Cracks in drywall from foundation settling

[Briar Friar]

You get worried when the poop quits flowing down hill...because down hill became up hill. Concrete is dynamically static...it moves and shifts..in place. No a big deal.

Ive noticed that alot of residential building occurring now is taking place in creek bottoms...and the builders subsequently name the neighborhoods after the adjacent creek. If youre in a creek neighborhood...move. It aint gonna get better. Typically...per the foundation leveling guys...its very common for settling to occur in the 10-15 year range. 1-2 years aint good at all.

There is no such thing as foundation repair. Once piers go in to “stabilize”...they start hydraulically pumping at differing rates and put point pressures on the foundation...and it exacerbates the cracking of everything. Dont do it...unless it gives your future buyers underwriter warms and fuzzies.

When I have vinyl planking or any type of laminate flooring installed...I always have either shoemold or quarter round shot along the base...the flooring adhesive always is weakest at the edges.

Consistent moisture balance around the entire foundation is critical. Improper drainage, lack of gutters at valleys, AC condensation line not piped far enough from slab, etc.

I saw new homes being built in a Hutto creek bottom and the builder wasnt even scraping the clayee top soil off. Slabs were being poured directly on top of the blackland soil. I called the city building inspector and told him of the future problem and he said...by state law... if an engineer signs off on the design then he has to let it ride. I laughed and let it ride.

Good luck Playa. Ill check back in with this thread later.

[jds247]

I know that. I have been pouring concrete since I was 13. There is a reason that 6 mil is almost never specified on commercial projects. It is **** near all 15 mil, but there are a few that still spec 10 mil.

When I get a project that says 6 mil, I put 10 mil vapor barrier (not visqueen) in the bid because I don't want the headache.

It was not as big a problem before they went away from petroleum based adhesives. The old glue inadvertently provided some water proofing because it was pertroleum based and it was really darn adhesive so the flooring didn't come up.

Oh ok I thought he ask about residential construction. My bad

[El General]

Oh ok I thought he ask about residential construction. My bad

He is, but changes in specs tend to lag for residential. No matter what, if water is coming through the slab he has a moisture barrier problem.

[Playa]

Y’all are confirming my fears. Both mine and our neighbor’s are having the same issue. Built by the same builder, a supposedly reputable builder. Some told us he was one of the best in Lubbock. Our neighbor’s house is custom, ours was a spec house we bought as they were completing it. We were given a book with specs and includes images of the building process

Is there any way to confirm the barrier WITHOUT working with the builder? He’s receiving a certified letter from our attorney probably today or Monday regarding our sprinkler system that does not meet TCEQ code standards

This isnt an issue with building near a creek, it is typical lubbock land, flat as a table top and mixture of sand and red clay

[Burnadell]

I know little to nothing about construction, but it would worry me when the wall starts cracking at the corners of interior doors. That would indicate settling to me. You don't want to get where the doors won't close.

[El General]

Y’all are confirming my fears. Both mine and our neighbor’s are having the same issue. Built by the same builder, a supposedly reputable builder. Some told us he was one of the best in Lubbock. Our neighbor’s house is custom, ours was a spec house we bought as they were completing it. We were given a book with specs and includes images of the building process

Is there any way to confirm the barrier WITHOUT working with the builder? He’s receiving a certified letter from our attorney probably today or Monday regarding our sprinkler system that does not meet TCEQ code standards

This isnt an issue with building near a creek, it is typical lubbock land, flat as a table top and mixture of sand and red clay

I don't know about a way to confirm barrier, but if you have water coming through the slab then something was done incorrectly.

[oktx]

You get worried when the poop quits flowing down hill...because down hill became up hill. Concrete is dynamically static...it moves and shifts..in place. No a big deal.

Ive noticed that alot of residential building occurring now is taking place in creek bottoms...and the builders subsequently name the neighborhoods after the adjacent creek. If youre in a creek neighborhood...move. It aint gonna get better. Typically...per the foundation leveling guys...its very common for settling to occur in the 10-15 year range. 1-2 years aint good at all.

There is no such thing as foundation repair. Once piers go in to “stabilize”...they start hydraulically pumping at differing rates and put point pressures on the foundation...and it exacerbates the cracking of everything. Dont do it...unless it gives your future buyers underwriter warms and fuzzies.

When I have vinyl planking or any type of laminate flooring installed...I always have either shoemold or quarter round shot along the base...the flooring adhesive always is weakest at the edges.

Consistent moisture balance around the entire foundation is critical. Improper drainage, lack of gutters at valleys, AC condensation line not piped far enough from slab, etc.

