construction question. HELP!

[MadJack]

my house is being built.

foundation is completed (waiting for inspection).

they are filling in the gravel for the basement floor.

today i drive up to the site and they are pouring buckets of concrete down into the concrete block.

i say 'WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT?!"

turns out, the guy bringing in the gravel with the loader hits one of the walls and knocks it loose, so they are filling the wall solid with concrete.

is this cool?

i guess they should have taken the wall down and rebuilt it (they didn't knock it over, just jolted it loose), but instead, filled it with concrete.

i haven't talked to the boss man yet, but i know he's gonna say that it's MORE solid now than it would have been.

any comments?

thanks!

Jack

 

[MadJack]

oh! the part of the wall that was cracked will be above grade and the hairline crack in the mortar joint is about 15' long and about 2 feet above the footer.

 

[Hailmary]

Jack,
I'll call my brother (Dreadhead) and have him respond. He owns his own business in the construction field and graduated college with a degree in building and materials, he knows his shit! GL with the house.
PEACE, HAIL

 

[Neemer]

Just got done with our FINAL house, and personally, I would have my doubts about the "method" of fixing their screw up. Sounds like to me they should have knocked it down and started from scratch, espcially since it was THEIR fault. My basement was poured concrete walls so my situation was a little different. I guess the thing that would worry me the most would be the chance of water seeping through the crack. You could always check with your town's building inspector to see if its the proper remedy to the situation....

 

[AR182]

Jack,

I'm a real estate investor.I buy brand new house's,rent them out for a few years,then sell them.All of the house's,except for one,are bought before they are built.I have read a few publications on things to do when building a house.The one pointer I got from these books is that you should HIRE your own inspector for different phases of the building process.I have the inspector check the work after framing,after the completion of the house,but before walkthrough with the builder,& at the 11 month period,before you meet with the builder to review what warranty work has to be repaired.

Since I am not handy,I have found the $750 that I have spent on these 3 inspections per house are well worth the money.I paid the inspector the $250 for each inspection after I got the completed report.If you do hire an inspectoer make sure he is properly qualified,because like every other business there are shysters.

Good Luck !

Please feel free to contact me if you think I can help you.

 

[Captain Crunch]

Jack, I have been in the concrete business for over 20 years and am surprised that anyone still does foundations out of block; I know they don't in the KC area. To tell you the truth, it will probably be more solid this way as they are filling the cavity of the block and it will be more stable. It is not going to do anything for the crack in the mortar, but it should not seperate anymore than it already has. Your rough-in contractor will be able to tell you if it messed it up bad as it might be out of level or knocked out of square. If it was towards the top of the foundation, which I am assuming it is as it sounds like the foundation has been backfilled, you shouldn't have any problems. If they somehow would have knocked it out towards the bottom, I would be more concerned. Call the brick contractor and have him come out and check it out. Good luck, as building a home will really test your nerves. We we also build a few homes as my parents developed a subdivision and when we are slow in the concrete biz, we build spec homes. Are you the builder or do you have one doing it for you? Feel free to ask any questions you might have, especially if it has anything to do with concrete.

 

[MadJack]

thanks for the replies. really appreciate it.

i just got off the phone with the builder/contractor. he ASSURES me that the wall is stronger this way, with the concrete poured solid inside the block. it makes sense too.

don't know why i didn't go with a poured concrete foundation but it's too late now anyway we didn't even think about that at the time.

he wraps the whole exterior of the walls with some kind of stuff (he said what it was, but i can't remember). he said there's NO WAY the block will crack anymore with the block filled with concrete and moisture won't get in with the wrap he puts around the foundation.

he ASSURES me that the wall is back exactly where it was before the accident.

he DID ask me if i would be more comfortable if he took the wall down and rebuilt it, and i know he was sincere.

i guess i'll go back up there in the morning and look everything over real closely and unless i see something that doesn't jive, i'll just let him carry on.

that is, unless someone here convinces me to rethink this over and make him take it down.

it still has to be inspected and the building expector WILL know what happened so he can look closely as well.

damn! already running into problems. ugh!

thanks again for the replies!

 

[Hailmary]

What do expect Jack? You do live in ACCIDENT!!!!!!
PEACE, HAIL

 

[TJBELL]

WHERE'S RAYMOND WHEN YOU NEED HIM?? CONCRETE

 

[wondo]

I know I'm out of the loop, but where are you moving to?

i'm heading through accident around the 9th of august. drop me an email if you might be around and i would be interested in meeting you in person for a cold one somewhere.....

gl with the house

 

[MadJack]

hailmary, duh! i didn't even think of that. you're right!

wondo, just up the road a little to grantsville. you'll probably be going right by. shoot me an email reminder when you come and we'll hook up for a couple.

ar182, i might do just that. i'll look into it tomorrow. thanks.

