Structural Engineer in Herriman, Utah
Herriman is a relatively newer community, and the engineer’s files reflect that. Many of the homes inspected there were built in the 2000s and 2010s, so the recurring questions are often less about aging foundations and more about workmanship, drainage, overloaded framing, additions, retaining walls, and newer-construction cracks.
At a 2018 home near Rosecrest Road, the engineer investigated a noticeable sag around a large kitchen island. The stone slab alone weighed more than 700 pounds, and the 12-inch I-joists below were spanning about 16 feet 8 inches. Measurements showed as much as 5/8 inch of deflection beneath the island, enough to qualify as structural failure by standard deflection limits. The recommended fix was to add an intermediate bearing wall in the basement and provide a proper footing beneath it.
Another newer home near Brook Heights Circle had extensive cracking in the basement slab, foundation, and stucco. The cracks looked alarming, but the basement slab was not carrying the house. The engineer concluded that much of the slab cracking was consistent with concrete that had been placed too wet and then shrank as it cured. In that case, the visible cracks did not indicate significant structural movement.
Herriman also has a lot of additions and homeowner modifications. At a home in the Silver Saddle Way area, a rear addition showed disappointing workmanship, but the visible structural components were generally acceptable. The more important issue was water management: missing gutters, poor grading, vulnerable window wells, and drains that discharged to a sump rather than daylight.
At another newer home, basement door openings had created questions about whether proper lintels had been installed. Initial cracking above the openings suggested a structural concern, but later exploratory work confirmed that substantial steel angle lintels were already present. That is a good example of why visible cracking alone does not always tell the whole story.
Herriman also includes sloped lots where retaining walls, RV pads, pools, and drainage become part of the structural picture. On one property, a six-foot boulder wall was being replaced with a more conventional retaining system while drainage problems elsewhere on the site were already contributing to slab settlement.
The engineer’s Herriman files show a recurring pattern: newer does not necessarily mean problem-free. The most common concerns are often tied to workmanship, concentrated loads, drainage, site improvements, and modifications made after the original construction.
The useful question is not simply whether a crack exists, but what is carrying the load, where that load goes, and whether water or later construction has changed the original design.
Herriman is a newer city, but newer does not mean structurally simple. The engineer has seen homes there with settlement, drainage problems, poor workmanship, overloaded floor systems, and retaining-wall concerns—all in houses that were relatively young. One thing Herriman teaches quickly is that cracks and movement have to be diagnosed, not guessed at. Sometimes the problem is soil. Sometimes it is water. Sometimes it is framing or workmanship. Before you buy, give an engineer a try (wow, that sounded like a lawyer ad).
Apologies, but engineers are still nerds – and we’re usually dads. We gravitate to lame text like that.