I saw new homes being built in a Hutto creek bottom and the builder wasnt even scraping the clayee top soil off. Slabs were being poured directly on top of the blackland soil. I called the city building inspector and told him of the future problem and he said...by state law... if an engineer signs off on the design then he has to let it ride. I laughed and let it ride.

Good luck Playa. Ill check back in with this thread later.

Please tell me more about NOT having foundation repair done. We have some cracks at door corners. Just fix them and go on?

[Stuck]

Small sheet rock cracks and nail pops the first year of a new home is not uncommon. The foundation sweating would be a possible concern for me. A new home should have a 2-10 warranty. If I was in your shoes and thought I the foundation was failing I would hire an engineer, not a home inspector, an actual engineer, it will cost more but hold more weight in court if it has to go that far. Have him shoot the elevations of the foundation with a compulevel. In 6 months or 60years from now you can reshoot the measurements and tell if there is any movement in the foundation. I contract for a residential engineering company and we shoot the elevations on every final inspection in case there is ever an issue in the future we can verify or disprove foundation movement because we will be in the court room with the builder if there is.

[brokeno]

Contact your builder and get everything documented

[RiverRat1]

Contact your builder and get everything documented

Do this ASAP. The quicker the better.

And they will, of course, try to tell you that happens to every home blah blah.. But you need it documented that you had these issues as early as possible.

Then beat them up as often as you can to get to the real issue.

I hate crap like this as it will be really hard to get them to fix the problem. Good luck and don't give up!

[Biscuit]

A ground supported slab will move. The question is the moving causing structural damage. Sheetrock cracks alone do not necessarily constitute structural damage and are well within most accepted tolerances. That being said if the builder did not have a geo technical
Engineer conduct a boring sample and a soil analysis before construction then no one knows if the slab was designed and constructed properly for your exact location.

Any good structural engineer will tell your that having a geo tech report of the dirt under tour slab is the only true way to understand the soil and moisture content of that soil at the time you build it. It’s the only way a structural engineer can design a slab that he feels will not fail at your pad site.

Ask the builder for the geo tech’s report and ask if structural engineer was given this report. Lots of builders skip this step especially on spec houses because it saves them $1500. Not worth it in my opinion we will not build a single house without this step included. Even on spec houses.

Others have mentioned good building practices but by the IRC code 6 mil poly is a class 1 vapor barrier. 10-15 mil is a better choice.

[PondPopper]

We bought a house in Nov 2018, Construction was complete a couple of months before we moved in. We continue to have cracks in various areas of the drywall, generally the top corners of interior doors. At what point do I get concerned about foundation issues?

For what it’s worth we have flooring issues related to the foundation as well. Our vinyl plank flooring peels up in places because of moisture in the foundation. It’s like the foundation sweats due to temp changes

The only way your floor can sweat inside your home is if you have high humidity inside your home, vapor barrier or no vapor barrier.... The moisture is coming from the air(condensation) not through your slab. Get a dehumidifier.. I would be a little more worried about mold at this point..
Oh and I'm a expert on the humidity topic because I live on the coast...

[tps7742]

Contact your builder and get everything documented

Good advice here if you haven’t already. We have had two custom homes built in the last nine years and both only warranted the slab for one year. We didn’t have any issues such as you have mentioned to date.

[GA Bowhunter]

We continue to have cracks in various areas of the drywall, generally the top corners of interior doors.

I would do some investigation with a knowledgeable third party.

Cracks above doors or windows could foundation issues(such as a sinking footing). More commonly cracks above windows and doors are from less than stellar framing. The framers don't cut the jacks(studs under the headers) tight and the headers have room to settle(drop).

I have seen a couple houses where there were cracks above the doors and above and below the windows and after the drywall was patched they never came back. The door and window operation was not compromised.

One was a basement and one was a crawlspace. Both houses were built on cut(as opposed to fill) and I built them both and I repaired the drywall. Both instances the cracks appeared before closing and neither house had foundation issues. The cracks have not reoccurred.

Framing can also expand and contract with moisture causing drywall cracks and nail pops. We built a house about 5 years ago and we had several HUNDRED nail pops. We assume the lumber must have had a high moisture content. We have also built houses with no nail pops. The average house may have 10 nail pops(within a month or so of hanging drywall).

If you get door or window operation that is compromised you have bigger issues.

[Snowflake Killa]

I don't have a study, but I have poured millions of SF of houses, commercial building, high rises, schools, office warehouse tiltwall, etc all around Texas.



6 Mil is not a barrier to moisture mainly because it is full of holes and tears by the time the concrete is poured and isn't very repairable.



If I owned it, it would have 15 mil Stego or approved equal.

This is true. The plastic put down helps the concrete from drying out to fast. It sounds like you do have a moisture problem. If it is under the laminate flooring. I would do some kind of moisture test.

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