New Home Woes

[badazz81z28]

So after living in my new home for a few months now, I’m starting to notice stuff. The biggest thing recently was broken sheet rock in the garage. Turns out a support place was not properly located and interfered and thus broke through. The warranty came over and just covered it up where I found it, decided to investigate myself, easy fix! But then I found a vertical frame board not even sitting in the bottom. WTH! What should I do with this? With all the other stuff, considering a lawsuit

 

[FS87LT]

What kind of "damages" and "remedies" do you propose in your litigation?

What would it take to correctly fix the incorrect construction and related items?

Is there a significant long or short-term safety consideration involved? Might what you discovered by considered to be some "new-fangled way of doing modern construction" or otherwise?

If you might contact another builder to inspect and get a 2nd opinion on the situation and what it would take to fix it, you might expect that person to "trash" the people who built your place, possibly. Of course, have to make sure the "2nd opinion" person does not have any knowledge of your builder or his crews.

Just some thoughts and considerations,
FS87LT

 

[danbrennan]

That bolt and nut looks like the J bolts we poured into the basement, that goes through the treated, oh, I forget what it's called, toe board maybe. That's supposed to help stop the house from lifting off the foundation during a tornado or hurricane. Which would tend to make me think the house was built well(or at least intended to be) - that kind of attachment to the foundation is optional up here. We also used hurricane straps to tie the trusses to the top plate of the walls.

If that wall is not a bearing wall, I don't think the gap between the stud and the treated board is a big issue. The sheathing will keep it in place. If it's a bearing wall yes, I guess I would be concerned.

I wonder, without seeing the other side of the stud, if there is a metal right angle tie connecting the stud to the toe board.

 

[badazz81z28]

I would imagine it is weight bearing. It’s the side of the house, garage side. I have a contractor coming to look at it.

 

[tom3]

I don't actually understand how that could have been done. Precut studs and built laying down. Couldn't be that sloppy. I wonder if it was cut to sit on that anchor plate?

 

[biker]

At worst, its careless construction which unfortunately is way too common now.
Is there a window above it, or is it a full length 8 foot stud?
Even if it is load bearing, I doubt even an engineer would get too excited about it, unless there are adjacent studs in the same condition. Each stud is 16 inches apart and there is a double 2x4 plate at the top of the wall. A span of 32 inches between studs covered by a pair of 2x4s is likely more than enough to carry whatever point load is coming down from the roof.
All the walls had to have passed inspection by a building inspector prior to being dry walled, so I would go after them first.

 

[Tony65]

It's not unusual to build a wall laying down and then stand it up and then secure it to the foundation. I wonder if the stud was nailed to the sole plate before the nut was tightened down. Foundations aren't laser straight, so it is conceivable that the framing was tight when nailed, then if the sole plate tightened down could have separated from the stud. Also, the stud also could have been wet when installed and shrunk a bit. I'm not condoning the quality of the work, but if it's isolated to just the one stud, I wouldn't be too alarmed. Install a shim, nail/screw the stud and repair the drywall.

 

[danbrennan]

HVAC contractors might move a stud to make room for a duct. That's allowed around here, at least. Or was when we built our house 30 years ago.

You might take the picture to the building department, and ask what they think. Like biker said, there should have been a rough approval of the framing, before the drywall went up.

For a platform framed house, a load bearing wall generally run perpendicular to the floor joists or ceiling trusses(or rafters). Walls that run parallel to the floor joists or trusses generally don't carry much weight.

5 Signs To Tell If a Wall Is a Load-Bearing Wall

Learn how to look for specific clues that tell you whether a wall is a load-bearing or a partition (non-load-bearing) wall, without opening up your walls.

www.thespruce.com

 

[Twisted_Metal]

It's not unusual to build a wall laying down and then stand it up and then secure it to the foundation. I wonder if the stud was nailed to the sole plate before the nut was tightened down. Foundations aren't laser straight, so it is conceivable that the framing was tight when nailed, then if the sole plate tightened down could have separated from the stud. Also, the stud also could have been wet when installed and shrunk a bit. I'm not condoning the quality of the work, but if it's isolated to just the one stud, I wouldn't be too alarmed. Install a shim, nail/screw the stud and repair the drywall.

^This.
If it's just that one stud... I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[dcozzi]

If that wall is not a bearing wall, I don't think the gap between the stud and the treated board is a big issue. The sheathing will keep it in place. If it's a bearing wall yes, I guess I would be concerned.

Yeah. If the stud is not on the footer on a non weight bearing stud, it is likely a non-issue.
With what I see every day on the job site, that is nothing. There is no craftsmanship left in new homes.