Question for home builders / construction know-it-alls

[cynic]

I'm not terribly familiar with the variety of foundations used in home construction or their associated pros and cons. Can anyone tell me by looking at these photos what sort of questions should be raised about this foundation?

I've only ever lived in homes on slab foundations, and I assume this is some sort of raised, cinder-block construction. My initial concern is the potential for cinder blocks used below ground level (as the grade rises towards the back of the home) absorbing moisture and weakening over time. Am I worrying about nothing or is that a possibility without proper building techniques, and if so, what are the techniques that should have been used?

Should I expect there to be some sort of crawl space access? Any/all advice is needed and greatly appreciated.

The home is located in Southern Mississippi, so the ground will most assuredly always be some level of wet.

[Armitage]

Ask if the basement leaks or if there have been any repairs to it.

[Feynman]

Who's going to mow all of that?

[cynic]

Ask if the basement leaks or if there have been any repairs to it.

No basements this far south. The water table would keep them pretty full year round.

[cynic]

Who's going to mow all of that?

hamerhead?

Most properties we're looking at are 3-5 acre lots, so I've been going back to the mower thread and researching the one's discussed there. This place is such a wealth of great USABLE information.

[zenmindbeginner]

The slab foundation refers to the floor. All walls are cement block (I suppose that's what you mean by cinderblock).

All walls are built atop a "footer" which is a small poured cement foundation that is a foot wide for the wall to be built on.

The walls start out with courses of 12 inch block, end up with 8 inch block and are capped on top.

That house has cement block all of the way level with the basement floor. The back porch has the brick laid against cement block but the brick siding of the house does not.

Building codes in the SouthEast are more lax than up North and out West. No home is required to have a slab floor and most do not.

That is a well built house built sometime in the last 20 or so years. The brick work looks good but I'd want to see close-ups of the grout joints to see how they are holding up.

The grout joints near the steps of the back porch look like they could be receding which could mean that they have been poorly joined.

There also may be some black rot or at best dirty steps on the porch. Mississippi has INSANE humidity... it's not like Florida but it is bad.

What you DON'T want to see are the walls starting out with 8 inch block and using bricks in top of that... if that happens you will see brick pillars underneath the house in the crawlspace.

That would be a shoddy foundation and indicates a greedy developer.

P.S. Of course I am not a construction expert or an experienced home owner... I just spent a lot of time on mason crews busting my ass when I was a younger man. lolz!

[dragan]

im no expert but there should be access to the crawl space and some sort of ventilation to keep the moisture out of the house

[hamerhead]

Have somebody you trust (without a stake in the sale or potential repair) inspect it. That's too many $$$ to not be absolutely certain.

If it's flat, get a ZTR!

[BlueRedWhite]

There should be no fisures or breaks on the basement walls outside or inside, also enquire about the drain that surrounds the house (around here is called agriculture drain that drains the water around the house. Is it an old house or a new one?? New ones, the acces to the drain it's easier, old ones ..it's a 500$ job

Get yourself an independent inspector for your house, someone not affiliated with the seller

[cynic]

Build date was in 2007, so about as new a used home as I'd be comfortable with. Even so, seven years isn't a very long time to own a new home, so I wonder about their reason for selling.

Geoff, I'm not sure the humidity is less in MS than FL, but after 25 years spent in CA any difference will be moot to me. I'll be wilting like a pansy regardless. Thanks for the detailed explanations, that's very useful.

To hamerheads point, I know the home inspection process is part of escrow, which comes after an accepted offer. Is it normal for home inspectors to also work directly with buyers when viewing homes? My situation is that I'm still in CA and will have only several days in MS to view about a half dozen homes, three of which we feel meet all our requirements and might elicit an offer. It seems natural to want at least a cursory inspection to be completed prior to the offer, bu I'm not sure how any of this normally goes down. Last time I bought a house I was a stupid kid working with a realtor who was a close friend of my inlaws at the time. All I did was write checks.

[zenmindbeginner]

Expect the home inspectors in Mississippi to be in cahoots with the developer and by proxy the seller. The construction industry in the South East is almost completely unregulated... very little to no oversight and crookedness reigns supreme.

[dragan]

like zenmindbeginner said inspectors are often working for either the contractors , realtors or banks . I had an Illinois home inspection license from about 2005 -2007 and thats the only way you get work ! you may be better of with a freind of relative in the construction buisiness

[velorush]

Check your assumptions. I'm no expert, but the lack of foundation vents leads me to believe this is built on a raised slab rather than a crawl space. It very well could be the plantings are obscuring the vents, but I sure can't see any. A raised slab is where a foundation perimeter is formed of masonry blocks and filled with fill sand, compacted and a slab poured over (after plumbing rough-in).

