[Jennychang]

Hi, My house is being rebuilt after the fire. The engineer suggest save the main floor joists, however the builder removed them in February and make the basement open up to the severe winter and heavy snow. In late April, after the builder finishing framing, I found there were full of snow and ice on the basement floor and wall, cracks and swollen on the floor, later the cracks and water seepage on the wall. I think the damage might caused by the builder, but they denied. Is it possible the unnecessary removal of the joist and their negligence for the cleaning lead to the crack on the basement wall?

[hkstroud]

You need to consult a independent building engineer. What type of basement walls do you have, poured concrete of cement block.
In my opinion, and I am not an expert, a fire would damage block walls. When building my home I destroyed the old house by having the fire department burn it . After the fire I pulled the basement block walls down with my hands.

With that being said the floor joist which are attached to the basement walls and run from from wall to wall provide resistance to the soil and water pressure on the exterior surface of basement walls. In other words the floor joist provide bracing between the walls. Water is the primary force on the exterior walls, not soil. During construction you back fill the soil only about half way until l the floor joist are installed.


Walls weakened by the fire could be the cause. If you had lots of moisture in the ground the lack of floor joist could be the cause of cracking walls.


Invest in the cost of independent, certified building engineer now. You may have claim against the insurance company or you may have claim against the builder. Might want to seek legal council also.