I've been doing some reading up online, but none really provide a firm answer, so I'm turning to real life sources and to long time homeowners for some clues. The home was built in early 2008, and I closed on 11/2009.

The first week I've noticed hardwood floor pops and squeaks throughout the first floor. the finished basement right below, man the pops and squeaks are LOUD. The builder told me that the wood would react to the weather, stating that it's cold now, and in the summer should expand and correct itself. Unfortunately, it's not throughout the house, just specific areas, so I'm suspicious to the explanation which doesn't go with what I read online which is simply 'new hardwood floors properly installed shouldn't pop or squeak at all'

Another thing is that I'm in a 500 yr flood plain. The sump pump I have is connected to our drainage which drains directly out to the town's sewer system. The sump pump runs for about 4-5 seconds every other minute. Online, I read that it depends on the water table of where I live and that once every minute is normal, where others read that it should run seldom and more frequently during heavy rains.

I'm also finding cracks in corners, around molding, door frames, etc. I hear these are normal and should appear the first few years, but how big is too big? I have one crack in my bedroom ceiling that's getting close to 1/8 "

some pictures to show the crack:



any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

I'm definitely no expert, but most of these issues do NOT sound normal.

New hardwood floors should not make any noise. Over time they will start to squeak, but not in the first several years.

Sump pump should be able to be adjusted so that it doesn't run that often. There should be some sort of adjustment to what level of water sets it off. Your pump may not have the settings, but it should.

Those cracks are not normal. Based on the location of the crack it looks like they didn't even tape the corners. Houses to settle a bit and you might get some minor cracks here and there, but if there are all over the place and growing there may be some issues with the foundation.

A couple of questions for you:
Was there a previous owner or was this house vacant before you bought it?

Did you have a home inspection done?

How long is the builder warranty?

Is the builder still in business?

Basically, don't let them get away with telling you things are normal. Even if you didn't have a home inspection done up front, since this in new construction you should be able to still have an inspection and make the builder fix any issues that come up. Find an inspector that has no affiliation to the builder whatsoever. Try to find someone through a referal.

The builder will try to weasle out of anything and everything if you just point it out on your own, but once you have a "professional" point out any flaws they should take care of them fairly quickly.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

Yeah that crack doesn't look normal.. my parents moved into a new construction home and there were a couple tiny cracks in places, but nothing that bad/big.

 

Is it reasonable for the same home inspector to come by and do a once over? Is he responsible to do so? or is he gonna try and charge me a few hundred bucks again? I'm thinking of having an inspector do a once over and provide that report to my attorney.

 

congrats on the new house... but i wouldn't shell out that money just yet... the house should have a builder warranty on it, and if you just closed, you should show the defects to the builder and they should fix it for you... especially the cracks in the sheet rock... it looks like the taping around the edge wasn't properly done or the sheetrock wasn't fully secured to the studs... it should take a few years for the settling to cause that much of a crack...

when u say hardwood popping... is it buckling up??? or is it just squeaks??? i'll await your answer...

 

Congrats on the new home, I don't think you should be having these issues quite yet. I would definitely contact the builder and bring it up to him, that crack does not look good.

We looked at a home built in 2004 and looked at 10-15 homes built in the 60's-70's, the quality of the work has really changed IMO.

 

well u figure with all the cookie cutter houses nowadays... they are just trying to pump em out like hotcakes, they don't care much on the quality... find me a recently built brick house... rare up here and are mostly just brick face...

 

I am a licensed realtor and also bought new construction for myself. Builders do cut ALLOT of corners but you should have 3 to 5 different walk throughs and punch list repairs with their building guy throughout your first year. Before meeting him or maybe right after (so you can see his response) get a home inspector out there or someone you know in the trades. The minor floor squeeks and cracks are normal but you REALLY want to make sure it is not a structural issue that is only going to get worse. One of my clients had a home built by Neuhman that got one entire outside wall built wrong (offset from the foundation) so they had to come in, tear down & rebuild 1/4 of their home! Be careful & read your warranty books. Most do offer a 15 year structural warranty but good luck trying to get a major repair out of a failing or struggling company.

 

The home inspector will probably charge to come back out.

You just closed, but none of these items were noticed during the inspection?

Did these things just materialize in a couple of days/weeks?

How many thingswere called out in the inspection report?

If there were no visible cracks when the inspector went through, then you can't fault him for that, but the floor squeaks and sump pump issue should have been caught. Honestly, I might try and find a different inspector for the next go around.

 

It's VERY rare to find a brick house up here as well, and if you see one, it's typically in a very upscale neighborhood on a huge house.

 

I would have someone address all of those issues. Aside from the sump pump, none seem normal - especially for a brand new home (flooring included). Either the sub-floor and/or basement ceiling was not done/braced properly (hence the floor bouncing) or the flooring isn't good.

