New home with foundation problems and weep holes

rick hawkins · 05-22-2010, 08:49 AM

I purchased a new home 11 months ago in lafayette louisiana. After i living in the house approx 6 months i noticed that i had bricks and mortar cracking. The problem seems to be around 75% of my windows. Some of them are above the window and some are below. The mortar has cracks and some of the bricks are split into 2 pieces. I had a foundation company look at the problem and he said that it was due to settling and that i should wait 2-3 years before the settling will stop and then replace the broken bricks. I talked to the builder and he said that all he did for the foundation was scrape the topsoil off and then build the foundation. He did not build a pad for the foundation and did not do any soil testing.
I also noticed that all of my weep holes are clogged up with mortar so they are not functional.
My 1 year warranty is almost up and i need to see what legal rights i may have.
My questions are:
1 - Does code require any type of soil testing/preparation or pad
2 - Should the house be settling in this short of time period and do i wait to have the broken bricks replaced
3 - From what i read weep holes are important and i understand that drilling them out will not do any good. Can i take him to court and have him rebrick the house

Can anybody tell me what code (for louisiana) a builder has to follow and maybe links so that i can get a lawyer involved before my warranty has expired

Any help would be greatly appreciated
RH

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**Rick Cantrell** · 05-22-2010, 09:00 AM

1 - Does code require any type of soil testing/preparation or pad
Your local building inspection decides when testing is needed.

2 - Should the house be settling in this short of time period
No
and do i wait to have the broken bricks replaced
That depends, id the house is still settling then yeas it is better to wait untill the settling stops, could be a ling time.

3 - From what i read weep holes are important and i understand that drilling them out will not do any good.
That is correct

Can i take him to court and have him rebrick the house
Contact a lawyer that understands construction laws and practices.

Do something now, before the end of the 12 month warranty.

Philip · 05-22-2010, 09:07 AM

In LA. you can build without footers or foundations?

**Brandon Whitmore** · 05-22-2010, 09:09 AM

Why don't you just hire the best inspector in your area, and have him thoroughly check the place out. Armed with defects laid out by the trained professional, you can then work with the builder to get things fixed.
Jumping right to the conclusion that you need a lawyer/ lawsuit seems like overkill to me.

Philip · 05-22-2010, 09:17 AM

How was the foundation done. The building code in your state should be clearly spelled out for footers and foundations. If the brick layer mortared the weep holes and the builder did not stop him, then what else went on in the construction of your home that was done wrong?

chris mcintyre · 05-22-2010, 10:20 AM

Rick,
It does not sound like the best building practices were used, but contacting your local building codes official will be the most accurate way to determine what is required in your area.

As far as the warranty goes, structural issues are not typically limited to the one year warranty.

Here is something you might want to check out. http://www.lslbc.louisiana.gov/pdf_f...arrantyAct.pdf

rick hawkins · 05-22-2010, 10:25 AM

Thanks for all of the responses.....

I was not sure about hiring an inspector to check out the house because i did not know if he would have the training/skills to verify that the foundation was not built correctly

This is part of the specifications that he had for the foundation:
Grading - builder will scrape grass and topsoil off building area of lot. Foundation formed with slab at 12" above existing average grade.

construction - builder will construct a "steel reinforces concrete grade beam foundation" in accordance to all building codes as a minimum standard.

footings, slab - 3000 psi strength - 5 bag mix pre-mixed concrete

footings - 4 - 5/8" steel reinforcement bars in 16"x24" footings under all exterior and interior main load bearing walls. 2 5/8" reinforcement bars at any 12"x12" stiffner footings.

slab - 6 gauge wire mesh matts will be installed in the concrete throughout the entire slab area.

FYI - My house is approx 1900 square feet and is one story.

Thanks
RH

**Matt Fellman** · 05-22-2010, 08:12 PM

Originally Posted by chris mcintyre

As far as the warranty goes, structural issues are not typically limited to the one year warranty.

This was my first thought, too.... the builder probably won't admit it but he's on the hook longer than a year for structural stuff in most cases. You might try looking up some case law or contacting an attorney for some general information. This would possibly take some of the urgency out of the situation and allow you to watch things for awhile longer.

**Rick Hurst** · 05-22-2010, 08:23 PM

With the last comment you made it sounds as if your builder did use footers where previously you stated none.

I wouldn't get your panties in a wad over a few brick cracks. One thing you can count on is concrete, mortar, brick and drywall all crack.

Just because you have a few mortar or brick cracks does not indicate foundation issues. The brick mason may have skipped out on the proper number of brick ties in the brick veneer. Since he didn't put in the weep holes, he's probably not much of a brick mason so he probably didn't use the brick ties either.

If there is no serious deflections anywhere, I'd personally wouldn't get too upset with any of it. It could be just some typical settlement going on which can occur in a home the age of yours.

rick