New home sinking or settling?

11 years ago

We had a home built about 2 1/2 years ago. I noticed about a year ago the floor shaking a bit as my husband walked across it. I have since noticed the sheet rock near the wall cracking and bumps in the wall from nails appearing. There is now one area of wall where it meets the ceiling where in appears as thought the wall has dropped down about 1/8 inch from the ceiling. The home is built on a cement foundation that has a crawl space under it. I asked my husband to go under there and have a look around a year ago, and of course he didn't. Last time I checked about a year ago, the floor was level. ( I think I better check that one again.) Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I don't really know what normal settling is in a situation like this. Thanks.

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Comments (3)

worthy
11 years ago
Without pics, only guessing. But nail/screw pops and shrinking framing lumber or truss uplift don't usually indicate structural problems.
virgilcarter
11 years ago
The first step in a situation such as yours is to use some tape and pencil marks to record the areas you think are subject to movement, by marking and measuring regularly over a period of 3-6 months.

If you observe movement it could be the result of a number of conditions, including improperly designed foundations for your particular soil conditions, improper structural design and framing, and water, water, water!

Do you have any water that is consistently around the perimeter of your foundation and/or under it? Unchecked water is the cause of many long-term foundation issues, particularly if your soil is expansive and subject to contraction and expansion.

Water can pool along the foundation and in the crawl space area due to roof runoff which is not channeled away from the house and/or from surface runoff which is allowed to pool against the foundation walls or in the crawl space area.

Do yourself a big favor and verify how rain water and surface runoff occur in the vicinity of your house. If you are in a rainy climate, be sure your gutters and downspouts are clear and use splash blocks and diverters to get roof water away from the house.

If your finish grading doesn't move surface water away from your house, get whatever help you need to re-grade the areas adjacent to your house.

If you have movement in your house, and you know that water is not the problem, it's a situation for a structural engineer or a civil engineer specializing in building structures.

Good luck on your project.
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Mistman
11 years ago
I would think after 2 1/2 years it would start to slow down a bit, the settling I mean. Ours had those issues within the 1st year, builder came out and addressed them. Houses continue to 'cure' for up 2 years or more depending on the condition of the lumber at the time it was framed and the environment you live in. We built on a hill and had settling issues from shoddy excavation prior to the basement pour, some re-excavation was required. We've been concerned about it ever since as we can't tell if they did it 'right' or not. However after almost 2 years we are experiencing almost no more movement in the walls, sheetrock or screws. Every once in a while some putty will fall off the face of a screw (have maybe 5 spots like that) but I'm pretty happy so far.

If everything was stable for a year or more and then started to move I would be concerned. As stated above I would be worried about water percolating throughout the soil.