Any home builders out there?

It is a load bearing wall. There are joists on the top of it. I don’t have a good picture of that.

I’ve asked for plans before but they didn’t want to give them up. I’ll ask again next time we go visit our rep.
They obviously don’t communicate very well. We have to go through our “counselor”. We don’t get to talk to the construction manager ourselves.

Had I known we were going to be going through this BS I would have taken our business elsewhere. They preached all this quality and so many inspections when we’re going through all the paperwork. I haven’t seen it yet.

If you’re curious. The builder is Wilshire homes. At this point I would equate them to DR horton.

 

Well they are part of MHI. You may at some point want to ratchet this up the flag pole. But its a delicate balance, as they could just refund your deposit and cancel the contract. Don't know what your contract states.

With these builders your quality is all reliant on your superintendent in my experience.

Is there another story above wall? Are there purlin braces supporting the roof that are braced from on that wall? Or just joists? Shoot some pictures of the top plate inside and from the outside standing away from the home if you can.

Do you have a floor plan?

 

I will get some better pictures tomorrow maybe.
Here is the floor plan. The red lines and markings are the electrical plan.

 

Is the wall that has the issue the one with the 3 windows in the rear? If so I would make sure you have them pull as much load off that wall as possible. That gives you many options to move the load. If the windows are operable and the wall shifts they windows could have issues, as in popped seals(which will fog them up), racking of the window frames themselves(hard to open) etc.

With it being approx 9' off of the back of the slab I would venture they braced purlins/strong backs on top of it for the roof of the porch. See if they think moving/transferring some of the load is a good idea.

Ask them about how the strength of the repair will be measured, what they will use for the repair, specifically the PSI of the concrete, how it will be attached into the slab so it can effectively transfer the load down. Who designed the repair, is the slab engineered, if so has the engineer signed off on the repair.

On a positive note I bet they will give you all sorts of freebies. They mark up upgrades almost 100% over cost at times. So them giving you power outlets in the ceiling of your porch (for sonos speakers) or switched outlets in the soffits for x mas lights are easy and cheap for them.

I am not trying to upset you by telling you all of this, its just I have seen and dealt with these situations in the past from both sides.

 

I just looked at your original picture. Is the wall towards the rear and to the right of the 2 pvc stacks(plumbing pipes sticking up) the problem? If so it looks as though there is not a beam under that wall. It looks as though its dropped for the porch, you can see a slope towards the rear(I think)

 

Both walls along the back patio are floating over. Not a good picture but you can kind of see the top of the wall with the 3 windows in it.

 

I m far from a home builder, but I framed for a few years. To see a wall floating like that with no foundation underneith it defies logic. The first thing I would do is to go ask the forman; wtf? And document his response. Have witnesses too.

 

Ooof. Tract housing.

Good luck OP. This is just the beginning of your problems.

Might want to check to make sure all your plumbing stubs coming out of the slab are in the right spots.

 

Yeah I get it. Gotta start somewhere.
A custom home just isn’t an option right now.

 

^This. OP I’d recommend reading your contract and calling the builder or whoever you deal with and stop any work until everything is corrected and double checked. Too many issues seem to be popping up. I’d request that you be allowed to bring in a 3rd party inspector (even if you pay for it it’s money well spent).

Good luck keep us posted.

 

@1UPPER @one4x4dad
Just went out and saw they did this without telling me what they were doing. I asked them specifically to email me with what they were going to do to fix it.

What is your guys opinion on this? To me it looks subpar. It’s already cracking and separating from the original foundation. There are gaps between the concrete and the bottom of the wall.

 

Also here is what the top of that wall looks like.

 

Some more cracks and separation

 

This is exactly what they should not of done. Sakrete is not designed for this. What did they say about the load transfer? It would of been better IMO to add treated 2x material then anchorbolt through with epoxy. Then flash the wall at the bottom.

You can see the cold joint where they placed the new materiel in the cavity.

I would of thought they would of drilled the anchor boltin in the bottom plate through the orginal foundation and used epoxy, then poured whatever was called for using a bonding agent.

The cement within a concrete mix doesn't contain any natural bonding agents – so when fresh concrete is added on top of an existing layer of concrete, the two won't join together.

I bet the come back and smooth that side over with grout and call it a day...

 

I’ve been back and forth with our contact. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
The foundation contractor is the one handling it. I told him I wanted it in writing who signed off/approved this repair and a letter from both the foundation contractor, and the framing contractor stating that it doesn’t affect the integrity of the wall.

If I have all that in writing, and it still falls into our warranty. then so be it.

I know for sure all they’re gonna do is stuff grout in the gaps to make it look better.

 

Agreed. They didn’t do the proper repairs to resolve the first problem.

 

They didn’t even bother to clean up the space before dumping the crete in there. You can see pieces of wood, nails, and rocks on the edge underneath it.

 

I’d seriously suggest a legal consultation. At least get it inspected and if needed make them rip it out, repair it correctly. I’d also put a stop on withdrawals on your construction loan With the bank...good luck hope you get it resolved.

 

Luckily we haven’t paid any money yet. Just deposits. But that’ll be easy to get back if this continues.

I’m sure it won’t be hard to have the VA take our side on this and get us out of our contract with the builder.

 

I'm not a concrete genius, but shouldn't they have used a bonding agent and then like a hydraulic cement?

 

Good deal...sorry it’s a big headache but it looks like you’re on top of it which is good. Makes you wonder how many others who don’t pay close attention to the build process get hosed?

 

No kidding. A few of our neighbors had their house built while they were living out of state. I can’t even imagine what was done with no one looking.
It’s a shame that even with as much money as people pay for a house stuff like this happens.

 

I have zero construction experience to add to this but have been following along off and on....






Personally, I would already be going the "stop work and find somebody else to fix it" route. There is obvious ineptitude or outright corner cutting going here.

 

I would definitely have a 3rd party inspector walk your home prior to your pre-cover (before they insulate and sheetrock) walk with the builder. Make sure you inform them in writing that you want to walk your new home prior to insulation with your builder salesperson.

 

They finally removed the form on the other side. I’d say this side is even worse.

Still waiting on a response signed and in writing saying that this is how it was intended to be repaired.

 

Am I overreacting?

 

Wow.

If anything I think you are being too lenient with your homebuilders.

Like someone else said I would start looking for someone else to fix there mistakes. Simply for the piece of mind...

 

I had to do this when I had my basement finished. The Contractor denied he did anything wrong, and even yelled at my wife. We had a third party inspector come and walk through with us, and then again with the contractor. After that the Contractor knew we were not going to just roll over and let them cut corners.

 

No. Not at all.

 

I'd say no. They messed up in the first place with the foundation poured incorrectly. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, they had a chance to fix their mistake, but have failed to do so. This is an unacceptable repair.