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View Full Version : FOUNDATION RELATED PROBLEMS - during inspection


bhuprak
07-17-2006, 09:57 PM
hi,
I live in Tx.We are in the process of buying a home.We have been searching for homes for the past 4 months.And atlast about a week ago we found a very good house that satisfied all our criteria.The house in 1998 built. As far as maintenance is concerned the home is very well maintained for a 1998 built home. Now this house was on market only for a day.On the 2nd day it had 3 offers ( this info we got it from our agent). Looks like the people who gave the offer gave it for the asking price and they went into the option period that ended yesday.Now after the buyers inspector did the inspection he came up with the fact that the foundation slab had shifted in such a way that the floor on one corner or say one side of the living room had gone down by an inch -say if you looking at the floor from the other end.So becoz of this the buyers terminated the option period saying that they didnt want to proceed any further.So then the sellers agent contacted our agent saying that the house is on the market again .Now the sellers again got a structural engr to have a look at the foundation .The engr came up with the idea that the foundation slab could be fixed by putting piers or piliings -say about 4 to 6 pilings and that this would keep in in place. Now should we go ahead and give an offer or what should we do.WE ARE CONFUSED. This piling issue --is that common....or is it something that has to be taken very seriously. PLEASE HELP.

Thesa
07-17-2006, 10:16 PM
I am not that familiar with slab foundations... we have mostly stemwalls here in Central Oregon - but there are a few very old homes that are on pier and pier alone.. the biggest problem we see here with that is that sometimes the contractor or home owner did not pay attention to wood to earth contact. Obviously that is a quick way to have issues.

Is this engenieer going to offer anykind of warranty or gaurantee?

What does your home inspector say?

What does your agent say?

Is there a way to get a second opinion?

bhuprak
07-18-2006, 07:02 AM
Hi Thesa,
Thanks a lot for your reply.Now giving answers to your questions ---

Our agent told us that the sellers are ready to put the peirs and that they will receive life time warranty for whatever they r doing.so we will in turn be getting that warranty papers from the buyers.

Reg Home inspection we will be doing it on thursday.Also is it ok to go with an inspector arranged by our agent or do buyers usually arrange their own inspector.

Our agent is pretty much ok with all this ..He is saying that this is not something that is not common and that it is done for homes with this problem.

One more question from is that - say the buyer and seller both have their respective agents.Is it legal for the buyer to talk to the sellers agent or the seller to talk to the buyers agent.

thanks again.

Thesa
07-18-2006, 07:45 AM
I am licensed in Oregon - so I can not answer your questions as well as I would like... what I am trying to do is give you the questions I ask - thus hopefully you can determine if this is something you want to continue with.

1. Is the warranty transferable? Does it truly go to you - not all warranties do - and if it does will it transfer when you sell the house to the new buyer?

2. I have family in the Dallas / Ft. Worth area and we have talked about the different building processes - foundations have been a topic with us before. I turly believe that the company the sellers have in mind is someone you should talk to or one like it about the options of the repair. Most of the time there is more than one answer - is this fix the best for the sturcture for years to come?

3. Will this impact homeowners insurance? Did the sellers turn this into to their homeowners insurance? You may want a CLUE report if so.

just some food for thought.. let us know how this one turns out.

DoodleD
08-16-2006, 06:32 PM
Did the engineer determine the condition/compaction of the soil? Probably not. Piers are very expensive. How about concrete pressure injection?