Is there a footing? Can you poke a rod, rebarb, down that hole you show in the picture and see if there is concrete under the stem wall.
I am not a builder but i thought a footing was required for city inspection to buy off on a build.
If there is a footing, then one or two doors sticking and even some small cracks in the sheetrock, and cracks in the stemwall is not unusual in OK during a hot summer much less this extremely hot and dry summer. It would be nice if all new houses did not settle but they do.
To me, a recommendation for a retaining wall, means the engineers believe your house will eventually settle/slip in a particular direction. I do not know if a warranty will address this, probably not.
In my neighborhood, most houses have settled to the west as they were build on a gradual slope down to the west. lots were filled to make them level but this dirt/foundation/stem walls all shifted to the west. About 70% of houses have had to be peered, either because they were slipping away or was required as a condition of selling them.
If your warranty covers peering, then get a structural engineer to say it needs peering, present this finding to the builder telling him he has 15 days to respond. Stay on top of this. I do not know this builder and do not want to say anything bad about him. That being said, you may have to fight like a pitbull to get anything done. Spending a few hundred dollars now is better than footing the entire bill of peering which could be - what $8000 - $18,000
My house has 17 peers. it was peered when I bought it. This is a good thing. But this summer my back door, front door, and one bedroom door are sticking and I have a couple of new cracks in the sheetrock. I know my house is not going very far but with this extremely dry weather this is not uncommon.
I am not a builder but i thought a footing was required for city inspection to buy off on a build.
If there is a footing, then one or two doors sticking and even some small cracks in the sheetrock, and cracks in the stemwall is not unusual in OK during a hot summer much less this extremely hot and dry summer. It would be nice if all new houses did not settle but they do.
To me, a recommendation for a retaining wall, means the engineers believe your house will eventually settle/slip in a particular direction. I do not know if a warranty will address this, probably not.
In my neighborhood, most houses have settled to the west as they were build on a gradual slope down to the west. lots were filled to make them level but this dirt/foundation/stem walls all shifted to the west. About 70% of houses have had to be peered, either because they were slipping away or was required as a condition of selling them.
If your warranty covers peering, then get a structural engineer to say it needs peering, present this finding to the builder telling him he has 15 days to respond. Stay on top of this. I do not know this builder and do not want to say anything bad about him. That being said, you may have to fight like a pitbull to get anything done. Spending a few hundred dollars now is better than footing the entire bill of peering which could be - what $8000 - $18,000
My house has 17 peers. it was peered when I bought it. This is a good thing. But this summer my back door, front door, and one bedroom door are sticking and I have a couple of new cracks in the sheetrock. I know my house is not going very far but with this extremely dry weather this is not uncommon.
