I think that the pile driving logs are worthless, except for the pile length. You can do a static load test or call GRL to test the capacity of one or more piles.
oldestguy - checking elevations for differential settlement is a good idea but that means either stamping the drawing now and take the risk so they can get permit or wait after a couple of years to monitor it. Btw, had a good laugh with that "garden hose filled with water", reminds me back home. Still using it now.
PEInc - we did calculate the required skin friction based on the load and pile length and we're getting values that are higher than the usual values. Maybe static load test is our only option.
Check with GRL or a similar company. I think they can do an impact test on an installed pile. Could be cheaper than a static load test. A static load test could be cheap if the test load isn't too high and if you can jack against the bottom of a big piece of construction equipment.
Noypeng - Alternatively, an experienced engineer does indeed say hell no sometimes. This seems like one of those times.
It's a small world, and once you get a reputation for being a stamp-whore, it's tough to shake off.
If you were a friend, I would encourage you to take the high road and point the client to a bottom-feeder engineer with more ambition and fewer assets.
I would agree if the contractor doesn’t want to pay for instrumentation, load testing, or something to help them out of the hole they have dug themselves. But the OP needs to explain the options and estimated costs to them first.
If the cabin is a pier and beam structure, perhaps you can run some static load tests by reacting against the weight of the cabin. Perhaps you can detach the pile from the structure, clamp a pair of brackets on the pile, and set jacks on the brackets reacting against the beam. If the beam is continuous across several piles, it may provide resistance quite a bit higher than the normal static load. In areas of expansive soils, houses are often underpinned by jacking steel pipe piles to refusal and reacting against the structure.