CC, you sound like my builder did. i think it will be fine now. i mean......what could go wrong? :shrug:

neemer, this is IT for me too. and the name of my road is "Ventures End"

thanks

 

[Captain Crunch]

Jack, don't be afraid to ask questions during the whole process, that is how you learn. Most people don't have a clue what goes on during the building process, and some shady builders will take advantage of you. Not accusing your builder of being one of those, but I have seen some concrete work on some upper bracket homes that should have been torn out and replaced. My neighbor lives in a 3000 sq. ft. home and moved in in the fall and by the following spring, the whole top had popped off the surface on the driveway and sidewalk and the only way to fix it is to tear out and replace, and this guy is a home builder. Make sure when they pour your driveway that they don't pour it very wet as this takes all of the durability out of the concrete, and your driveway will look like my neighbors. I agree with you builder, I don't think you will have a problem with your foundation, in fact it will be better that way. Good Luck

 

[RAYMOND]

you could have called me.first of all jack make sure there is rebar inside the wall befor they pour concrete actually the rebar should be in the foundation coming up threw the cinder block when they pour the concrete make sure its 4000 pnd PSI concrete mix pounds per square inch if there was any loose block it should be taken out and re mortored and tell the builder the concrete should be poured at now more than a 4 slump if the more water they add to concrete the weaker it will be as far as the outside walls make sure are parged with cement then foundation coating needs to be applied then you should have some sort of vapor barrier along the outside wall or they can use a membrain outside wall down there should be stone then preferated pipe with the holes in it then stone added on top make sure when dirt is backfilled, that the water pitch is away from the house you should be good to go then

thank you for shopping at mad jacks keep comming back!

 

[ssiproop]

Just my 2 Cents. Probably isn't worth much. The one thing I observed from your post was that this patch job was done without your knowing that the structural integrity of your house has been affected. Did the contractor ever intend to tell you of this problem or was he hoping you didn't notice and trying to keep it quiet? If he was trying to keep it quiet you may have bigger problems through out your project.

My experience with concrete is that once it has dried and cracked loose and you try to add more concrete to it, it will create a cold joint and will not be structurally sound. Some contractors will tell you that we use special adhesive glue to make sure the new concrete will stick to the old concrete. HAWG WASH. Remember your not building this house out of popsicle sticks.

I noticed in one of your previous post you where talking about the paper they are going to wrap around the block. I believe that is a moisture barrier and that's about all it is going to do. It will not add any strength to the house.

Also, if any part of the block is retaining dirt, then those blocks should've been filled with concrete to begin with. Also, if you have any blocks that are retaining dirt they will also need to have a leech line installed.

Like I said before just my 2 cents so take it for what it's worth. Maryland most likely has different building codes than California so you might want to check with your states Building and Safety.

Good Luck

 

[MadJack]

ssiproop, i think he would have told me but i confronted him first. he did offer to rebuild the wall. the paper around the house was mentioned to give me peace of mind about water getting in the hair line crack in the mortar joint. also, he said, that since the block were filled solid, it is unlikely that there could be anymore cracking. no dirt got into the blocks because it hasn't been backfilled yet and the movement occured a few feet above the footer. no dirt involved. thanks for the reply.

raymond, they did it exactly like you said. rebar and all. thanks!

Captain Crunch, my wife wasn't home when this happened and she's leaning to making the guy redo the whole wall. she's pissed. this is a 4400 square foot home and a major investment for us and she wants it right. i'll be meeting with the county building inspector in about an hour. he told me it's not unusual for this to happen. in fact, they have one now that they are making the builder rebuild.

thanks for the help guys!

 

[Neemer]

Jack....

Just put it this way, if this incident is one of the very few you will have while undertaking this project, then you will be one lucky and fortunate dude! We built a 6900 sq. ft. home with 2200 of it conisting of an unfinished basement. Our intention was to finish the basement out when the house was done, but we were all tapped out, and I've never in my life been so happy and elated when the last group of guys left my property for the last and final time. My wife and I could have filled up several notebooks of problems we encountered while buidling this money pit. I will NEVER in my life build another home for as long as I'm breathing on this earth! How we survived without getting a divorce is still one of the biggest mysteries in my life! If you guys can make it through this, then you all are set for life.

Oh, by the way, GOOD LUCK!

 

[bean counter]

jack i would get everything he assured you of in writing. glad to see ya building a nice house ever decide where you will be retiring. good luck

 

[skulldog]

Jack,make him rebuild the wall. Should something go wrong in the future( and it proably won't) you'll be kicking yourself in the ass!!

And should something go wrong down the road, is the builder still in business?and you will likely have to sue him.

I've been a R.E. broker for 16 yrs and worked w/some good builders and some shitty ones and even the good ones make mistakes, so unless your confident that the builder will be in business down the road, replace the wall.

Jack, also if the wall is not replaced, I would hire a structural(sp) engineer(have the builder pay for it, BUT MAKE SURE IT'S YOUR PICK) and have them give you something in writing regarding the structural integerity(sp), then it's on the engineer shoulders and not yours.

Jack , neemer building mansions, WTF am I doing wrong

:thefinger

GL

 

[MadJack]

it passed inspection. the inspector said the wall is stronger then it would have been. i guess i'm going to let them continue :shrug:

neemer building mansions, WTF am I doing wrong

what do you expect. he's a drug dealer

that's a hummer, neemer.

How we survived without getting a divorce is still one of the biggest mysteries in my life!

we never argue but have been doing a lot of that ALREADY!! over shit like cabinets, lighting fixtures, doors, windows, colors. i give up! she can pick out EVERYTHING! f-it i'm done :thefinger

 

[RAYMOND]

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