Vibrationdamage.com

05/04/2026

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11/19/2025

"I'm just doing a job"

If you have talked with a construction crew in the context of damage done to your home or business, there is a good chance you have already heard this trope. I have personally talked with a half dozen crews from different companies, when they were violating their own company's rules in using an excavator bucket to demolish pavement by pounding on it. All but one crew told me just that. I have even seen the statement in deposition testimony from construction crew members in vibration damage litigation cases.

What that statement really translates to is that, in the minds of the construction crew, they are not responsible for anything because they are "following orders" to do the job. In most cases, they were actually violating their company's policies. The photo shows a 2025 example where, despite having the right equipment on-site to do the job properly and safely, the crew chose to demolish pavement by pounding on it.

Whatever all the implications might be of such statements, they show that many construction crews have little, if any, concern about whether their actions will damage surrounding homes. Much of the serious vibration damage done can be traced, ultimately, to that approach and attitude.

10/09/2025

An unacknowledged risk of damage

If you read the scientific literature of construction vibration damage to structures, you'll find that most of it attributes damage risks to three main sources: construction and mine blasting, pile driving, and vibratory compaction of soil and asphalt. Little attention is given to demolition procedures generally, which can produce damaging vibrations from various sorts of ground impacts. No mention at all is given to "pounding" with an excavator or backhoe bucket to break pavement, rock or hard soil.

I have previously pointed out that there is little if any, published data on the vibration velocities associated with this type of construction operation. This is true probably because it is explicitly banned by most contractors, for the reason that it is "hard on the equipment". Although no reference velocities (PPV's) for such powered pounding are available, they are available for unpowered weight dropping operations like "dynamic compaction" and "crack-and-seat") used to break pavement. The published velocities for these operations are FAR beyond any blasting or construction vibration operation, ranging anywhere from 3-8 in/sec.

Not only have we observed pounding of this sort in action, we have come to realize that it is common. The original damage to my own home was done by pounding on asphalt pavement. After notification of the damage and its cause the contractor continued to do it - until they were forced to institute vibration monitoring. I could calculate from known resistances of materials to vibration damage that the minimum reference PPV from the vibrations produced in the initial instance were over 10 in/sec - more than 50 times the FTA limit for timber-framed homes of 0.2 in/sec.

Since that time, 5 other contractors have come to the same intersection - mostly to repair the shoddy work done by the original contractor. I have had to stop 4 of the 5 crews from pounding on the concrete or asphalt, pointing out the vibration risk. ALL of those then continued with the pounding after I left them. Note in the photo below of the most recent incident that the "teeth" of the excavator bucket are located over the pavement, not the dirt. The photo shows the crew had on site with them the exact equipment needed to lift and overturn the pavement in pieces. They chose not to use it.

Their company was sued 15 years ago for its role in a job which caused extensive damage to numerous homes. Thus, one could reasonably conclude that they cared more about their work than they did about the real possibility of damaging homes.

My experience is seemingly common. At least 70 people have reported to us at Vibrationdamage.com similar excavator or backhoe pounding on pavement as the likely cause of damage to their homes or structures, always in the absence of any vibration monitoring. Monitoring would almost certainly raise a red vibration flag for the crews.

If you experience this kind of pounding by construction crews and your home is within 100 feet of the work, you should assume that there is a high probability of damage. Immediately contact the construction crew and advise them to stop what they are doing. Follow up immediately with a notification to their company. You should also begin documenting by photo or video everything done by the crew. There are many other ways to remove pavement without such vibration risks, including getting under it with equipment of the sort shown in the photo, picking it up in pieces and hauling it away.

08/01/2025

Getting vibration monitoring data

Vibration monitoring in construction jobs is, by no means, universal, even though it is often required by contract or Federal regulation. The best data we have at vibrationdamage.com suggests that a minimum of about 20% of jobs are monitored for vibration, based on the observations of homeowners. It is critical that you get all available vibration monitoring data, since such data will be used against you, usually highly selectively, to "prove" that no damaging vibrations occurred. Basic information on monitoring can be found on our site at https://vibrationdamage.com/vibration_monitoring.htm

Your attorney can demand copies in lawsuit discovery, but I've seen several cases, in both my own and consulting, in which the contractor said he didn't have such data at all. Some of it was then produced when faced with very unfavorable data produced by the property owner from his own measurements. It's also common for vibration monitoring data to be produced, then later to find from document productions that the monitoring data production is massively and selectively incomplete.

