“Over the course of the construction of the first street tunnel, our home started to exhibit cracks in the dry wall that were indicative of foundation damage.”

“Dear PoPville,

DC Water started construction on the First Street Tunnel project in Bloomingdale in 2014. Before construction began, they visited most homes in the neighborhood to perform pre-construction surveys and document existing home conditions. We completed this survey because the construction of the tunnel would happen less than 100 feet from our house.

Over the course of the construction of the tunnel, our home started to exhibit cracks in the dry wall that were indicative of foundation damage. The addition to our home, built in the early 2000s started to pull away from the original house. A structural engineer and a foundation repair company both confirmed the damage, which was not present in the pre-construction survey nor in our home inspection completed in 2013.

At the conclusion of the project, DC Water sent requests for claims associated with the construction to be managed by their insurance company, ESIS. I filled out the claim, provided documentation and they followed up with site vists from not one, but THREE engineers of their own.

Six months later, ESIS denied the claim. No written reason was given in the denial although verbally the agent told me it was because we were outside the ‘zone of influence of construction’ which seems ludicrous on multiple levels.

Given this, I filed a claim with my home owners’ insurance, which is in progress. I filed a FOIA request with DC Water for any documentation associated with the construction near our address including those three engineer site visits, but they were “unable to respond to the requests” because it could be involved in construed litigation or was overly burdensome.We had an initial consultation with a lawyer as well but cost is prohibitive until I’ve tried all other avenues.

I’m writing to the PoP-universe for a few reasons.

Is there anyone else out there who is going through this? If so, please, please contact me.
Are there any other suggestions or avenues I haven’t thought of to try?
If I do have to move forward with a lawyer(s), are there any recommendations for a team that may have dealt with these issues?“