Issue in construction while building my new house (Post: new construction, living)

[smaity]

Hi All,

I am building my house with a reputed builder of DFW. I have found an issue on the slab. There is a 10 inch drop in the middle of the kitchen which is making it unusable. My builder accepted that it is mistake done by that slab guy. Currently they are planning fix that by putting concrete over that slab. They also mentioned that they will drill the iron rod on the existing slab and connect the new concrete with old one.They are also going chip the existing concrete surface to make sure the bonding of these two concrete slab.

In this scenario, what is the possibility of getting crack on the concrete as it will be settling differently.
what are the other issues can occur in future which I need to be careful about. is it going to impact the house price. I am not feeling comfortable to accept this but on the other hand that is the only solution I have.

Your advice in this matter will be very helpful. Thanks in advance,

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by smaity

Hi All,

I am building my house with a reputed builder of DFW. I have found an issue on the slab. There is a 10 inch drop in the middle of the kitchen which is making it unusable. My builder accepted that it is mistake done by that slab guy. Currently they are planning fix that by putting concrete over that slab. They also mentioned that they will drill the iron rod on the existing slab and connect the new concrete with old one.They are also going chip the existing concrete surface to make sure the bonding of these two concrete slab.

In this scenario, what is the possibility of getting crack on the concrete as it will be settling differently.
what are the other issues can occur in future which I need to be careful about. is it going to impact the house price. I am not feeling comfortable to accept this but on the other hand that is the only solution I have.

Your advice in this matter will be very helpful. Thanks in advance,

How big is the area to be repaired?

If they do it right the repair will work very well and more or less forever.

Did they explain what caused the low spot? That's a monumental screw up by the foundation guy.

1. I'd have them explain precisely what they are going to do in minute detail. You need to understand the repair and be comfortable with it.
*I'd want to know what went wrong.
*I'd need to understand the repair and why it will work long term.
*I'd need confidence the repair agreed to is actually implemented as agreed.

2. I'd find a way to watch the repair or at a very minimum I'd require lots of pics of the repair process - set up a game camera if you must. Done right this will be a fairly extensive pair. Done wrong it'll be a guy showing up with a wheelbarrow full of grout as filler and he'll be gone in 45 minutes. You can't allow anything like that.

Good luck.

[WorldKlas]

If there is another acceptable lot in the new development, I would want the project to start again at the same pricing.

[TrapperL]

Something wrong with the post. You say 10 inches. The slab poured is never 10 inches thick except at beamage. Maybe you meant 1.0 inches? A 10" slope or drop in the slab would cause you to trip over it and no foundation company is going to pour a slab like that and drive off.

So you have a defect in the slab. The fix is chipping like they told you and using a bonding agent when they do the cap over. Once set, it will not cause any issues out of the norm and done correctly is not an issue. I don't understand the "drill the iron rod". Probably 95% of all slabs poured in Texas are post tension, not a full steel slab. The reason is a post tension will flex with our high clay soils where a steel slab will snap and break. The only steel in a post tension besides the cables would be in the perimeter beams and any hickey bars that might be in the slab from an elevation change like a sunken living room or a pop out of a window. Posting pics would be helpful in helping you understand what is going on as the post lacks info to give you decent advice.

[Rakin]

So who's your builder? 10 inches major problem.

[RedTexanTea]

Originally Posted by smaity

Hi All,

I am building my house with a reputed builder of DFW. I have found an issue on the slab. There is a 10 inch drop in the middle of the kitchen which is making it unusable. My builder accepted that it is mistake done by that slab guy. Currently they are planning fix that by putting concrete over that slab. They also mentioned that they will drill the iron rod on the existing slab and connect the new concrete with old one.They are also going chip the existing concrete surface to make sure the bonding of these two concrete slab.

In this scenario, what is the possibility of getting crack on the concrete as it will be settling differently.
what are the other issues can occur in future which I need to be careful about. is it going to impact the house price. I am not feeling comfortable to accept this but on the other hand that is the only solution I have.

Your advice in this matter will be very helpful. Thanks in advance,

This is a big deal. I had a house built years ago where they poured the footing in the wrong place making the garage too large and the kitchen too small. I was on the construction site every day measuring and checking things out and sure enough I found the error. They supposedly corrected it the proper way (whatever that was) giving me back the space in the kitchen. Once the house began to settle there was always a hump where the error was made and a dip in front of and behind it. Knowing what I know now I would never allow an huge defect like that go forward on brand new construction. I don't have good advice on how to proceed but I can tell you living with a construction flaw like that sucked for many years.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by TrapperL

Something wrong with the post. You say 10 inches. The slab poured is never 10 inches thick except at beamage. Maybe you meant 1.0 inches? A 10" slope or drop in the slab would cause you to trip over it and no foundation company is going to pour a slab like that and drive off.

So you have a defect in the slab. The fix is chipping like they told you and using a bonding agent when they do the cap over. Once set, it will not cause any issues out of the norm and done correctly is not an issue. I don't understand the "drill the iron rod". Probably 95% of all slabs poured in Texas are post tension, not a full steel slab. The reason is a post tension will flex with our high clay soils where a steel slab will snap and break. The only steel in a post tension besides the cables would be in the perimeter beams and any hickey bars that might be in the slab from an elevation change like a sunken living room or a pop out of a window. Posting pics would be helpful in helping you understand what is going on as the post lacks info to give you decent advice.

This is not true. Texas is a big place with a large variety of soil types. The areas with clay soils is very limited, far less than 95%.

See this Texas soils map here http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/texas...map-1973-1.jpg

[dallasmaverick1]

I would have the builder hire a third party structural engineer and give his recommendation pre/post repair.

[escanlan]

Originally Posted by smaity

Hi All,

I am building my house with a reputed builder of DFW. I have found an issue on the slab. There is a 10 inch drop in the middle of the kitchen which is making it unusable. My builder accepted that it is mistake done by that slab guy. Currently they are planning fix that by putting concrete over that slab. They also mentioned that they will drill the iron rod on the existing slab and connect the new concrete with old one.They are also going chip the existing concrete surface to make sure the bonding of these two concrete slab.

In this scenario, what is the possibility of getting crack on the concrete as it will be settling differently.
what are the other issues can occur in future which I need to be careful about. is it going to impact the house price. I am not feeling comfortable to accept this but on the other hand that is the only solution I have.

Your advice in this matter will be very helpful. Thanks in advance,

If you have a significant deviation from the engineered design of the slab then the builder's Engineer should be involved to review this issue and provide the builder with an engineered correction for the issue. You should require that the builder provide you a signed and stamped letter from the Engineer specifying what is needed to be performed for a proper correction. By stamped I do mean the Engineer's State of Texas licensing stamp. From that point all you can do is check to ensure they followed the Engineer's required correction and place this letter in your files in the event any further issues occur as a result of this issue. If the correction has been properly engineered and properly implemented then no further issues are expected occur.

[TeamLynn]

I like escanlan's post. You might want to hire your own engineer as well to give you a second opinion.
Many builders will fix the cheapest way possible. You want it done the right way, not the cheapest.

I'm hoping you are an inch dip, not 10 inches.