It's often found in a careful analysis of vibration data that unfavorable data are not mentioned in reports to the contractor, as shown when the raw digital data are produced. Thus, such contractor reports on vibration monitoring are not good indicators of what the vibrations really were. All of this simply says that you must be persistent and meticulous when you request vibration monitoring data from a contractor. You must get the original raw data, not just reports to the contractor, which are may be incomplete and biased.

07/14/2025

Pounding on pavement - redux, redux, redux

The single most damaging operation used in the project in front of my home was pounding with an excavator bucket to break pavement. It was primarily responsible for damaging at least 13 homes. Damage patterns suggest a minimum vibration velocity in that example of over 10 in/sec - way above the U.S. FTA standard of 0.2 in./sec.

I have since had to go out and have a talk with construction crews from two other companies doing the same thing at the same intersection. Lest you think I made any difference, there is now a new, fourth example at the same intersection involving a different construction company. In the attached photos, taken 7/11/25, you can see the bucket positioned over the pavement, not the dirt. Once again, I cautioned the crew of the damage potential. They continued pounding a couple more times before finally stopping.

Most construction companies forbid such pavement pounding, because it's hard on heavy equipment. Whether they care about the damage potential for surrounding homes is another question. With four examples at one intersection, you can see that such banned pounding is a real damage risk. Over 60 visitors to Vibrationdamage.com have reported construction pounding incidents, nearly all in connection with damage to their homes. If you hear the sound of pounding on pavement with heavy equipment, you should start documenting the operation immediately.

07/01/2025

Vibration damage and Homeowners' Associations (HOA's)

Many homeowners are members of local HOA's. When there is widespread damage among the members' homes, you may consider involving your HOA in making vibration damage claims for all those affected. This can increase your leverage in finding a non-litigation solution for the damages, but is not without problems.

It may be difficult to get your local HOA to vote in favor of concerted action. Many people do not want to be involved in claims, even if they have damage; others who think they don't have damage may be unwilling to support your claims. There is a good chance that some member of the HOA will reveal information to others that you would not like revealed.

If you involve your HOA in helping make your claim, you will have to do some work in building support within the HOA. This will take time, but it may have value in finding out not only who has damage, but who is unwilling to support any claim. At the very least, you will build awareness by bringing your claim and concerns to the HOA as soon as possible.

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06/10/2025

Engineering and standards

Because ground vibration standards are ultimately subject to, and based on, statistical variation, none of them take into account directly the specific structure and engineering of any single nearby home. Standards consider only groups of structures which share fundamental elements. Although most of the standards recognize differences in engineering and construction method, separating engineered and non-engineered structures into different classes with different acceptable ground vibration velocities, it should be kept in mind that most homes in the U.S. are of non-engineered, wood-frame construction. They are built based on good construction practices and building codes which are shared around the country, but not identical.

Thus, the specific structure of a home experiencing vibration damage around a construction site is not accounted for in any way in any vibration mitigation process or plan. After damage is reported, engineers are often hired by contractors and insurance companies to attribute the damage to engineering or other claimed "flaws", with little or no knowledge of whether good practices and local building codes were followed.

Engineers are used as "experts" in vibration damage litigation or when claims are reported. While engineering expertise can be valuable in specific damage situations, VERY few engineers are actually truly experts in ground vibration and its effects. Most are poorly informed scientifically on it. That may explain why at least 700 engineers worldwide have gotten known copies of my CVDG in the free version or purchased the much more comprehensive Professional Edition.

You may need an engineer in your vibration damage case, but you and your attorney should work hard to find out if he really knows the field. You hire an expert based on what he knows, NOT claimed "experience" or training, none of which may be helpful to you. One clear indicator of lack of knowledge is if the engineer is aware of and cites only blasting related vibration studies, which are largely irrelevant to construction-caused damage. Blasting vibration limits are considered the "least appropriate" ones for construction vibration. To be valuable to you, an engineer MUST know about vibration effects, not just structural engineering.

