A common cause of foundation repair in San Antonio and Central Texas is due to homes being constructed with foundations that are inadequate for the soil conditions existing on the site. When an area of town experiences high growth, homes built on marginal land that has volatile or insufficient prepared soil can become more common. [...]
It may seem odd to those of you that are buying a new home to consider hiring a third party to inspect it, since the home is “new”. While generally when a home is built in a municipality, the city or other governmental body will perform inspections related to the permitting process, many municipal building [...]
While a home or structure can have a wide variety of construction defects, usually significant defects arise from three areas – foundation movement, water penetration and safety issues. Foundation defects can arise for a multitude of reasons, including:• Poor design• Poor site preparation• Bad concrete• Improper placement of steel or improper tensioning of post-tensioning cablesWater [...]
Generally, there are two basic types of foundations – “post-tension” foundations and “conventionally reinforced” slabs. Generally, post-tension foundations have cables running through the slab which are tensioned with the goal of keeping the foundation together. Conventionally reinforced slabs have much more steel in them than post-tension slabs and often look like a waffle gridiron prior [...]
In this blog I focus on available sources of information regarding a property that a typical real estate buyer does not ask for or receive. Normally, a residential real estate buyer receives only a seller’s disclosure notice filled out by the current seller of the home and then hires a general home inspector to conduct [...]
Take this common situation – your home has cracks in the walls, doors that stick, open on their own, windows that are racked and that cannot be opened, etc. Logically, you contact the builder and submit a warranty claim regarding these issues. The builder tells you that the cracks, sticking doors, etc. are “normal”, or [...]
Many of you may have purchased a home from a “volume” or “production” builder (i.e. a builder who built hundreds of homes in your community). If you think about it, the quality of construction provided by a volume or production builder is important to not only you, but your community as well. When construction defects [...]
Soil strength and quality are extremely important when building a new home since the vast majority of homes built in the USA are built on soil, not on bedrock. Not all soils are the same, so it is vital to get a soil test and inspection certificate before you purchase a new home, but what [...]