 

Wow there really is no tape on the joint. Talk about shitty workmanship.

And definitely check out the sump pump and set it so it fills up a little more before running. Go look in the pit and see how much water comes in before it runs.

I've also seen where builders don't put a check valve (one-way valve) on the outlet piping. This causes water to run back into the pit after the pump shuts off. Definitely need one of those installed if it's not there.

 

Also check to make sure the water is getting away from the foundation. I had my builder run a 4" corrugated pipe out to the center of the backyard for the sump to dump into; my sump pump rarely runs. A few weeks ago I noticed during a rain storm that it was running a lot; someone had removed the pipe elbow so the water wasn't getting away from the house.

 

I don't know what buckling up would be defined as, but it's not a squeak sound where it sounds like wood is being depressed and coming back up to orig form, but a very short succinct pop. almost like bubble wrap

There were no visible cracks or squeaks in flooring during inspection, and that's what the report states. 'nothing visible' I've been in this house since 10/31/09 and the flooring problems popped up the night of moving in. I noticed the cracks around week 2. I'm just afraid he'll spackle it up and say that it's good when there may be an underlying structural issue, even if we have 10 years on the warranty, I want to enjoy the house lol. first mortgage payment got sent and it felt bittersweet.

That's my suspicion through all my research. I'm just teetering on the fact that is it worth the hassle for someone who already did a shoddy job rip up the ceiling from the floor underneath to fix the squeaks. what guarentees after all the hassle that the issue comes up again in another area of the home?

The water comes up to about 9 inches below the sump pump cover. Not quite sure how deep in respect to foundation. but it will fill up every other minute and makes the pump run. the outlet based on the inspector's observation goes out to public sewers.



I kind of regret going with an inspector referred by my attorney, even though my attorney is a very long time asset to my family.

I've lived in condos all my life in non flooding areas so maintenance apparent is one of the "joys" of home ownership that will slap me in the face

 

Talk to the neighbors to see if their sump pumps run a lot too.
Have you had a lot of rain recently?
Filling up 9" every minute for how long? Days? Weeks?

 

That crack could also be that they used too much mud in the joint. You need to use just enough to cover the tape.

When was all of the sheetrock finish work (taping, mudding) completed?

 

I don't know what to say about the flooring issue. Don'e have a clue what would cause a pop other than maybe two pieces of wood catching on each other where they butt up together and one "snaps" down. But if the subfloor is screwed down properly, that shouldn't happen. To really check this, they would have to remove the hardwood floor and take a look.

The joint cracks in the drywall don't necessarily mean there are any structural issues. It's more of a cutting corners/workmanship issue (hopefully). They should come back and re-tape all of the joints, retexture and repaint.

 

Is the ceiling in the basement finished too or is it still open?

 

The other half of the duplex is vacant. no rain recently, and all day long filling up and pumping out as long as I've lived here. The house itself said to be completed early 2008.


I'm carefully approaching my options, to see if I should direct it to the builder directly so he can send his unlicensed shoddy fix it guy again (there were things prior to closing that had to be done, dude rolled up in an audi station wagon with A box of tools)

ceiling in basement is fully finished with recessed lighting

All this is going one while I'm trying to figure out with the township to get permits to widen my driveway. Talk about getting the run around.

 

Sounds like a faulty check-valve or no check valve at all....can't imagine the water filling up that quickly after the pump running and draining the pit. Hardwood floors can/will change their sounds throughout the seasons..do you have a humidifer on the furnace? Could be a bad tape job for the crack issue - cracks are not uncommon, while that one looks mean, it may just have been a joint done on a friday afternoon...get a quality guy to fix (or better yet, do it yourself) and see if it opens up again. Is the roof a truss-style roof? My previous home years back was and you could get some movement more so than your typical stick roof. Not by any chance a Toll Brothers house is it? Try to enjoy the new place...there will always be issues that come up - yes, even on new homes.

 

Agreed.

I'm in a very high water table and my sump runs all the time. During heavy rains, it's not uncommon for my pump to kick on every minute.

You'll know pretty quickly if it's a faulty check valve. You'll hear the water running back from the pipe into the pit.

Is the water coming in from the drain tiles? I assume you have a sediment pit and a pump pit? Check to see how the water is coming in.

May simply be mother nature at work. Nothing you can do. Add a battery backup pump and plan on changing out the main pump every few years. Cheap insurance policy.

 

yea the builder put in a battery backup electricity source. I'll have to get in there tomorrow and take pictures. I have no idea what a check valve would look like in that dark stinky pit.

 

There should be a discharge pipe (most likely pvc) that comes out of the pump and goes up and out of the house.

The check valve should look like this.

 

Stinky? It better not stink or you have other issues.

It's a good thing to dig around in there and fish out the foreign objects. You'd be surprised what those builders tend to "leave" behind in the sump pits. I found a shingle in mine.