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Over the last several years, homeowners plagued by pyrrhotite-contaminated concrete foundations across Massachusetts have been struggling with repairing their homes.
Pyrrhotite is a naturally occurring iron sulfide mineral that reacts with oxygen and deteriorates over time. For many homeowners, the telltale cracking, fissuring and water staining found in their basements can be devastating, costing $200,000 or more to tear out and replace.
What’s more is that the pyrrhotite-contaminated concrete reduces the value of the home, making it harder to borrow money to finance such repairs. According to Mass Live, insurers have even denied claims regarding the issue.
As a result, dozens of affected homeowners have banded together to create the Massachusetts Residents Against Crumbling Concrete group. While there are 20 core active members, on social media, the Facebook page has 1,100 members.
Recently, the group had a table at the Massachusetts Democratic Convention to lobby lawmakers for budget amendments meant to offer some relief. Other state legislation is also pending.
Some History
In 2016, the Hartford Courant reported that some 400 homeowners scattered in 23 towns in eastern Connecticut filed complaints with a consumer protection agency after noticing a premature deterioration in their concrete foundations.
Many of the failing foundations were poured between the early 1980s and late 1990s. Some lawmakers suggested the problem would continue to grow as more affected homeowners came forward. The governor requested federal aid in the matter at the time.
According to the Courant, bills to replace foundation are reported to be as much as $200,000, with most insurance companies denying homeowners’ claims.
In 2018, reports revealed that homeowners in Massachusetts were experiencing the same issues.
The impacted homes share one common feature: the use of concrete from now-defunct J.J. Mottes, a company located in Stratford, Connecticut. The building material in question contains pyrrhotite; an iron sulfide in the mineral that reacts with oxygen and water, causing concrete to crack and swell. These cracks sometimes don’t appear for 20 years.
Findings revealed in August 2018 indicated that a company by the name of Becker Quarry, of Willington, Connecticut, sold the pyrrhotite-contaminated stone to concrete company J.J. Mottes from 1983 to 2017. While primarily Connecticut is affected, tens of thousands of homes in the region are expected to have the pyrrhotite-contaminated concrete in foundations and footers.
The only fix for the home is to lift the entire thing and replace the foundations, a fix that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and is hard to finance since a crumbling foundation reduces the value of the home to nearly nothing. Insurance won’t pay for collapsing foundations (unless they’ve already collapsed), and banks are now requiring inspectors to look for pyrrhotite damage before a mortgage. The issue will also cause property values to plummet, an issue concerning taxpayers.
In response, state legislators passed an amendment to set aside $50,000 to reimburse homeowners for 100% of the cost (up to $400) for a visual inspection and 75% of the testing of two core samples up to $5,000. The government will also create a commission composed of the governor’s office, the attorney general, consumer protection, banking, insurance and other entities.
Pyrrhotite has also been blamed for widespread concrete cracking issues in Quebec.
Research
In 2020, Connecticut lawmakers announced that federal funding they sought to help pay for research on pyrrhotite was included in a spending bill. The Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2020 was released in mid-December and included $1.5 million sought by U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) and U.S. Reps. Joe Courtney (CT-02) and John Larson (CT-01) for the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The University of Connecticut has been involved in researching the issue since 2015, as part of a request from the Connecticut Attorney General’s Office to determine potential causes of the concrete problems that have plagued scores of homeowners.
Roughly a year later, in 2016, a research report produced by UConn engineers was released by the state’s Attorney General George Jepsen, stating that pyrrhotite was a “necessary contributing factor” in the foundation issues that plagued more than 400 homeowners.
Following the initial scientific analysis findings, officials announced that two eastern Connecticut companies voluntarily agreed to stop selling material or products containing aggregate from a quarry in Willington for residential applications until June 2017.
By 2018, UConn reported that it was seeking validated methods of testing pyrrhotite in concrete. The project was funded by the university’s internal resources and would measure the amount of pyrrhotite in samples, to provide a technical framework so that standardized testing could be conducted.
In early December of 2019, scientists from UConn informed the Capitol Region Council of Governments Ad Hoc Working Committee on Crumbling Foundations that a method has been determined to verify the amount of pyrrhotite that causes basement walls to crack.
Another team from Trinity College also developed a method of measuring the mineral, according to NBC Connecticut.
Throughout the studies, UConn discovered that basements will crack more rapidly when exposed to moisture. The team has also suggested that homeowners find a way to direct water away from their homes. Additionally, the team added that they may be able to test the concrete using a handheld device, versus obtaining more expensive core samples.
In the early months of 2020, the UConn team was planning to present a formal briefing on the research findings.
In addition, in January 2019, the National Research Council of Canada announced a research partnership with the Government of Quebec and Laval University to find a solution to problems stemming from pyrrhotite.
Prompted by damage sustained by thousands of buildings in the Trois-Rivieres region due to adverse reactions between pyrrhotite and cement, the $4.9 million research project was planned to run for four years.
What Lawmakers are Doing Now
According to reports, lawmakers from Massachusetts and Connecticut would like to have pyrrhotite-contaminated concrete classified as a natural disaster under the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
State Senator Anne M. Gobi (D-Massachusetts) fears that there will be more homeowners impacted throughout the state over the next few years. While she is unable to make the name or location public at this time, Gobi reports that officials have identified a Massachusetts quarry as a source of aggregate stone for concrete that has pyrrhotite in it.
According to a team of geologists, there is a vein of the material that runs underground from central Connecticut to near Framingham, Massachusetts. In recent months, there has been an uptick in discoveries of failing concrete foundations in the towns of Rutland and Holden, Massachusetts.
“We fear this is going to be huge in Central Massachusetts,” Gobi said.
In Connecticut, the now-defunct J.J. Mottes Concrete used pyrrhotite-tainted stone in concrete it sold from 1983 until it was told to stop doing so by the state of Connecticut in 2015. This further supports the possibility of homes built using concrete from the Massachusetts quarry, as it would be too far for a concrete truck to travel to either town.
Although the Connecticut Department of Housing reports that its quarry no longer provides concrete for residential foundations, it is possible that many homes in the area used concrete for their foundations as well. Officials went on to note that roughly 35,000 homes surrounding Stafford, Connecticut, could see their concrete foundations failing.
In wake of these ongoing issues Gobi, State Representative Brian Ashe (D-Longmeadow) and State Sen. Eric P. Lesser (D-Longmeadow) are working on legislation that would require quarries in Massachusetts to test for the mineral. In addition, lawmakers are also looking to extend a state program to reimburse homeowners for having their concrete tested.
Gobi hopes that the bill is passed before the legislative session ends at the end of July.
Gobi is also meeting with realtors in western and central Massachusetts to educate how crumbling foundations can impact homes. The extra measure comes at a time when homes are continuing to sell fast, with some buyers waiving inspections to get an upper hand in bidding wars.
Other efforts on the matter include the work of congressmen from Connecticut and U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal (D-Springfield), who fought to get federal help for impacted homeowners in the Build Back Better bill. However, the Build Back Better in its current form is stuck in Senate before going to the desk of President Joe Biden.
Despite this, Neal was able to get relief for impacted homeowners through a tax deduction. The Senate Ways and Means Committee is also considering a measure that would help finance home repairs.
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