*
I purchased a home that was built by a local builder for his son. I looked the house over and had a veteran of 40 years of real estate and construction look the house over also. The builder has a stellar reputation and the house looked great and very well built. The house was built about 18 months ago. His son lived in it for about three months and decided to go back in the service, and moved. One year later, I buy the house. I’ve been in the house for four months now. I’ve started seeing some thin cracks in corners where walls and walls and ceilings meet. A few places where I can see nail head humps in the drywall. some separating of window frames in the joints. a door sticking at the top. a section of kitchen cabinets has pulled away from the wall about one half of an inch at the top, causing the counter top to separate from the wall leaving a little gap along the top exposing drywall edges and space behind wall. Some squeaky spots in the floor. Nailheads visible under the linoleum in the kitchen. And a loud squeaking in the wall behind a shower in one of the bathrooms whenever there is high wind. Is this normal settling of a house, or is this extreme?
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
The RealTruck AMP Research Bedsteps give you easy access to your truck-bed storage.
Featured Video
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
*
Sounds a little extreme GT
Was this a winter built house on a fast track?
*
Great builders may be excellent at putting together the frame, but they generally have little concept of foundations or soil preperation for the pad. You did not indicate what part of the country you are in, is the house on the side of a hill, on the flats, are the soils expansive, was the past winter very rainy, is it a cut and fill pad, is there a landslide, etc. If you are lucky, you have a leaking sewer/water pipe that has undermined the foundation, causing localized differential settlement. If not, then you likely have settlement of the soils beneath the house (all a foundation does is spread out and transfer the weight of the house to the soil). There can be many causes, you would have to be more specific before it could be narrowed down.
Things to do. Do a floor level survey of your house. This will identify the problem areas and allow you to focus your investagation. Make sure that all the downspouts drain at least 8 feet away from the side of the house and that the runoff flows away from the house (get rid of concentrated sources of water)
*
I purchased a home that was built by a local builder for his son. I looked the house over and had a veteran of 40 years of real estate and construction look the house over also. The builder has a stellar reputation and the house looked great and very well built. The house was built about 18 months ago. His son lived in it for about three months and decided to go back in the service, and moved. One year later, I buy the house. I've been in the house for four months now. I've started seeing some thin cracks in corners where walls and walls and ceilings meet. A few places where I can see nail head humps in the drywall. some separating of window frames in the joints. a door sticking at the top. a section of kitchen cabinets has pulled away from the wall about one half of an inch at the top, causing the counter top to separate from the wall leaving a little gap along the top exposing drywall edges and space behind wall. Some squeaky spots in the floor. Nailheads visible under the linoleum in the kitchen. And a loud squeaking in the wall behind a shower in one of the bathrooms whenever there is high wind. Is this normal settling of a house, or is this extreme?