# Foundation Forensics — Usage Guide (v3.4) ## Quick Start **File:** `foundation_forensics_v3.html` 1. Download the file 2. Double-click → opens in your default browser (Chrome, Safari, Edge, Firefox) 3. Click **+ Create New Project** to begin 4. Fill in firm info on the first project — it auto-applies to all future projects No install, no account, no internet required after first load (jsPDF is fetched from CDN on first PDF export, then cached). --- ## How It Works ### Dashboard (First Page) - Shows your firm name + all projects as cards - Each card displays: address, client, status, severity (Δ in inches), point count - Click any card to open that project ### Visit Bar (New in v3) Directly below the project back-bar. Shows every visit for this project as a tab: - **[Initial] Initial Evaluation — 2026-01-19** ← the baseline visit - **[Monitoring] Monitoring Visit — 2026-07-19** ← 6-month follow-up - **[Post-Repair] Post-Repair Verification — 2026-11-02** ← after remediation Buttons: - **+ Monitoring Visit** — adds a follow-up visit. The plan image, sewer routing, and measurement point positions are copied from the latest visit; elevation readings are reset so you re-measure at the same grid. - **+ Post-Repair Survey** — same, flagged as post-repair type. - **Edit Visit** — change label, date, or type of the current visit. - **×** on any tab — deletes that visit (a project must keep at least one). Switching tabs saves the current visit and loads the selected one. All nine sections (§ 0.0 – § 6.0) then show that visit's data. ### Project Edit View Ten tabs covering the full evaluation: - § 0.0 Firm & Inspector Information - § 1.0 Project Information - § 2.0 Structural Description - § 3.0 Elevation Survey - § 3.5 Plan View (drag-and-drop floor plan) - § 3.6 **Plumbing Impact Assessment** (IPC Table 704.1 + joint risk + testing protocol + **evidence attachments**) - § 4.0 Visual Observations - § 5.0 Analysis (auto-calculated) - § 6.0 Conclusions & Recommendations - § 7.0 **Visit Comparison** (new in v3) --- ## Multi-Visit Workflow (the v3 core loop) ### Visit 1 — Initial Evaluation 1. Create project, enter property/client/foundation data 2. Upload floor plan, place measurement points, enter elevation readings 3. Draw sewer routing in § 3.6, review computed joint risk 4. Recommend testing (CCTV / hydrostatic) per § 3.6.6 5. Export PDF → deliver to client / public adjuster ### After testing is performed 6. Reopen the project, § 3.6 segment table → **+ Attach** on the relevant segment 7. Attach CCTV stills, hydrostatic test PDF, or field notes 8. Re-export PDF — computed risk is now paired with documented evidence ### Visit 2 — Monitoring (typically +6 months) 9. **+ Monitoring Visit** → point grid is pre-seeded, re-measure elevations at the same labels 10. § 7.0 → select baseline = Visit 1, current = Visit 2 11. Review movement rate (in/month) per point + interpretation banner 12. Export PDF for claim file — movement rate documentation strengthens causation ### Visit 3 — Post-Repair Verification (if repair occurred) 13. **+ Post-Repair Survey** → re-measure 14. § 7.0 → compare against pre-repair visit 15. Near-zero movement rate documents stabilization; continued movement documents that remediation did not achieve it --- ## § 3.5.2 Plan Scale Calibration — do this before trusting any distance Every length this report derives from the floor plan is a pixel measurement converted to feet: the § 3.6 segment runs, the § 5.2 deflection span, and the slopes computed from them. Floor plans are uploaded at whatever resolution they happen to have, so that conversion is an assumption until you calibrate it — and a report stating a run of "11.7 ft" is asserting a measurement. Calibrate once per project, after placing the measurement points: 1. Open **§ 3.5 Plan View → 3.5.2 Plan Scale Calibration**. 2. Pick two measurement points that are far apart — a longer baseline calibrates more accurately than a short one. 3. Enter the distance between them as measured on site, in feet, and press **Calibrate**. 