I inspected a new house the other day that had already demonstrated that the slab foundation was not designed or constructed properly.
That’s right. The house was about 3 months ‘old’ and was considered ‘brand new’. The builder still owned the home and was in the process of selling the home to a military veteran.
This new house was already exhibiting signs of problems with the slab.
There were cracks in the slab surfaces. The front porch had already been ‘capped’ with fresh concrete.
There were cracks in the masonry walls. Trim and masonry separations had already begun to occur.
The floors were visibly unlevel.
There were already many gaps/spaces beginning to form between the walls and floors.
There were cracks and patches in the walls and ceilings.
There was a door frame so unlevel/out-of-square that the door could no longer be closed.
Clearly, this foundation was already in need of ‘repair’.
What that ‘repair’ is, is anybody’s guess. Even, the Residential Engineering Industry and individual Professional Engineers can’t agree on what the ‘repair’ is when it comes to improperly designed foundations.
The point here is that in a house that is just 3 months old, another slab foundation is already exhibiting the inability to adequately resist deflection to the degree necessary to prevent damage to the home.
How many ‘promises’ and other statements do you think the builder made to the homebuyer to convince the buyer that he should still buy the house?
I wonder if my client was duped, by the homebuilder, into believing that the ‘10 Year Structural Warranty’ would “take care of any foundation problems”?
How many members of our Military are going to continue to be duped into buying new homes that are built on expansive clay soils, improperly compacted soils, and poorly engineered foundations?
