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We are building a new home in cleveland area, The builder is Ryan Homes ..
They just finished backfiling and today i noticed that the basement walls - which is poured concrete wall has two vertical cracks - One on the back wall which is around 1/8" all teh way from top to bottom and the other crack is thin hairline crack on another wall.
I am not sure how bad this is .. Can i walk out of a construction contract citing these reasons ??
i would have a professional look at it and point it out to the builder. i know one direction is better than the other but can't remember which way is better (think it's vertical is better/safer). FYI, all homes settle and i believe it takes 7+ years for a home to completely settle so cracks can occur at any time.
you should definitely point this out to the local municipal or county building inspector. there must be regular inspections that occur during the building process.
They have a wide assortment of articles and the ones I have looked at have been very informative and correct. Hope it is nothing major and everything else goes smooth on the new home.
Quote:
Concrete foundations often crack. The crack is usually vertical. It is caused by shrinkage of the concrete as it cures. If you find a vertical crack, rub your fingers across it. If both sides of the crack are even, the crack is most likely from shrinkage. This is a common cracking pattern and is rarely a structural concern. If you have water entering through the crack, get it professionally repaired. If you can fit a dime in it, get it fixed. Occasionally the wall on each side of the crack is not even. This type of crack may have been caused by a backhoe operator in a hurry. Walls are sometimes cracked during the backfilling process.
It's doubtful that they're anything to worry about, and even more doubtful that you'd be able to get out of the contract because of them, unless you spend a lot of money on engineers to prove that they're really an issue. There's two things that are guaranteed with concrete:
1. It's going to harden soon after it's poured from the truck
2. It's going to crack
Horizontal cracks would be far more of a concern, as they could indicate that the wall was backfilled too early or two quickly- vertical cracks are more than likely just shrinkage cracks. Is the wall with the cracks a very long wall with no corners/breaks?
Thanks a lot for all the answers .. This wall is one of the smaller ones...the side wall is the longest and it does not seem to have big vertical cracks, just small length hairline cracks ( so far)-- its a 8ft, 8 inch concrete wall..
For the biggest crack from the top of the wall i can see the crack extend upto 6 inches ( of total 8 inch thickness), but i dont know whats happeneing below the backfill.. and it starts from top and ends at bottom...
The other cracks - found 2 more to make it 4 are smaller hairline kind of cracks...
By the sounds of it Epoxy seems to be a good option to fix these cracks, thats what my builder is saying ..but my point is how well will such a house sell back ... wont it be a problem when i want to sell it ??
Cant i walk out of the contract as they are giving me a patched up home and not a new home as i was expecting ?? Are there no laws which says that buyers cannot be forced into a house, esp in construction kind of scenario .. Basically, this means they can make a completely patched up house and i will have to buy it .. as long as its not a structural issue ??
Cant i just say that i dont need my earnest deposit back and walk away ?? I am kind of getting worried about their quality as such really considering walking away from the contract .. please do let me know of some options .. I am fine with losing my earnest money too if needed...
Well - you seem to be looking for a reason to walk away? If you walk away over this - you will lose your earnest money (any deposits you've made). Whether or not they would come after you for anything else - I don't know.
They are giving you a "new" house - "new" being defined as you would be the first person to live in it. It just may require some patching along the way. As long as they are willing to do adequate repairs to address the issue - it is not a big deal. Only if they refused to remedy it would it be a major issue.
And yes - we just closed on a Ryan house. The day of closing - water was leaking into my garage through the brick front of the home. The day after closing - construction guy is there with a cement saw cutting brick off the front of my home to figure out why. Apparently framing guy nailed the sil-strap through the waterproofing. So combining that with the fact that none of our windows are caulked yet (has been too cold so far) - we had water getting behind the brick facade which found the whole in the waterproofing - which leaked through the garage.
They are fixing it, we are satisfied with their fixing plan. We will also keep our eyes open for any other issues and have the warranty department on speed dial if necessary.
Good luck. If you want out - they can't stop you, all they can do is penalize you.
But the possibilities of issues like this - no matter what builder you use - are there ..
So perhaps you're better off buying an existing home where the issues are already known?
Vertical cracks are NOT uncommon. I asked why they happen... the repair guy said that one reason is that the cement hardens up before the next truck comes in with more cement. Makes sense. This seems to be the case with my crack as the house that is next to mine (built at the same time) both have a crack in the same spot. Looks like it was planned as it's in the lowest part of the basement in the storage room. We did have a leak, but that's life. It was repaired and I don't worry about it any more. I'd still buy the same house, crack or no crack. Heck, the builder didn't even hide the crack from us. They had the insulation exposed to show it.
Good luck in finding a builder who has a no crack foundation guarantee.
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