CVDG Foreword

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The Construction Vibration Damage Guide for Homeowners (CVDG, ©Copyright 2013-2024 John M. Zeigler) was developed as a free resource for use by those who feel that they might have experienced damage to a home or building from construction-caused vibration. It furnishes readers who may be unfamiliar with vibration effects the facts, knowledge and understanding to comprehend and, where necessary, pursue effectively a legitimate vibration damage claim. In mostly non-technical language, it describes what you can do to avert damage, how to document a claim for damages, how to evaluate options in making a claim for damage reimbursement, what operations are most likely to cause damage, how to understand vibration monitoring results, what resources are available on the Internet and much, much more. Of course, I also hope that this Guide will help those who must get an attorney to prepare for a discussion of their claim and, perhaps, help them in educating themselves and the attorney on some important technical issues. Most, but not all, the content of the CVDG is available on Vibrationdamage.com for direct viewing, or, it can be downloaded in full as a free, expanded PDF from the site.

Although the technical issues are not hard to understand for anyone with a firm grounding in high school level physics, the language of the ground vibration scientific literature may not be within reach of everyone. The CVDG offers simple analogies and defines critical terms in non-technical language, so that people with non-technical backgrounds can read at least the most important of the ground vibration literature and gain some understanding of it. Many of the topics which I've deemed too technical or outside the initial interests of a homeowner facing damage are discussed in the over 340 page CVDG Professional Edition, available for purchase from https://vibrationdamage.com/order_the_cvdg_pro.htm.

The CVDG is based on nearly fifteen years of daily experience and scientific work in this area by me, Dr. John M. Zeigler, arising out of extensive road reconstruction vibration damage to my own home and many others in the area. The damage was initially created by repeated pounding with an excavator bucket to demolish pavement, followed by multiple uses of vibratory compactors within 50 feet of homes (well inside recommended "safe distances"). I was the primary scientific consultant in my own case, because there was very limited real scientific expertise and experience in construction vibration damage and monitoring available. Although the CVDG is not a retelling of the case, it does use illustrative instances from it and others in the U.S. and abroad to show what can happen to cause vibration damage and how a vibration damage claim can proceed.

The CVDG is a combination of scientific review and analysis, original research, tips for identifying and documenting damage and advice for dealing with the many elements of a vibration damage claim. Just like scientific review papers, the CVDG carries both extensive references to original scientific work and critical analysis of the work, so that the reader unfamiliar with the field can gain an understanding of it relatively quickly. In this case, the use of the word "critical" is intended in the scientific sense of understanding the implications of the work, not in the sense of being "negative" about it.

Since the CVDG is written for a non-technical audience, its wording is as non-technical as the subject matter allows. The non-technical language of the CVDG places some technical limitations on it. Over 500 footnotes with references to over 80 original scientific papers, written in the more precise language of science, are included within the CVDG. The references and citations allow readers of the CVDG to verify and supplement the statements within it by reference to the original scientific literature. The CVDG also documents a great deal of original scientific work and analysis, particularly in those areas where other scientific research offers limited or no information.

As a partially web-based publication, given topics may be mentioned, or even discussed to some degree, in several places within the CVDG. Since a site owner can't always predict where a reader will enter or exit his web site, or the path the visitor will take through it, individual web pages must be reasonably self-contained. They should relate many of the major points, at least within their area of focus, even if other pages on the site elaborate on those topics. I hope that readers of the CVDG will understand this reason for the limited restating of important points in different chapters of it.

As with most web-based publications, the CVDG is constantly upgraded and updated with new information. For this reason, both the information on https://vibrationdamage.com  and that greater amount included in the downloadable, free PDF e-book version of the CVDG has gone through a large number of editions, growing steadily longer as new material is added and older material updated. For that reason, I suggest that visitors with a continuing interest in the CVDG visit the site, or, better yet, download the latest PDF e-book version every so often to make certain that they stay current with the latest upgrades and scientific information.

The CVDG for Homeowners is not intended to be a "how-to" manual for suing contractors. Indeed, one of its aims is to help parties in a legitimate vibration damage example come to a fair resolution outside the legal system. Much time, money and frustration can be saved when the parties can do that. Many construction contractors are reasonable, professional and honest. An honest contractor will try to help with any well-founded damage claim.

However, if you have a lot of damage with a high repair cost (e.g. almost $250,000 in 2009 dollars in the author's example), you may find it much more difficult to deal with the contractor or its insurer. The result is that you will have to pursue the claim or pay for the damage yourself. The CVDG will save homeowners and others concerned with damage from construction activities a great deal of time and money, which would otherwise be spent on educating both themselves and their attorneys about the science of vibration damage.

I strongly recommend that readers of the CVDG read it in full, before proceeding with other actions. It has so much information that relevant help for a given situation can be missed entirely in a short scan of the document. Read the footnotes as carefully as the main text. After reading the CVDG, the reader will be able to judge for himself the reliable scientific facts vs. the unsupported, or outright false, assertions and misinformation which are so often offered in response to damage claims. The Professional Edition of the CVDG has much more technical and litigation-related information that should be of considerably greater help for those who must litigate or obtain help from an attorney. It reflects the lessons learned from over ten years of active consulting in the the area of vibration damage to structures, the experiences of over 3000 registered downloaders of the CVDG, and the information gained from hundreds of additional interactions dealing with vibration damage instances. You can learn about the CVDG Pro at https://vibrationdamage.com/cvdg_pro__overview.htm.

Whether or not construction is responsible for a particular example of claimed damage, it is certain that it is possible for construction with heavy equipment to cause damage. This is especially so when the equipment is misused or used heedlessly in the false expectation that damage from construction activities is impossible. Indeed, the number and geographical distribution of those who have read and/or downloaded the free CVDG suggest that construction vibration damage from heavy equipment use is a sizable problem pretty much worldwide. Much of that damage, and the cost associated with it, could be prevented, at very little cost, with common-sense basic regulation and oversight of construction at the local level.

E-mail to drzeigler@vibrationdamage.com or send online questions or comments about Vibrationdamage.com.
https://www.vibrationdamage.com,  ©Copyright 2013-2024 John M. Zeigler
Last modified: 11/23/24