We are having house built with a cold storage room in the basement. The foundation walls were poured about a month ago and, since then, three cracks have appeared in the walls of the foundation: two at the opening to the cold storage room (upper corners of the rough door opening) and one just outside the cold storage room which seems to run from the top to the bottom of the foundation wall. The builder said that this does happen and that there is nothing to worry about, that the cracks would be fixed and that this will not hinder the structural integrity or the warranty of the house. They said that they have a ten year warranty.
Answer:
I would worry about it. The way you describe the cracks it sounds a lot like someone forgot to lay in the footings for the cold storage room when the rest of the footings were done. This means they may have been added and then not properly tied in to the main foundation wall (if they were added at all) and that would spell disaster for the rest of the life of the house. I also question a ten-year warranty because about the best I've seen is five and then its only on material and labour exclusive.
Courtesy of Ren Molnar, Construction Consultant at HomeFocus.com. I can also be reached at (613) 748-3003 and Home Focus phone-in is broadcast live 8 to 10 A.M. (Ottawa, Ont. time) on Saturdays on www.cfra.com.
