New Home Woes!

Lewis and I purchased our current home last year after I found out that I was pregnant with Taylor. When you purchase a new home, the builder usually gives a one year warranty as the house has to settle and all the cricks and nicks begin to come out. Well, we have had quite a challenge with this builder. The builder outsourced the warranty work to a company who requires homeowners to complete claim forms with codes and warranty numbers. It has been ridiculous.

Yesterday, I had workers in and out of the house all day. Most of the items were fixed. However, I have a huge box in front of my fireplace to block the cold air coming through. The fireplace builder is saying that it was not insulated. The insulation company is saying that it had to be insulted or it would not have passed inspection. Both parties are passing the buck and had the nerve to tell me that sometimes air just seeps through the vents. That is a lie and a half. That sounds ridiculous. My previous house had a fireplace and I never felt cold air rushing through. I told them, "I don't care whose fault it is. It will be repaired."

I figure the box is apart of the decor just like Taylor's play pin, walker, exersaucer, and host of other toys.

But what really took the cake for me was the front yard. For several months, especially during the summer, there was one particular patch of grass that stayed fertile. I kept telling Lewis there had to be a crack in the septic tank line. (My house sits in a valley; therefore, the builder installed an underground septic tank to help the flow of sewage upward to the main system.) The builder sent the construction supervisor out to our house to look at the problem. He agreed that there had to be a crack in the pipe. The plumbing company argued that there was not a crack. Ray Charles could have seen that one patch of my grass was WAY more fertile than others. So after months of back and forth back and forth, the plumbing company came out and dug up the ground. This is what they found.


Underneath the cracked pipe was a huge rock with metal sticking out. That was the culprit. I knew that I was not crazy. The plumbing company only agreed to dig up the pipe to pacify me. But I got the last laugh. The supervisor from the builder was on site to serve as verification of the cracked pipe.

Even though the plumbing company and builder tried to brush me off, I was persistent. I took pictures of the spot and wrote several letters. Lewis thought I was silly but I watch Judge Judy and knew that I would have to prove my case if I had to litigate the matter.