If it is a crawl-space type foundation (what I have and what I grew up in), no worries about that. There will be crawl space access through a door and ventilation provided through vents in the foundation wall (the things I don't see in these photos). In a couple of weeks I'll be closing my foundation vents to hold in heat, but during the three non-winter months we keep them open to allow cross ventilation. The blocks are laid on footers that are of poured concrete deeper than the frost line. In my area that's 16", so our footers are two feet deep.

[Toadroller]

like zenmindbeginner said inspectors are often working for either the contractors , realtors or banks . I had an Illinois home inspection license from about 2005 -2007 and thats the only way you get work ! you may be better of with a freind of relative in the construction buisiness

There's been better advice on this short thread than you'll get from any real estate agent, whose incentives lie elsewhere. Seller and buyer agents both profit from a sale.

For any property you're serious about, get a friend or independent contractor AND YOURSELF to spend serious time inspecting the whole damned thing.

I know I regret my long distance purchase of my shit-hole to the tune of over 200k, and I'm not finished yet.

Not that I'm bitter.

[marcnorth]

Looking at the second pic it looks like a raised slab to me too.

[mc2]

The real estate listing might state the type of foundation or the listing agent might know.

You usually get like 10 days after an accepted offer to do an engineer inspection of the house....AND A TERMITE INSPECTION!!

The latter is a must do in the southern states!! Termites can be a major problem in the Southeast. You may be able to get more time in your contract, being an out of state buyer.

From the photos, the house appears to be built on a rise/hill, maybe to rise it above the water table or built up soft ground/swamp.

Also, the front porch spindles and handrails look to be the modern cheaper/thinner type, possibly not even wood. Only pointing that out because, if the spindles/rails are the cheaper trim, then the place may be built elsewhere using cheaper materials. For instance, the windows all lack the inner cross frames that would match the fancy front door windows. Windows with those cross pieces cost more. Also the soffits and trim appear to be vinyl/aluminum, rather than more expensive wood. Might just be built for easy maintanence...or could be to save construction cost.

The two large extending sides of the porch stairs appear like they "might" be a slightly different shade than the rest of the bricks....but it may just be the lighting. But, if the color IS correct, it could mean that only the front steps are real brick....and the entire rest of the house is faux brick face, the thin cement skim coat over styrofoam that masons just etch the brick pattern into and tint to a red brick color. Looking at the thin porch rails, the cheaper fake brick veneer would tie into that sort of build. Also, I only see the dark mold that forms on damp brick on the front steps...none anywhere else on the rest of the house...which again might mean the rest of the brick is fake. Another thing that makes me suspect fake brick is that I do not see any lintels or other typical horizontal reinforcement lines above any of the windows.

Again, only mentioning the bricks, etc. because the weight difference between real bricks or fake veneer could change the type of foundation used.

Looks like nice high roof with roof ridge vents, to knock down the southern heat. And good gutter/leaders to handle the rain.

Separate from the guessing on the build style (hard to tell just from pics)......a good trick to get an quick feel on who is in your neighborhood/demographics is to follow the local school bus at pick up/drop off time.

Watch out for snakes, spiders and other Southeastern U.S. surprises if you crawl under houses to inspect.

[gorch]

Check the ground level against flooding risks. Is it far from the river? Is it storm save?

Use your nose inside. Does it smell to any extent artificial or filsy from to much wet?

Are there any repairs or repaints on the outer walls from inside?

Do the outer stones have any crystalization at ground level? Crystalization overpainted on outer walls inside?

[cynic]

Thanks mc2, great point on the bricks, I see brick and just figured it was all brick. I'll be sure to check that out. Great advice all around and I have more added to my list that actually applies to more than a few of the homes we're checking out next week.

I've got a request in with the realtor to get the foundation types as they weren't on any of the listings she provided. I'm also trying to find out who the builders were so I can try to research them.

The house is built on a small hill, and sits 132ft above sea level, or around 80 feet above any projected flood hazard.

[cynic]

A raised slab is where a foundation perimeter is formed of masonry blocks and filled with fill sand, compacted and a slab poured over (after plumbing rough-in).

They're calling it a chainwall, or filled stem wall foundation, but the descriptions sounds pretty much as you describe above.