Wavy foundation?

[black2002ls]

Do foundations not get inspected like plumbing, electrical, etc?

Yes

Didn't look to see where OP lives, but yes, most cities inspect foundation, framing, electrical, plumbing, etc. The question is who did the inspection?

They do get inspected, pre-pour, I haven't heard of any post pour inspections.

OP get a hold of an ACES or Home of Texas warranty book. Tjese are the guidelines most builders follow. If you need help, PM me I may have a copy I can email you! IIRC there are standards for this sort of problem.

The slab was floated poorly. It looks like they left the trowel machine too long in several spots!

[Mach1]

Home is in County, Collin.
Builder is Robbie Hale Homes
I have not pulled any carpet but it feels pretty bad under carpet, tile seems to be ok.
The driveway also has issues, the back of it bounces up and down with weight, I don't park anything on it because I'm sure it's about to crack, T&R will be building a shop for me soon but they won't connect to the concrete because it's unsupported, I'm feeling pretty fucked right now. The builder said they would put some dirt on the side but they have not agreed to demo/redo or foam support the concrete at this point.

[Rick Modena]

Home is in County, Collin.
Builder is Robbie Hale Homes.

Man, I was looking at a home in Josephine that was built by Robbie Hale.

[War Machine]

I haven't read this thread totally, but if a housing inspector missed that, then they are liable.

Also, I have a foundation guy who works for beans if you want his #

[mstng86]

So how do they fix that? grind on it and poor more concrete?

[Rick Modena]

So how do they fix that? grind on it and poor more concrete?

Probably just float it like they do for tile.

[War Machine]

Probably just float it like they do for tile.

only way I'd think you can fix it. It would be impossible to lift that thing and smooth it out. Id still get a foundation guy to inspect it to see exactly why its like that

[Rick Modena]

only way I'd think you can fix it. It would be impossible to lift that thing and smooth it out. Id still get a foundation guy to inspect it to see exactly why its like that

Me too, I'd like know how this happened as well, especially for a new house.

[mstng86]

Is it possible the ground was not prepped correctly? And the "dips" are the concrete settling in the lower areas of the ground below?

[Rick Modena]

Is it possible the ground was not prepped correctly? And the "dips" are the concrete settling in the lower areas of the ground below?

I don't think so, I'm no expert but when I've seen them pour they usually go over it with a large leveling board and then use that electric smoother to float the concrete.

[black2002ls]

I pour slabs weekly. The surface imperfections are not a defect from a structural stand point, nor do they indicate an issue with the foundation. Those areas haven't sunk, they were improperly finished. As I mentioned before, the circular scuff marks that present in the low spots on the garage floor would indicate to me that they left the trowel machine in one spot too long, in a lot of spots.

Imagine using an orbital sander on your car and held it in one spot too long, the heat build up will cause the panel to warp. Well, the foundation didn't warp, the machine kept pushing the aggregate down and smoothing the top, removing the "excess" cement.

That is just my take on it though.

As for the driveway, if the concrete is actually moving, then you have a dirt issue underneath. I would guess that the sewer tap runs under the driveway. Do you have a sewer cleanout in your driveway somewhere? It is typically an oval cast iron piece with two bolts in it. If this is the case, I would venture to say that the soil didn't get back filled completely and you now have a sink hole under it. Also, they should have doweled the driveway to the slab and to the approach, that in itself wouldn't allow the concrete to move like that. So there sounds like a deficiency there. I would be barking up their chain of command at this point. As well as contacting ACES/Home of Texas.

As for inspections and the like. These types of things aren't included in code inspections. Driveways aren't part of flatwork/code inspections. They are only concerned with the sidewalk and approach, or the stuff that will belong to the "city". The slab is typically checked for plumbing leaks and that the foundation is made up properly.

On the garage floor,I would demand that they pay to store your belongings, either off site or have a pod brought in, float/grind the floor as necessary, and pay to have the floor epoxy coated. The plumber needs to come out and run a camera down the sewer pipe to check for a leak, which may have caused soil erosion under the driveway, resulting in your issue there. Next, the carpet needs to be pulled up, room by room and checked for level, I would insist that I be there for this, and any issues floated.

The reason the tile is fine is because any issues left unaddressed there when they lay that tile, it will look like a 5 year old did it.

My course of action would be: (if any one step is done move to the next)

Contact builder AND sales and discuss the issue - if there is a warranty procedure, follow that. (Think paper trail)

If this fails at any point, cobtact their corporate office, daily, until you get a response from someone further up the chain.

If/when this fails, contact ACES/Home of Texas for direction.

If at that point you don't have solid resolution, contact a lawyer. You are looking at $2-3k minimum to have your driveway replaced not to mention any other issue that IS going on beneath it. Resale is going to suffer as these issues will no doubt be brought up by potential buyers. The garage floor is iffy, but a correction there is going to cost you 2-3k to be fxed properly.

[black2002ls]

http://www.acesbuilderswarranty.com/

[black2002ls]

http://www.homeoftexas.com/

[black2002ls]

I don't know if we have anyone else here who is a builder. But I would gladly set up a FAQ and informational/reference post to be put as a sticky to help you guys out, from a construction, warranty, and new home owner stand point

[Mach1]

Thanks for all of the great information.
The warranty is through bonded builders.
As far as the driveway, the house has septic on the other side of the house, I think it's just bad prep, it's washing away down the whole run of the driveway, and the end (the part that would connect to the shop) is unstable (human weight will make it drop by 1/4" or so).