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01/29/2025

Seeking help - the best way

Most people with vibration damage claims find that they need help to pursue the damages with recalcitrant construction companies and insurers. Whether that help comes from an attorney, an expert, or even us at Vibrationdamage.com, there are some types of information that you should have available before you contact the help:

1. the distance between your home or structure and the site of the work. For moving operations, the distance of closest approach should be known. You can easily get the distances from Google Maps online or Google Earth satellite photos. Having the distances allow the calculation of likely vibration velocities for your location and the type of job being done.

2. documentation of both the damage seen AND the construction operations which you believe might be responsible for the damage. Typically, this will be photos and video, but may include documentation of other sorts. If you don't have all of this data, then provide a summary of the equipment types you have seen operating on the job.

3. any information you have regarding the funder of the work, any web sites which have useful information about the project - including ones on which you have placed documentation.

With knowledge of these factors, you should be able to get a fairly rapid reading on the likelihood of damage and its cause. Without it, you will spend more money and time than is necessary.

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11/22/2024

Every minute counts

When you discover damage to your home or building which you believe was caused by nearby construction vibration, you will have a lot do in the minutes and hours immediately following the discovery. The ultimate outcome of your claim will depend to a great extent upon what you do the first day after you become convinced that you have damage.

First, you must document the damage as quickly as possible. Because even a few minutes can be important if construction with heavy equipment is still ongoing, do an initial quick survey for damage instances, photographing or videotaping as you go. You can return a few hours later for a more complete and exhaustive survey. Because more damage will likely appears in the weeks and months subsequent to your discovery of the first damage, you should resurvey the damage occasionally to record the newly appearing examples.

Then, you MUST start documenting on video and/or photos the construction itself, especially those operations like vibratory compaction, pile driving, blasting and heavy equipment movement, which are known to be capable of causing damage in many circumstances. You should continue to document the construction until it finishes in your immediate neighborhood.

Once you have started all these processes, you must immediately inform the contractor and the project sponsor of the damage. That will trigger a nearly immediate set of damage inspections by the contractor's representatives and numerous others. If you have extensive damage, you will probably want to contact an attorney to help you with interactions with all the people who will want to view the damage. It is wise to retain a vibration damage expert as early as possible to help you and your attorney.

This post portrays a tiny part of the work that you will do to forward a legitimate vibration damage claim, but it is the most critical. For more see https://vibrationdamage.com/pursuing_a_claim.htm and the links to other pages there for the details of documenting and pursuing your claim.

What's involved in making a vibration damage claim

09/27/2024

Equipment reference PPV's

Far too often, perhaps in a majority of cases, vibration monitoring is not done during a construction job in which there are damage claims involving surrounding properties. Then, vibration PPV's can only be estimated, using measured distances to the work, records of the type(s)( of construction equipment used, and reference PPV's found in several reference works, including our free Construction Vibration Damage Guide for Homeowners. With these data, PPV's can be approximated for construction equipment or blasting, employing vibration attenuation equations of the sort built into our free Ground Vibration and Safe Distance Calculators (https://vibrationdamage.com/vibration_calculator.htm).

However, one needs considerable care in employing calculations to estimate PPV's. First, such calculations with the simple equations usually employed are only accurate to within about a factor of two. Second, the reference values usually quoted date back to 1980, when most construction equipment was smaller and less powerful than current types, thereby likely underestimating the PPV. Third, most types of equipment, especially compactors used in road construction and development, have many operator adjustable parameters which can affect both the PPV generated and calculated. Fourth, some types of equipment, including pile drivers, have different energy classes, which determine the amount of vibrational energy transferred to the ground. Sadly, many of these critical parameters are either unknown or exceedingly difficult to get for the situation at hand.

Whether you're a homeowner trying to get handle on what vibrations might have been in a construction job or an expert trying to render an opinion based on such reference values, keep in mind always the need for the factor of two accuracy range of such calculations. Any vibration PPV within a factor of two of a properly chosen construction vibration standard should be seen as capable of doing damage to structures.

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