Unstable soil, faulty workmanship plague Las Vegas homeowners
December 29, 1996
Sunday,
Vickie Fort's house in North Las Vegas is covered with little yellow
and green stickers that point out cracks to repairmen.
You save for years to buy your dream home. Then, after
months of walking through countless models, you select a house in a beautifully
manicured neighborhood.
All is bliss.
But soon, maybe after a few months or a year, things start to go wrong.
Spider cracks mysteriously appear in walls. Kitchen countertops separate
from the wall. The driveway starts to crumble. And when it rains, water
drips from the ceiling.
You call the builder and he sends over some guys to plaster the cracks.
Just normal ground settling, typical with a new home, you're told.
Things will get better.
But they don't.
The cracks reappear and are wider. A Spanish tile or two shifts on the
roof, and the water leaks leave permanent stains on the ceiling.
It seems wherever you turn these days, home construction defects appear
to be riding heavily on the coattails of Southern Nevada's building boom.
Over a two-year period, from July 1994 to June 1996, close to 3,000 workmanship
complaints were filed with the state Contractors Board.
Local attorneys, specializing in home construction defects, are conga
lining with homeowners through court. California lawyers who built careers
on similar problems in the Golden State in the 1980s are opening offices
in Las Vegas in record numbers.
Fighting two fronts.
There are primarily two forces working against homeowners in Southern
Nevada: shifting soils and shoddy construction.
Both are wreaking havoc on an explosive residential market that's trying
to keep pace with 4,000 to 6,000 people moving into Las Vegas every month.
"When I bought my home, I was financially stable. Now I'm divorced
and my savings are depleted," said Vickie Fort, who bought a $135,000
home near Clayton Street and Gowan Road in North Las Vegas.
Nearly every wall inside the 4-year-old home, which she put $65,000 down
on, has cracks. The kitchen floor tiles are lifting, and she can stick her
hand in a gap under the foundation. The cracks expand when it rains, leaving
the walls in a constant state of patchwork.
"I'd like to hang the man who built this home," Fort said in
frustration. "It cost me my relationship. No one should have to go
through this with a builder."
Larry Simon, president of Horizons Communities, who built the homes in
Fort's neighborhood, blames the problems on Mother Nature. Of the 1,100
homes his company has built in Southern Nevada, he points out that only
40 have had problems.
"The company has stepped up to the plate and taken care of homeowners,"
Simon said from his San Diego office. "We do the best we can. We are
building according to the soil and structural engineers' recommendations."
VICKIE FORT says her house shifts so much she has given up trying to
keep the pictures straight. She holds a copy of a homeowners protection
bill that she and Leslie Chikato helped get passed at the last state legislative
session.
Cutting corners
But Leslie Chikato, Fort's neighbor in the Carnival development, contends
the homes weren't built according to specifications. A copy of a North Las
Vegas ordinance states that her footers (cement posts that the cement floor
slab rests on) should be 18 inches deep. And in "critical areas,"
the footers should be 36 inches deep, the ordinance recommends.
Chikato says hers are 13 inches, just an inch over what the city considers
low.
Chikato, Fort and several other homeowners are currently involved in
litigation to have their properties repaired.
"You can literally hear your house moving, and you wake up and there
are cracks in the walkway," Chikato says. "Some homes here have
footers that.are only 8 inches deep."
Chikato's attorney, Francis Lynch, is asking in his lawsuit for the builder
to excavate 3 to 5 feet of expansive soil from beneath Chikato's home. He
argues that the land wasn't prepared according to the architect's plans.
Simon denies Chikato's claim, contending that the homes were built to
code.
John Bell, a research geologist with the Nevada Bureau of Mines and
Geology at the University of Nevada, Reno, said any part of Southern
Nevada can be used for homes - as long as bad soil is removed.
He said residents in the northwest part of the Las Vegas Valley should
be especially aware of how builders are preparing the land before development
begins. Certain soils need to be removed before homes are built.
There are three conditions that exist in this area:
1. Expansive Soils: This consists of dried-out clay that expands with
force when it becomes wet. Unsuspecting homeowners who water their lawns,
or rainfall, can trigger expansive soils to move.
