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Posted by Joe B. on September 1, 2008, 1:28 pm
In Texas, these "settling" problems are commmon. Every house that I have
owned (three) has had some cracks in the concrete foundation and a crack
here and there in the sheetrock. I usually retape the sheetrock and paint
over it which will last for a year or two..
In this situation, I am uncomfortable because the house has had previous
repairs and the cracks that are popping up are numerous. I've covered
several of them with and they have reappeared very quickly. The previous
owner did disclose this info and I have lifetime warranties from the
foundation company although I do not believe that they would admit fault
with their earlier repairs. I suspect that they will suggest additional
expensive repairs.
I would prefer to fix these cracks in the most permanent way possible and
sell the home (with full disclosure of course). We had bought this home
with the expectation of living here only 2-3 years and we will be there
soon. I want to repair and cover these problems and feel that I have some
obligation to ensure that they are not getting worse.
Thanks.
Joe
>>
>>
> Shudder. Piers are a quick'n'dirty way to repair a heaved or bowed
> foundation wall, but they don't have a lot of lateral strength. Proper
> repair is usually to support that side of the house on jacks and cribbing,
> dig out the whole wall down to the footer, and build back with proper
> sealing and drainage.
>
> Step one is to get an engineer in there for a site survey, and give him as
> much of the previous history as you are aware of. I suspect you are in
> for a whole lot of repairs. No point doing anything upstairs till the
> downstairs has a clean bill of health. If the foundation repairs were
> listed on the disclosure forms when you bought, you are probably SOL on
> recovering anything from previous owner. Maybe your insurance will cover
> part of it. 2 separate attempts to repair are not a good sign- competent
> companies usually get it right the first time.
>
> I ran across a couple houses like that when I was house shopping. One had
> it carefully hidden behind paneling. Bowing was right below a frost-heaved
> front patio that had multiple layers of caulk and tar at the foundation
> joint that obviously ponded every time it rained. I gave the real estate
> agent a tour of that one, explaining what was going on, in case they had
> any ethics. A hint for others reading this- when going to open houses,
> always start in the basement. Any problems, usually best to walk away
> before you fall in love with the place. IMHO, Life Is Too Short to deal
> with the problems OP is probably facing.
>
> --
> aem sends...
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