House Update

Ok, so the house thing isn’t a plumbing leak. 3 Plumbers and only one understood our need to have it tested to make sure it wasn’t. We had to make sure before we start going after the foundation people. So that wasn’t the problem. Yay, except not. Turns out that the foundation just sunk on the other side of the house because we got rain. Yep. And it’s not covered by homeowner’s insurance because they don’t do that in Texas anymore. Yeah.
But we think it’s the fault of the foundation company. When we first did everything, we had one side fixed because it was sloping by 2 inches. The guy who came to our house told us (and our realtor) that we just needed to stabilize it because the house was fine as it is and we just needed to make sure it didn’t sink anymore. There were no obvious huge cracks, just some little ones. Fine. We agreed and the seller agreed to pay for it.
They come out and put the pier thingies underneath and leave in 2 days. We notice a few days later that the cracks in the drywall are horrendous but are told that it is normal. We don’t really think about it and put the paperwork away without really looking at it. (BIG MISTAKE).
Three months later, on December 28, after a weekend of rain, the tiles in our kitchen pop up and our door starts sticking and other things happen. Carpet pulls away from the wall. Drywall gets worse and has issues in new places. This mostly on the side of the house not stabilized. We call the original contractors and that story is in the archives somewhere. When the foundation guy comes out, he tells us that yes, the house was only supposed to be stabilized but it was LEVELED instead. Not what we had been told. Yes, that one side of the house was raised 2 inches to be level with the other side of the house, and not stabilized like we had been told. We were also told that it shouldn’t have caused the other side to go, but we had been told previously that it was an eventual possibility and that was why we opted for just stabilization. Makes sense.
So we are PISSED. We’ve taken some time since the plumbers came to calm down and try to form some sort of plan. We want them to fix the drywall issues on the side that was fixed. There was also some grout that has come away from the wall and cabinets on the floor. We want that fixed. Since our house was NOT supposed to be leveled, this was not supposed to happen. So we should not be responsible for fixing it. We would like the other side of the house to be fixed and the damage that it has caused fixed. We do plan to have a structural engineer come out to look at the house and determine if we truly have a case for that. If the house had been stabilized on one side, the sinking of the house on the other would not have been as much of a problem as it would just end up leveling out. It sucks.
The house seems to have leveled out now that we’ve gotten tons more rain and the ground has adjusted. We plan to water the ground when it stops raining to keep the equilibrium up. The doors and locks don’t stick but there’s still damage to our roof, tiles, and walls. It needs to be fixed. We were told if we stabilized the house, the other side would be fine. If we leveled, the other side would potentially have problems. That’s why we chose stabilization. That’s why the foundation company needs to fix the problem they caused.
Grrgh. I don’t want to hire a lawyer but it looks like we’re going to have to. It’s going to be a fight. I have to call the foundation guy this week or next and get this started. He DID admit to us that there was a communication mistake made so we have that. We need to get him to admit it again though because I want it on tape. I need to research some more, but I think it’s legal to record in Texas and my phone has some nifty features. So it’s going to be fun. I don’t expect them to cave but since it was a pretty big mistake made, who knows. I just want my house fixed.