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 Post subject: sweet greggo's do you need to get your foundation fixed blog
PostPosted: Thu Oct 01, 2015 1:19 pm 
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So when I bought my house I knew it had some previous foundation work. In just about every house we looked at in Euless there had been some kind of work done or there were issues. Doppleganger Dunham told me that our area was notorious for the soil moving so finding a house that didn't need work would be challenging. The repair report on our house showed they put FORTY frikken piers around the perimeter of the house in Dec 2013. We bought the house a year later. The inspector said he was satisfied with the report provided by the company that did the repairs. Plus there was a lifetime warranty on the work. So all was good, right?

No. There was a couple of minor cracks when we moved in but nothing serious. All was good until the summer when it started getting hot. Cracks started showing up all over the house but the worst part was on the wall that divided the kitchen and living room. There's one crack that has about a 5/16" gap in places and it's getting worse. I called the foundation company a couple of weeks ago and told them I wanted the lead guy that worked on my house to come back and take a look. He showed up today.

Kevin had some fancy probe with about a 100' of cable that he used to measure something or other all over the house. He also had a 3' level which was impressive to say the least. All I have is a couple of 10" levels and a level app on my phone. This guy was the real deal. So he checks all over the house and let's me know that just one of the previously install piers needs a minor adjustment (like .1 inch) and the rest are fine. The problem is that the center of my house is sinking. I asked if that's something that should have been done when the perimeter was shored up but he said it's not usually necessary. That was really my only angle for using the warranty to get everything fixed so it looks like I'm hosed here. Kev tells me most likely I'll need to have 5 or 6 piers installed on the interior of the house. He wouldn't give me a quote or even a ballpark, but I'm thinking it will be around $4k. I'm secretly hoping for $3k though. And then of course I'll be ponying up some more dough to repair all the cracks in the walls and repaint.

If there's anything good that will come out of this it's that Kev assures me that once I get the piers inside the house then I shouldn't have any additional problem since the entire slab will be secured. So I got that going for me.

Next step is to have the plumbing inspected to make sure there are no leaks under the house. I should find out in a day or so when that's going to happen.

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 Post subject: Re: sweet greggo's do you need to get your foundation fixed blog
PostPosted: Thu Oct 01, 2015 1:40 pm 
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I always wondered why they don't install those beams when they build the house and was told you can but it'll add around $50k to the cost of your house. That might be bullsh but I can't call it because I don't really know. I fear the foundation problem.


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 Post subject: Re: sweet greggo's do you need to get your foundation fixed blog
PostPosted: Thu Oct 01, 2015 2:07 pm 
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Tit Whistle wrote:
I always wondered why they don't install those beams when they build the house and was told you can but it'll add around $50k to the cost of your house. That might be bullsh but I can't call it because I don't really know. I fear the foundation problem.


I've often wonder that myself. That $50k number does sound bullshy though. It was only $11k to put 40 piers around my house. Doesn't seem like it would be alot (relatively speaking) to shore things up when the foundation's being poured.

For contrast I had zero issues with my house in Lewisville, save for the front door not latching in the summer when it got really hot. The door faced west and would get so hot in the afternoons you coldn't touch the doorknob without suffering 2nd degree burns. I would have to use the deadbolt to keep it shut because it would swell up.

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 Post subject: Re: sweet greggo's do you need to get your foundation fixed blog
PostPosted: Thu Oct 01, 2015 3:07 pm 
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$1500 per pier

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 Post subject: Re: sweet greggo's do you need to get your foundation fixed blog
PostPosted: Thu Oct 01, 2015 3:09 pm 
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The house we bought over here a couple of years ago had been stripped to the studs and remodeled and looked flawless when we moved in. A few months into it and cracks started growing in every room like what you described. Some of them were quite impressive, maybe even 5/16" of an inch like yours but not sure. If you are looking down at a tape measure how many lines toward the 1 is 5/16? Anyhoo, it really bummed me out. It fucks with you because you can't remember how big some were, if others were new, etc. A few of the really bad ones popped the tape where the sheetrock met. When we thought Florida might happen I called out Manny, who does my painting. I had him patch over everything like nothing happened. It was like magic. His original quote to do it was $1200. I thought he was fucking with me. I eventually cap's wife'd him down to $700. So far everything is still concealed.

Pic of manny putting the finishing touches on our Normandy Wood Fireplace Mantel Surround:

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 Post subject: Re: sweet greggo's do you need to get your foundation fixed blog
PostPosted: Thu Oct 01, 2015 3:13 pm 
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 Post subject: Re: sweet greggo's do you need to get your foundation fixed blog
PostPosted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 2:43 pm 
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EDIT: Sorry about the size of the pic. I can't figure out how to downsize it. I'll fix it later.

Well sorry guys, I didn't really do a step by step on this one. Here's what happened:

The very butchy plumber did an inspection and said all was good, no leaks. Then the home inspector came out and did his thing. Turns out that he was also there last October and had his previous report to compare. He told me that there was literally no movement on the inside of the house since it was built. I questioned that since they had to put in 40 frikken piers two years but he assures me that's the case. He said all of the movement happened within the last year. Apparently it was all the heavy rain in May that did it. I guess it swelled up under the house as when it dried up the bottom fell out. So I ended up needing 8 piers installed in my living room on Sunday. May I present Exhibit A:

Image

This is my house now. Quite a few of the flooring slats are damaged beyond repair. No problem, I'll just run to Home Depot and get some more, right? I remember seeing the exact pattern on a display there a while back. The date on the back of the pieces is July of 2014 so I'm thinking it shouldn't be a problem finding more material. No such luck, this particular laminate has been discontinued. Yay. After driving to several other flooring stores and not finding some old stock, I called the previous owner in desperation to get the name of the outfit that originally put in the flooring in hopes they either had more or knew where to get it. Turns out she was the one that actually bought it and she still had a box that she intended on returning but never did. My guess is that she got this stuff on clearance so there was no taking it back anyway. So she tells me it's got 10 pieces and she will give it to me. She'll bring it by sometime this week. I've also got 2 left over pieces that were in the garage when we moved in.

I'm pretty sure I'm too fat to be crawling around on my hands and knees trying to get this shit back together. My wife's brother works in construction and assures her he can put everything back the way it's supposed to be, no problem. He is supposed to come over on Saturday and get to work. I have a feeling this is not going to end well, though. I haven't inspected all of the laminate that is stacked up in the corner because I want to keep the handling to a minimum. My fear is that I'm going to need more than 12 new pieces to complete the floor. I may end up having to rip it all up and put all new stuff down. Didn't exactly budget for that.

Speaking of budget, by guess for the foundation work was pretty close. The actual work itself was only $3240. I also paid $500 for the 2 home inspections and two plumbing inspections (before and after).

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Last edited by Sweet Greggo on Tue Dec 08, 2015 11:59 am, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: sweet greggo's do you need to get your foundation fixed blog
PostPosted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 2:55 pm 
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I hope this doesn't blow your 2016 forum renewal budget.


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 Post subject: Re: sweet greggo's do you need to get your foundation fixed blog
PostPosted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 2:57 pm 
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Oh, and try Lumber Liquidators for your flooring if you have to redo. You can get good deals there.


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 Post subject: Re: sweet greggo's do you need to get your foundation fixed blog
PostPosted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 3:50 pm 
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