Issue with builder and top soil help please!
#1
08-11-17, 07:35 AM
Issue with builder and top soil help please!
So i bought my house new a year ago. I went to plant a row of trees recently. I dug down about 10" and shovel hit concrete. Decided to try a few other spots, same problem in back corner of yard. This explains still water drainage issue in that corner. It's not solid concrete, but definitely is a good enough mix to ensure no water drains through. Is there a code or law to make them fix this problem? I can't plant anything.
#2
08-11-17, 07:55 AM
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Codes are local. In other words, each location has it's own code. Your local building dept & a real estate lawyer are good places to start.
#3
08-11-17, 11:31 AM
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Probably not, it's not uncommon for builder to bury the construction debris, if he filled in a large area maybe but good luck trying to resolve/prove something with out witnesses or digging up the entire yard!
#4
08-11-17, 11:51 AM
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I was regularly digging up stuff for years after I bought a spec home in 2002. Grass not growing was a sign I was going to hit concrete, mushrooms meant dimension lumber.
#5
08-11-17, 11:53 AM
Locally they aren't allowed to bury construction debris although they don't say anything about minor stuff. I doubt there is anything you can do to force the builder to take care of it but asking the permit office is still a good idea.
#6
08-12-17, 04:18 AM
It's at least a 15' x 15' area... I'm shocked there's no requirement for drainage on a new home in the back yard or any rule in place to prevent this. I can't plant anything in this area. Honestly I don't even know what to do to remove this. The shovel does nothing. It looks like a truck poured leftover cement mix and then put 8" to a foot of top soil over top...
#8
08-12-17, 05:57 AM
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Hire a couple of day workers to dig & identify what's under there. Then take the builder to court, if it's his fault.
#9
08-12-17, 08:37 AM
Have you contacted that builder? In this age of instant feedback any builder who might be interested in a good reputation would be willing to fix the problem. It essentially turns a bad review into a good one. For him with all of the necessary equipment and manpower this is a few hours work and it buys him thousands of dollars of positive advertising. Give him a chance, assuming he is still around.
If he isn't or won't, contact someone in the landscape business. Again, with the right equipment this isn't a big project and getting all of that junk removed and replaced with good soil will not only help those plants grow but will prevent the memory from surfacing every time a piece of concrete turns up. Peace of mind has a value.
Bud
If he isn't or won't, contact someone in the landscape business. Again, with the right equipment this isn't a big project and getting all of that junk removed and replaced with good soil will not only help those plants grow but will prevent the memory from surfacing every time a piece of concrete turns up. Peace of mind has a value.
Bud
#10
08-13-17, 12:07 PM
I semi-agree that if it is only a couple of inches thick is going to be easy to remove but it's possible it's much thicker. It's possible that an entire truckload of concrete got dumped there because it was beginning to set in the truck before they were ready for it and the driver had to get rid of it! It's also possible there was an old well or something in that area that needed to be covered. Unless you were there when the home was built you really have no idea why things like this occur!
Everybody's idea of contacting the builder first is certainly the best thing to do. If he's reputable at all he will at least tell you why there's concrete there. Whether he helps remove it are not largely dependent on why it ended up there in the first place and how much there is.
It's really not affecting drainage from the way it sounds, drainage is the runoff of water from the property. It just affecting how much water is absorbed by the ground.
Everybody's idea of contacting the builder first is certainly the best thing to do. If he's reputable at all he will at least tell you why there's concrete there. Whether he helps remove it are not largely dependent on why it ended up there in the first place and how much there is.
It's really not affecting drainage from the way it sounds, drainage is the runoff of water from the property. It just affecting how much water is absorbed by the ground.
