Why me????

ahh, that's a problem...

What caused it?  Settlement or water?

How did you find out about it?

We had a very rainy spring.  I've had major settling problems around the house since I moved in because the stupid people pouring the concrete neglected to compact the dirt.  Before this I had had both my back patio AND my driveway completely repoured.  But the house itself SEEMED fine.

I got back from my six month deployment about six weeks ago.  I was sitting in the living room (the room pictured) when someone upstairs flushed a toilet and I heard a "burping" sound coming from the downstairs toilet in the bathroom right next to this room.  We couldn't find anything clogging the vents so we called a plumber.  He sent a camera up the pipe and found a sunken section full of water and possibly damaged.

So since the house isn't that old I complained to the builder and they agreed to fix it.  But this is ten times worse than I thought it would be under there.

This could be a problem that totals the whole house if the soil was not compacted correctly.  If it was just some spot problems, they can probably drill through the slab and inject a concrete slurry.  But it could still settle, and this is only spot fixes.  If the whole pad was messed up, you could have future problems.

You may want to try to get some of the geotech reports that had to be done when they constructed the pads verifying compaction.  If the contractor built the house without the geotech testing, they could REALLY be on the hook.

ALSO, any neighbors have similar issues?  May want to ask around and see if the community needs to lawyer up.

I agree with homebuilders doing shotty jobs these days!  There is a new subdivision with big fancy houses going in around the corner from us.  I run through there sometimes and I can already see soil issues JUST like you are dealing with!

So sorry you are having to deal with this!  Especially when you are needing to move in the near future.

The builder is the one doing all the fixing.  The house was "out of warranty" but I basically called them when I found the pipe problem and said, "Look, you know I had a lot of problems with settling.  I would like you guys to fix this."  Then I put the ball in their court.  My next step was going to be threatening with a lawyer but it never had to go there.  They agreed to fix it.

To some of the posters above...YES the entire freaking neighborhood has had settling problems.  My neighbors driveway has been repoured three times.  I wondered why they agreed to fix it so readily.  I was totally ready to have to fight them.  I guess they knew better than me what they were going to find!

Back to watching the destruction....I haven't gotten ANYTHING done today!  I just spent the last hour helping them empty everything out of the two rooms that now need to be ripped up because the floor collapsed as they jackhammered.

The foundation itself seems to be okay.  But I would bet money there was NO compaction done under the flatwork.  Next up?  I am insisting that they check under the garage...

While the house it "out of warranty", I would check the construction defect laws in your state.  In California it is 10 years and the courts have often gone beyond that.  Make sure you know the law and if need be file suit to avoid the statute of limitations biting you in the butt. 

I would also get an engineer at your own expense to assess the damage and inspect once the work is done.  Better yet, you hire the engineer but tell the builder they will be paying the expense.  Do not use one of their choices.  Do independent research and settle on one that represents your interests and not the builders interests.  Keep them honest, since they couldn't do that the first time.

Also, be aware that to sell it you may now need to disclose what you know about the foundation and the repairs that went on depending on the state law.

Can you tell I work in insurance??  LOL

Shannon

I think the reason that they agreed to fix it is because there probably is some kind of construction defect law.

Yeah, I have NO idea what I'm going to do now about selling the place.  The market is in a shambles already and I KNOW I have to disclose what just happened.  And some of the tile can't get put back down until 30 days after they pour the concrete.  It's a mess.  I think instead of selling (which was going to be stressful anyway) I might just hire a property manager and rent the place out...ride out the market a bit.....

Wow.  several hours later...and the whole floor is gone!  The album has been updated and here is one of the more interesting shots looking into the bathroom.  The ledge is where my toilet used to be.

Oh my God! THAT is horrible. I am sooo sorry.  And very glad you are able to do something like rent it and ride out the market. Geez, they had best fix it.

Hey in DC you could sublet that as a basement apartment for probably $1200 a month.

From a construction lawyer, I agree with the above, see a lawyer immediately.   No idea what the statute of limitations is for hidden (latent) defects like this, highly likely you're still OK, but don't delay. As SGriepsma said, it's 10 yrs in Cali. for this type of defect.   As for disclosure, check with a lawyer in your state, but in California if you fix a problem it's not something you generally need to disclose.

and this isn't legal advice or creating an atty client relationship, blah blah blah

So, here's what I wonder about with seeing the lawyer.  Technically, they are fixing the problem.  So...wouldn't a judge just say, "What do you want?  They fixed it, didn't they?"

 And a good lawyer knows your local laws well enough to answer that.  If they did such a crappy job in the first place, what makes you think they'll do it right this time?  Seriously consider getting them to pay for a _qualified_ builder to do it to your satisfaction.