4. The status line turns green and states the resulting px/ft along with the canvas envelope it implies. If that envelope is nothing like the building, the calibration is wrong; check that you used the right two points. You can also type a pixels-per-foot value directly if you know the plan's scale. Until this is done, the § 3.5 status line, § 3.6, and § 5.1 of the report all state that derived lengths rest on an assumed scale and are not measured values. The scale is not cosmetic: on the bundled demonstration, calibrating from the 20 px/ft default to 13.44 px/ft moves segment runs from 11.7–13.8 ft to 15.7–20.5 ft and the deflection ratio from L/281 to L/419 — across a classification boundary. ## § 5.2 Deflection and tilt are two different things - **Deflection** is bending: how far the slab departs from a plane. This is what the L/360 and L/240 limits refer to. The application fits a least-squares plane through every plan-located point and measures the departure from it, so a slab that is flat but simply out of level is not reported as bent. - **Tilt** is rigid-body rotation — the gradient of that same plane, as a percentage. - **Elevation range** (§ 5.1) is the arithmetic spread of the readings. It contains both effects and is neither one on its own. Deflection needs at least three points placed on the plan; a plane cannot be fitted to fewer, and the section says so rather than substituting an estimate. ## § 3.6 Evidence Attachments Each segment row has a **FIELD-TEST EVIDENCE** column: - **+ Attach** → choose type: `CCTV`, `Hydrostatic`, `Smoke`, `Photo`, `Note` - File types: images, PDFs (CCTV also accepts video, but see size note) - Each attachment stores filename, optional note, and timestamp - **Size note:** files over 5 MB may exceed browser storage. For raw CCTV video, keep the video in external storage and attach a summary PDF or key still frames instead. Evidence is per-visit — a hydrostatic test performed after Visit 1 belongs to Visit 1's record. --- ## § 7.0 Visit Comparison Requires at least two visits. Select a baseline (earlier) and current (later) visit: - **Interval** — days and months between visits - **Per-point Δ elevation** — matched by point *label* across visits (keep labels consistent!) - **Rate (in/month)** — per point and peak/mean across all matched points - **Peak joint-stress index delta** — change in the § 3.6 comparative joint-stress index (relative scale, not a probability) - **Interpretation banner** — qualitative read: minimal / low-moderate / elevated / rapid movement Points with labels that exist only in the current visit are shown but excluded from rate calculation. --- ## Raw Data Export (P.E. Review) § 6.7 → **Export Raw Data (P.E. Review)** produces a text bundle containing: - Header: property, client, firm, inspector, timestamp, and an explicit statement that no engineering opinion is asserted - `ELEVATION_GRID.csv` — every point from every visit (visit ID, date, type, label, position, elevation, notes) - `PLUMBING_SEGMENTS.csv` — every segment from every visit (run, original/current slope, `joint_stress_index`, classification, evidence count) Hand this file to a licensed Texas P.E. for their independent review and sealed causation opinion. Your firm stays within technical-documentation scope. --- ## Data Storage & Portability - **All data stays on your device** (browser localStorage). Nothing is sent to any server. - **Browser-specific:** data saved in Chrome won't appear in Safari. - **Clearing browser cache deletes projects** — use **Export All Projects** weekly as backup. - **Cross-device:** Save JSON on device A → email to yourself → Import JSON on device B. - **v2 files welcome:** legacy v2 JSON exports import directly and are auto-migrated to a single Initial Evaluation visit. --- ## Legal Frame (first page of every report) The "Nature of This Report" disclaimer declares: 1. **Non-repair** — the firm performs no repair and holds no stake in repair decisions 2. **Not an engineering opinion** — sealed causation opinions require a licensed Texas P.E. (Occupations Code Ch. 1001 / TBPE) 3. **Not claim negotiation** — only licensed public adjusters or attorneys negotiate claims (Texas Insurance Code) Findings are professional inspection opinions exempted under Texas DTPA § 17.49(c). --- ## Troubleshooting **"PDF Export doesn't work"** — needs internet on first use (CDN library); cached afterward. **"My comparison shows no matched points"** — point labels must be identical across visits. Use the **+ Monitoring Visit** button (which copies labels) rather than manually re-creating points. **"I attached a big CCTV video and now saving fails"** — browser storage is limited (~5–10 MB total). Remove the video attachment, keep stills/PDF summaries instead, and store raw video externally. **"Everything says COMPLIANT but joint risk is HIGH"** — correct behavior: slope can be within IPC code while joint stress from differential movement is significant. Hydrostatic test confirms actual leaks. --- *Foundation Forensics v3.0 · 2026 · ASCE Level B Compliant*