[jdeland1]

I've lived in my house for 3.5 years. It is a 1/1 condo type townhouse (bought new). There are 7 units in my row of houses. At the first year anniversary, the builder had a contractor come in and fix all settling cracks and joints. At year 2 I fixed all settling cracks and joints. It is now year 3.5 and I have 6 months of settling cracks. My base floor molding in master bedroom at front of unit (settling is at the interior side) is upwards of 1/4-1/2 inch off in corners and in the rear bedroom outside wall, the floor molding and floor are now 1/4-1/2 inch apart, the walls have settled vertically, and I am getting more and more horizontal cracks, mostly coming from the corners of door jams. Is this normal? I thought settling was supposed to stop after 1-2 years. My neighbors are in the same boat as I and are wondering the same thing. The Builder, Craftstar, a subsidiary of Craftmark, claims this is normal and there is absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.

Any ideas as to the problems/solutions?

[nmwirez]

I've lived in my house for 3.5 years. It is a 1/1 condo type townhouse (bought new). There are 7 units in my row of houses. At the first year anniversary, the builder had a contractor come in and fix all settling cracks and joints. At year 2 I fixed all settling cracks and joints. It is now year 3.5 and I have 6 months of settling cracks. My base floor molding in master bedroom at front of unit (settling is at the interior side) is upwards of 1/4-1/2 inch off in corners and in the rear bedroom outside wall, the floor molding and floor are now 1/4-1/2 inch apart, the walls have settled vertically, and I am getting more and more horizontal cracks, mostly coming from the corners of door jams. Is this normal? I thought settling was supposed to stop after 1-2 years. My neighbors are in the same boat as I and are wondering the same thing. The Builder, Craftstar, a subsidiary of Craftmark, claims this is normal and there is absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.

Any ideas as to the problems/solutions?

Is this complex 7units all one structure on a hill? Are the driveways cracking? What is the largest crack opening in the wall? Nm

[jdeland1]

The units are all together, side by side, 7 "sets" in all. 1 up top, 1 below (14 residences in all). The driveways are not cracking, but after the most recent snowfall, I noticed the front concrete walkway going out from the front door to the sidewalk is higher than the sidewalk by about 2-3 inches. The largest cracks are probably the vertical cracks in the stairwell to the upstairs. I have fixed it once already and back then the crack I would estimate was at least 1/4 inch. Now it is roughly the same. The crown molding in the living room at the front of the unit has never been adjusted, and is offset by a minimum 1/4 inch. Incidentally, my master bathroom door upstairs, the pantry door, are no where even close to being able to close anymore. The horizontal cracks are gradually increasing in both in length and width. I fixed one crack which was diagonal away from a top closet corner twice, and both times the crack width was a minimum 1/4 inch.

[nmwirez]

Your description of the settling over the lase 3 years indicates the settling is occurring to the interior wall separations between units. This is an indication of inadequate interior foundation footing for the bearing walls. The initial preparation of grade may have used too much fill without enough compaction. There are support techniques that can stop the continued settling but will not guarantee that it can correct the surrounding geological soil integrity. The method of slab-jacking is expensive and not guaranteed to maintain the repaired grade conditions. The slab jacker cores holes in the concrete slabs where the settling needs lifting. Then a slurry of expandable concrete mud is injected into the under foundation to shore up the sinking footing. Check with a local concrete company to see if there are any slab jackers in the community.. . nm