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LicensedWaterproofer

09:10PM | 03/06/04
Member Since: 03/05/04
301 lifetime posts
Bvbasement
The fact you have cracks in your new block wall would worry me..and with your wall not yet backfilled worries me a bit more because when a builder does backfill..the process of pushing the dirt against the wall with a bob-cat/backhoe etc. might widen the crack more because of the weight of the dirt being pushed against a new wall or the settling of it.What has the builder said to you about it? Has the city inspector been over to take a look at the cracks? Was the inspector there to OK the footing before the wall was built? Because if in the end of all this there IS a problem with the footing and the city passed it (I`m no lawyer) I assume that they and the builder can be found at fault. And I wouldn`t want to be told by a builder,inspector,engineer or anyone that "underpinning" the footing(if that is the problem) will be necessary.Not on a new home..no way.Because even if they try to underpin..there are no guarantees that the concrete they will use to underpin will also not drop,settle and eventually leave a gap between it and the footing which it was meant to support...follow me? And...in my 20+ years I have seen when builders have tried to fill block walls with concrete that it has actually weakened the wall! I wouldn`t be talked into that by anyone either.

yellowmazy

01:14PM | 03/07/04
Member Since: 02/28/04
6 lifetime posts
This is what Ive been waiting to hear. I don't no a thing about this and everything Ive read says this is a bad thing this early in constructed(especially with no backfill or load on walls.) I dont know if I mentioned Im putting a modular on this basement which I assume weighs more than a stick built house. My contractor at first blew me off and said they would fix it after they set the house, and looked into it further and made some calls to a structural engineer. I contacted the contractor again and he got ****ed off that I had made those calls. I informed him that the house WILL NOT be set until this has been solved. Ive been out there this weekend and took a ton of pictures abd some measurements. Both sets of cracks are almost exactly 64 inches from the corner of the basement where my drain is.

I believe the footer was not at proper depth or more likely no compacted enough. I also discovered not two cracked blocks but four, two on each wall, the one approx. 1/16th of an inch straight through the middle of the block. Your thoughts, I really appreciate all the info.

thanks again,

Matt


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