By Barry Stone
Dear Barry,
In my front yard there is a concrete walkway. In the year since I've been living here, the walkway has been settling and now there's an unusually high step by the front porch stairs. When I bought my home, there was some hint of minor settling but not nearly as pronounced as it is now. Should the inspector have noticed this? Do we have recourse at this time (a year later)? -- Tom
Dear Tom,
Settlement of an entry walkway is common. Compaction of fill soil is generally not required in landscape areas of a property. Home inspectors typically check exterior stairs and walkways for defects or noncomplying conditions, particularly those which could be regarded as trip hazards.
Stair risers that are too large or that are unequal are noncomplying. In a set of stairs, risers should not vary more than 3/8 of an inch, from the smallest to the largest in the set, and with residential stairs, no riser should be higher than 8 inches. This requirement is so commonly violated at exterior residential stairs that some home inspectors may tend to let it slide. By so doing, they subject themselves to a measure of liability, as demonstrated by your current concern. However, in such cases, there is another consideration.
In the course of a home sale, irregular stair risers and settled walkways are not the types of defects that a seller would be likely to repair. Buyers typically request repair of problems that are structural, such as foundation settlement, functional, such as leaking plumbing, or safety-related, such as faulty electrical wiring. Most sellers are willing to pay for the repair of such items. With a settled entryway, however, it would be very unusual for a seller to make these kinds of upgrades. Such problems, when they appear in a home inspection report, are regarded as disclosure information for future consideration by the buyer. Your home inspector was probably remiss in failing to disclose this condition, but in all likelihood that failure did not alter your decision to buy the property or your demands upon the seller.
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