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New Homes Experience Settling ProblemsBy Jim Sulski Summary: When you move into a new home you look forward to it being maintenance free. Unfortunately, new homes settle causing a host of problems. Jim tells you what to look for and who is responsible for repairs. After spending more than 10 years residing in homes that were decades old,
the couple decided to make the plunge into a new home. The house was everything they wanted: larger bedrooms, a bigger backyard and even a fireplace. More importantly, there was no more remodeling and maintenance work to be done, a frequent occurrence in their older existing houses. Then, nine months into their new home, the couple started noticing a few hairline cracks above the door and window frames in their family room. In the kitchen, meanwhile, several of the wooden floorboards had developed gaps between them. Then, a bedroom closet door became hard to close. The problems faced by the couple were frustrating in that they had not expected any flaws with a new house. Houses, however, go through growing pains as humans do, and minor problems are going to come up, especially in the first year. Technically, it's what happens when a house "settles" into its location, the builders add. These problems don't have anything to do with workmanship or faulty materials. It's instead the forces of Mother Nature. Simply, the earth sags or wood dries out. Because houses are built mostly out of wood, and the moisture content in the wood changes as we get into high humidity and very dry times of the year, that wood expands and contracts, say the experts. As a result, houses are always expanding and contracting but typically in the first year you will get the most amount of settlement. The fallout from a house settling is mostly minor. These are not structural problems, but instead problems that require mostly cosmetic touch up. There are a number of typical house settling problems, builders say: For example, the most common malady is the aforementioned small cracks in ceiling and walls. These are caused when pieces of the wood framing behind the walls twist and turn slightly as they dry out. You're most likely to see settlement problems in the walls around door or window openings. There, you've got a lot of pieces of wood that come together in what's called a structural header over that opening. Cracks where the walls meet the ceiling are also a typical settlement problem. You'll see natural expansion and contraction in the roof truss structure where the trusses hit the interior walls of the house. The trusses in the wintertime will actually shrink as the wood contracts and will lift the bottom part of the truss up, separating the ceiling drywall from the walls. Nail pops also show up frequently in the first year or so as a house settles. Again, twisting wood causes the nails to pull deeper into the wall, causing small indentations in the drywall, or to push out of the wall. A bowed wall - one that tends to curve in or out slightly - is also a common settlement problem. The wall bows as the wall stud behind it does the same. That stud could be as straight as it could be when you put it in, but six months or a year later, it could bow substantially as it dries out. Floors and other parts of the house can also be affected by a house settling. For example, separating floorboards is also a common house settling situation, say builders. While unsightly, the situation often does not pose any sort of structural problem. Hardwood floors have a tendency to look like they're splitting but in fact are just expanding and contracting A rule of thumb is if you can put a quarter in between the planks, that's too big and there may be a problem with the floor. If you could put a dime in between the planks, they will come back to each other. Floors may also "cup" as a result of drying out. Sticky doors and windows can also be the fallout of a house settling. This occurs as the wood around those openings shifts and knocks the frames slightly out of alignment. Spindles, the vertical posts that support the handrail on a stairway, can also become loose as a house settles. Foundations may also show signs of a house settling, say builders, as the soil around the house naturally compacts. As a result, one in about 50 homes may show up with hairline cracks in the foundation of basement walls, say builders. Moisture - most likely rainwater - can then infiltrate into the basement via those cracks. The repairs should be free-of-charge. In the home building business it's understood that the builder covers everything for usually a year. Wall cracks are usually puttied, sanded and painted away. While a crack is very easy to fix with putty, it's somewhat more difficult to paint. There could be a blemish. While most builders will make the repairs, scheduling during a busy construction season can be tough. Sometimes it's a good idea for the home owner to come to the builder and suggest a painter. Planks in hardwood floors, meanwhile, can be replaced but there could be slight aesthetic problems. Frankly, the cure is sometimes worse than one little crack because it's very difficult to replace one piece, say builders. Sticky doors and windows, meanwhile, can be adjusted. And retightening spindles is often a fairly simple job. Hairline cracks in foundation walls, meanwhile, are repaired via a process called epoxy injection. A builder will drill small holes into the foundation and inject epoxy into the crack. It re-adheres the concrete together as well as seals it from any potential water penetration. While a house will continue to settle for decades, most major problems will
have occurred that first year, say builders. © by Jim Sulski. All rights reserved. February 7, 2005. NOTE: This column is distributed by Real Estate Matters Syndicate, PO Box 366, Glencoe, Illinois, 60022. This column may not be resold, reprinted, resyndicated or redistributed without written permission from the publisher. © 2005 by Ilyce R. Glink. Distributed by Real Estate Matters Syndicate. |
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