I purchased a home not long ago. Today I removed 5 foot tall hedges against the house on both sides of the garage/driveway. I found this cement on the base of the house and thought it looked strange. (The gray rectangle next to the cement is just a downspout diverter) The house is a slab foundation built 10 years ago. Is this a foundation repair/ concrete jacking or just shoddy builder work?

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It looks like a gutter problem. There is a missing downspout. It's supposed to empty into the black tray.

 

You think the strange cement is from a gutter problem? The gutter diverter is just sitting there because I removed all the bushes around the house. The gutter is just around the corner and I have to just put it back after I put in new bushes tomorrow.

 

This is the third time today I have seen a vague, nonsensical comment from Pulpo.

I don't think the "cement" (more likely it is concrete, or possibly mortar) means anything. Even if it is a foundation repair, what of it as long as the repair is/was done to alleviate a problem and was done in a manner that accomplished the goal?

Do a thorough job of cleaning the entire area and maybe someone could give you a more definitive answer.

 

I would like to know if it was repaired because a foundation repair was not disclosed to me when I bought the home. The sellers of the home didn't disclose a lot which I'm finding out as time goes on.

 

You stated it was behind a bunch of bushes. Maybe the people you bought from lied on the disclosure form or maybe they really didn't know of the "repair" or whatever it is and it was done many years before they bought the house. Either way, I doubt that you would be successful in suing these people for perjuring themselves on the disclosure.

I suggest that you first contact a foundation contractor for a thorough examination and then based upon that report, contact a real estate lawyer to discuss your options. Again, if it IS a repair, and it was done properly, the ONLY thing you have is a possible case of someone lying on the disclosure form.

In my area the disclosure is known as a "form 17" and it has three possible answers to a page full of questions. The answers allowed are yes, no and I don't know. Any answer that indicates knowledge of a "defect" as listed must be followed by a narrative as to exactly what the defect is and how the owner dealt with it. Answering "I don't know" is completely acceptable and it is a really hard and uphill battle to PROVE that the person did, in fact, know of the defect. Further, the entire disclosure form can be tossed if the buyer agrees to purchase the property "as is" without benefit of the disclosure form.

 

If it was repaired correctly I'm not looking to sue anyone. It's a waste of time. But I would rather not shell out $300 for someone to take a look if it's nothing.

 

Again, I suggest that you clean up the entire area and then post several more pictures. Maybe, one of our general contractors (Xsleeper, Chandler, Handyone, Joe Caption or others) can recognize what it is and offer a more definitive answer. More likely, it will take an on-site inspection by someone well versed in foundations, possible defects and proper repair to make any assessment. My personal opinion, and I am NOT an expert in this area, is that most likely it is noting to get excited about.

 

From past experiences, having purchased homes in 5 different states since 1969, I've found sellers' disclosure statements to be nothing more than a list of lies many people are willing to state about their properties. They want to unload the places, and pass their problems along to the next owner.

That being said, why are you so concerned about the presence of concrete or mortar debris below the brick wall? Are there things going on inside the house that make you think some recent repairs were ineffectively done, but not disclosed? Telling us more about why you think repairs were made would be helpful.

 

The garage floor is cracked, but no visible cracking in the bricks/wall on the outside. The home inspector said it was just settling and didn't think it was major. But he would never have been able to see this concrete because of the massive bushes so close to the house which basically covered it up. The other thing is the door leading to the house from the garage is somewhat difficult to shut and if left semi open, opens all the way by itself.

 

It sounds like your place may be experiencing some differential slab settlement in places (unless the door was installed out-of-plumb). Does the slab at the exterior perimeter extend down below the frost line? The second photo shows frost heave cracking the sidewalk where it was incorrectly butted directly up to the home's exterior brick wall. Not a big deal, but a common mistake done by inexperienced (or sloppy) builders.

 

You could always dig down and expose more of that concrete patch, I'm betting it was an erosion/drainage issue and someone filled the hole with concrete.

 

Is there a basement, crawl space or is it a slab house?

What draws me to question what is going on is the vertical mortar joint that extends up at least 6 courses. That would appear to me to be evidence that work was done on this corner.

Can you pull back a little and give us a wider shot of the corner?

 

The house is on slab.

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Furd, Seeing the gutter diverter there with no downspout led me to believe that the downspout was missing. I never would have thought that the OP just threw it there. The discoloration of the brick also pointed to the possibility that water was collecting there.

 

Pulpo, sorry for any confusion. I should have moved it before taking pictures.

 

luma234, there is no need to apologize. It's not a big deal. Thanks

 

Well the pulled back picture shows the vertical mortar line to be detail in the brick instead of a re-work. To be honest, nothing jumps out other than some top soil has washed away exposing a portion of the slab.