New Build Foundation Errors

[0x9H]

I recently bought a new construction home in September of last year. I noticed recently that my 3rd car garage is supposed to be 8ft from door frame to door frame and is actually 6 ft. I noticed after my neighbor said "Why do you only have three windows on your door and we have four?" I spoke with my wife and we are talking about having the builder come out and fix it. Sense the 3rd car garage is attached to the house and has not structural value to it, we can have them knock down the wall and push it out 2 feet.

What does the group think of this, is there anything I should look for or use as ammunition to remedy this problem? We are still within our one year window of the home beeing built.

-Paul

[RF]

Most likely the builder will try to delaaaaay things until the year fizzles out. I suggest you get legal advice before it's too late and you lose out.

[jloomis]

[Steve Barker]

Never heard of a six foot garage door. Sounds like a troll to me.

[Cwatters]

What was on the plans? If that showed a 6 foot garage then hard luck.

[0x9H]

The blue prints say 8ft from door to door edge. It's only six.

We don't know, it looks like there may be more open area that the foundation should have been on, but isn't.

Yes, they say 10'-0'' from the corner to the edge of the house, and

8'-0'' from door to door.

I called the builder, they seems pretty shocked and supportive. I will keep up with it. I am in the military so I get free legal advice and paperwork to give to an attorney.

Is the license board sate level or county?

-Paul

[dpb]

...

There's certainly a place to know first -- the local jurisdiction building inspections/permitting office will be able to tell you that w/ a phone call. If you have sufficient clearance and the foundation was just laid 2-ft short, that's one thing; if they ran up against zoning that's something else again.

...

The question I would have is what took almost a year to discover? That would give me pause if I were the builder certainly as to how seriously I'd take it.

Then, the question becomes one of if they don't want to do it gratis, what's it worth to you? Have you really been injured since you've been in the house (apparently) for nearly a year and it took a neighbor to point out the problem?

What's the point you're trying to make here?

Take a rebate of 2-3 months' mortgage payments and call it even sounds reasonable to me. But, _if_ there isn't a zoning issue w/ setback as suggested above, you might want to check w/ realtor on what they think the resale penalty might be. Are full 3-car garages the norm in that subdivision? What's it being used for now or was it intended as cycle storage rather than car and there was an initial potential buyer who backed out the deal but had the original blueprints modified for construction? Lots of possibilities here.

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[RicodJour]

A three car garage with one door 25% narrower and it wasn't noticed for seven months...? How could anyone _not_ notice that?

In the slim chance that the OP is not trolling, contact a lawyer - you'll need one.

R

[Dioclese]

Same thought here.

Could be for a golf cart or similar sized. Just saw the "Smart car" on the TV news regarding it survivability in an accident. Won't go into that specific. The dimensions of that vehicle are approximately 5' high and wide and 8' long.

My Ford Focus' exterior mirrors clear the 8' door opening on the garage by less than 6" on either side. That door width size is minimal even for my small car. Not much margin for error.

[RicodJour]

Yep, those things are tiny. They're not common around here, and one passed the house yesterday (and rolled right through the stop sign - so much for "smart" driver).

Should be a fair bit more than 6" either side. From the Ford site: Width (in.) including mirrors 78.4

Maybe your house was built by the OP's builder with the new, improved Inch Saver Garage Door. ;)

R