Patent-Pending System for Expansive Soil Provides New Benefits for Construction Industry

PLEASANT HILL, Calif. (October 14, 2005) - Pacific Housing Systems™, Inc. today announced the immediate availability of an engineered foundation system designed especially for residential home builders developing in areas of critical and highly-critical expansive soil and desiring an elevated slab solution. Components of the Elevated Slab System include the Winslow Geo Anchortm and Lateral Resistance Devicetm products together with a 5” one cable post-tension slab monolithically poured over a void form allowing for the expansive soil to rise under the suspended post-tension slab.



As the inventory of traditional building lots continues to dwindle, developers are, more and more, faced with the prospect of moving – and dealing with the financial, cycle time and warranty issues surrounding -- construction activities in areas of marginal soil; i.e.: hillsides, areas with high water tables, firm clays and organics, expansive and hydro-collapsible. Earlier this year, PHS teamed up with Wright Engineers to design a raised post-tension slab foundation system especially for expansive soils incorporating the Winslow Geo Anchor, which has been used in foundations successfully in California for over ten years, and the newly-designed Lateral Resistance Device.

Daniel Bartlett, Principal of Wright Engineers, stated, “The system is a strategic alternative for developing on expansive soil sites and there is a real potential for overall project cost savings using it.”

Advantages of the Pacific Housing Systems Elevated Slab System:

• Material cost savings when compared to the deep cement footings and thick multi-cable post tension slabs commonly used in areas where expansive soil is prevalent.
• Building cycle-time savings of up to 70% due to lesser over-excavating/recompacting requirements.
• Warranty, corrosion and future litigation issues dramatically mitigated.

Jim Winslow, CTO and co-founder of Pacific Housing Systems, said, “In expansive soil environments, builders spend a lot of time preparing and recompacting the ground before they pour deep cement footings with extremely thick post-tension slabs. Our offerings are designed to provide a solution recognized by structural and soil engineers alike that contain a variety of construction advantages -- and dramatically cut building cycle time as a result.”

Elevated Slab System
A raised post-tension slab and beam placed over a void material, and anchored in the ground with rotary installed Winslow Geo Anchors and Lateral Resistance Devices.

Winslow Geo Anchor
A rotary installed steel anchor, with single or multiple helix coils welded to an internal steel column, providing exceptionally high compression and tension capacity in unstable soil.

Lateral Resistance Device
A highly effective component of the Elevated Slab System strategically spaced and attached over the top of the Winslow Geo Anchors used in securing against the completed foundation’s lateral movement.

About Pacific Housing Systems
Pacific Housing Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of next generation foundation solutions for commercial construction and residential production homebuilders developing projects in marginal soil. Its patent-pending Expansive Soil Solution includes the Winslow Geo Anchor and Lateral Resistance Device, and provides savings of up to 40% in material costs and up to 70% in building cycle time. Pacific Housing System solutions enable developers to increase the speed, quality and quantity of construction through its engineered foundations. For more information visit www.pacifichousingsystems.com.

Winslow Geo Anchor, Smart Floor, Smart Core, Smart System and Pacific Housing Systems are trademarks of Pacific Housing Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. All other product and company names are property of their respective owners. Cost saving statements and forward looking projections are estimates and may vary by project.