically all of the high-rises in the city, and its really neat. plus the awe of the city being 30 miles away in the photo is pretty cool, so ive always wished someone would take similar photos of Houston from Anadarko (about the same distance from downtown as Ft Worth is from Dallas). Edited June 4, 2014 by cloud713 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArchFan Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 (edited) also sorry about the OT post, but, I know that from the 60th floor observation deck at the TCT, you can see the power plant off of 762 near Rosenberg that's 25.5 miles away Hi, Jack I can see that power plant from my office building near Uptown Park, as well as Anadarko to the north, and the refineries to the east. Today was another clear day, very good viewing. Edited June 5, 2014 by ArchFan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triton Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 Cranes 2014-06-04 14.33.45 by marclongoria, on Flickr Taken while my friend drove. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbannizer Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaderJF Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 a few moments ago: 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkylineView Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 I've been out of town... but is it possible they raised the crane a bit? It looks taller to me this weekend. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
por favor gracias Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 (edited) I've been out of town... but is it possible they raised the crane a bit? It looks taller to me this weekend. I thought the same thing...it does look a little higher up. That said, "out of town" is no excuse for the lack of pictures we've all been patiently waiting for from this past weekend. Edited June 23, 2014 by por favor gracias 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbannizer Posted July 28, 2014 Author Share Posted July 28, 2014 From the webcam this morning: 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metro West Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 McSkyscraper? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Wow.. Already on the 7th(?) floor.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbates2 Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Wow.. Already on the 7th(?) floor.. Jesus. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbates2 Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 (edited) And....Double post. My bad. Edited July 28, 2014 by kbates2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monarch Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 holy cow! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.