House shaking/Swaying - Any thoughts on probable causes (Round Rock: buyers, construction)

[8-D_byts]

Hi y’all,
I have a seemingly bizarre problem with my house and would really like any kind opinion/advice/thoughts on it.
Bought a Highland Homes house 3 years ago on wilderness oak. The place has been fraught with problems from the moment we moved in. Its had foundation issues like water seeping into the garage from the walls, water entering living room around the fireplace and off course the ultimate nightmare..the floor from the front door through the foyer has risen over 4 inches. That being the background the latest issue, the most disconcerting problem yet is that the house has been shaking a lot. Its more of a swaying sensation/movement that I first noticed this past December around Christmas. At first it seemed to shake when the gas heating would come on. Now I feel it sway even when the heating is turned off. Its more pronounced in the early hours of the day like 5-8 am. And I have felt them in clusters lasting an avg. 15 minutes.
Having done all just short of filing a lawsuit against a non cooperative builder, I'm simply desperate now to make certain that this house is, at its least, safe to live in. I'm hoping to get some inputs on who I could call to for this problem. Or maybe some leads on what could be causing such a thing.

Thank you.

[burgrat]

I'm sorry to hear about your situation, this sounds like a nightmare. To start, I would get a home inspector in there to assess everything. Did you have the home inspected before purchasing it?

[TrapperL]

And then folks ask why I make the comment that builders are clueless money managers. Obviously your house was not built correctly. I'm going to assume that your lot has a lot of slope to it and part of the house is actually below grade. If the builder did not install a french drain in the below grade area you're going to have nothing but water issues forever like the floor rising in the foyer. Unfortunately it's a common thing that a builder is clueless how to flash a chimney so that's not really a concern but I'd sure want to know how they fixed it. I've seen them get so cheap all they did was spray water proofing on a masonary chimney and it stopped the leak....for a while.
A home inspector is going to tell you nothing. They are not qualified nor do they have the knowledge to assess your issues. You are going to need a forensic engineer. One that I worked with that I was impressed with his ability was Homer Parker out of Round Rock Texas. There can be a host of things wrong that are causing the issues. If they used OSB for the corner bracing but didn't waterproof it, it may have turned loose due to delamination and the brick and mortar are holding the house up- not a good thing and it's happened before far too many times. But the key here is that you need to either get out of the house or you're going to have to open the wallet to get absolute proof of defects and have Highland fix it according to the engineers report at Highlands expense. Frankly, while I'm sure you rather this didn't happen, I'd get enough info on what the issues are and get Highland to either replace the house at zero expense to you or buy the house back. A new repaired house is just that- a repaired house and it's going to cost you when you go to sell it. When you go to sell you'll have to fill out a disclosure form and it asks those specific questions in regards to any structural defects. Look at it this way, would you buy a house that has had structural defects? Would you pay full price for one? That's what you're facing.
Hope all of this works out for you. Here's Homers info if you want to call him. Otherwise, the phone book is yer friend but make sure they are a Forensic Engineer.
Parker Engineering

[8-D_byts]

Thanks for responding to my post.
Sadly, we didn’t have it inspected at the time of purchase. Though the house was inspected and okay-ed after construction but the original buyer backed out and the place sat in market for almost a year before we bought it. Being first time buyers, my ex husband and I never imagined a newly constructed home could have issues and that too such drastic ones. You live and learn. Double learning in my case here
I did have the place inspected this past Oct and off course your right, he gave me a long set of calculations along with an assessment that said the floor rising is not a problem! (For him and Highland maybe he meant?)
The way floors look right now, I doubt any sane person would buy it. Mr. Parker seem reasonable in his hrly rate though I may just end up paying him more for driving down here than the investigation itself. Do you know of any good Forensic Engineer in town?

[franday40]

I’m so sorry these people took advantage of you and I really hope you get everything worked out. I personally don’t have anything to add except a heart felt apology and my sincere support in your situation.

[Roader]

Glad you're sorry but nothing to add 5 years later