My husband and I are in the process of building a home. We are young, don’t have knowledge in this area and are searching for some help. The home was already at least half way built when we went under contract, and it just needs finishes (floors, cabinets, tile, light fixtures etc.) A few things to know about the home: We are living in an oil boom. There is a large demand for houses, and they are being thrown together quickly and quality has been lacking. We also live in an area with a high water table. The house doesn’t have power hooked up yet.
We walked into our basement one day, to find water on the floor. There was a little bit of water initially, but were assured by our agent and the builder that as soon as the sump-pump was on (no power) we wouldn’t have any water issues. Well, now there are cracks everywhere. We aren’t sure if they were there before and we just didn’t notice, or if they have appeared within the last month. Now, we are obviously concerned the water is coming in through the cracks. The builder is insisting that the cracks are purely cosmetic. They stated they have a perimeter drain, and 8-12in of pea gravel below the floor. They stated the concrete was done too close together (again, no clue what I’m talking about, this is what I was told) and these are shrinkage cracks from when the concrete cured. The house still has no power, and they’ve brought in a generator, and have been trying to get the water pumped out. They have also brought in a large propane heater to attempt to dry the area out, and it has mostly dried. I was also told at this time the house had passed the final structural city inspection a couple of months ago.
My concerns:
- This is not a cosmetic issue, and water is coming in from the cracks. We would like to finish this basement, but how do you do that with a constant fear of water coming in?
- This passed inspection already - was this before or after cracks? Was there water present? Like I said, we didn’t notice cracks initially, just a small amount of water. Our inspectors here are extremely overworked (Anyone looking for a job?:D) and I can’t even get them to return my phone call.
- Since we live in an area with a high water table, how susceptible we are to water is a concern. Is our sump pump going to be running constantly? Is that OK? I asked them to install a second, and haven’t heard back if they are willing to do that or not. We also asked for them to put a back-up battery on them. Also haven’t heard if they will do that.
The builder was fine with us bringing in our own structural engineer to assess the situation. However, they’ve essentially told us they aren’t going to do anything to fix it as it is purely cosmetic in their opinion regardless of what the engineer says that we hire. If we don’t want the house based on what our engineer says, we will be out our earnest money, and have to start over. I’ve shown this to a structural engineer through pictures, and from the pictures they stated they would want them at least sealed with epoxy, but still recommended someone coming to look at the home as you can’t see detail through pictures. I love this house. I want this house. We need help!!! I have listed a few links to the pictures of the floors below.