2. Collapsible Soils: This soil is also dried out. When introduced to
water, it causes sinkage.
3. Subsidence: This is where the land sinks due to groundwater being
pumped out. The main water table is located in the northwest area of the
Las Vegas Valley. As more water is pumped out to support the growing population,
the land becomes fragile.
Subsidence is the problem that homeowners in the Windsor Park subdivision
near Carey Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard have struggled with for
more than a decade. The city of North Las Vegas has a program under way
to relocate the residents to homes on more stable ground.
"If you are in a problem area, then make sure it has been adequately
addressed," Bell said. "We know the northwest has sunk five inches
since 1963. The worst area for subsidence is between Craig Road and Lone
Mountain Road."
Bell suggested that anyone considering buying a home in the northwest
area first obtain a copy of the Clark County Soil Guidelines map from the
building department. It tells where soil trouble spots are located.
Cutting corners
Besides poor soil preparation, attorneys are also suing for faulty construction
practices. A California roofer with 30 years experience, who requested anonymity,
said most of the Spanish-tile roofs in the Las Vegas area are incorrectly
installed.
Before tiles are nailed down, thin strips of wood called battens are
supposed to be nailed to the roof. The tiles are then overlapped and nailed
into the battens. Many roofers in Southern Nevada simply nail the tiles
directly into the roof decking.
Also, metal flashing is supposed to be nailed against the chimney and
outside walls and the tiles nailed down over them. This way water will hit
the pans and roll off instead of running under the tiles, which in time
would rot the decking and insulation.
"People (roofers) get paid by piecework," the roofer said.
"I know some roofers who go home at night and soak their nails in detergent
so they can drive a nail with one hit. A good tile roof will last 80 years,
but most of these around here have to be repaired in two years."
The roofer said many Spanish-tile roofs also leak along the top ridge
because there is no wind-block material underneath. Rain blowing across
the roof from the sides will run down behind the tiles. On some homes, you
can actually see light coming through along the ridge.
"The best roofers are building the casinos," the roofer said.
"All the dregs and losers are building people's dream homes."
A piece of plaster has cracked off near a window frame inside Vickie Fort's
house.
VICKIE FORT, above, points out a crack in her bathroom tile. She says
at her house, the areas around the windows or at corners are especially
prone to cracks.
Inspectors swamped
Gary Houk, assistant manager for the Clark County building inspectors,
said his department turns down 20 to 30 percent of inspections a year. The
62 inspectors average about 1,300 inspections a day, he said. That's 21
inspections per inspector per day.
Still, Houk thinks the quality of homes built in Southern Nevada is very
good. He estimates that in 98 percent of roofing jobs, battens are used.
However, Houk admits it's a problem that there are so many homes to inspect.
The building department is seeking to hire more inspectors, he.said.
"We are on a job site a short amount of time," Houk said. "If
a contractor wants to subvert the code, there is no way we can catch him.
In an inspection, a lot of work is covered by the time we see it, and they
(builders) can subvert it."
James Sala, an organizer with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and
Joiners of America, thinks a lot of shoddy construction work is going undetected.
He said no union labor is used in the residential market. Most of the people
working on homes are unskilled labor hired to do piecework. Some are paid
as little as $200 a week.
"In a town like this, where you have 5,000 people a month moving
in, it's really about getting things done," Sala said. "Homes
are built to sell quantity."
Roy Granillo, a representative with Carpenters Local 1780, said he has
seen homes where nails missed the framing and trusses because unskilled
laborers go through so fast with nail guns. He said it takes about a year
for a person to learn how to do a particular carpentry job correctly.
Reputable is best
According to Irene Porter, executive director of the Southern Nevada
Home Builders Association, a lot of problems can be avoided by buying a
home from a reputable builder. She suggests a background check and going
into neighborhoods and asking homeowners if they are happy with the way
their homes are built.
"A builder should be in town from five to 10 years, and that will
tell you how good he is," said Ron Ruloff, vice president of sales
and marketing with Lewis Homes, a company that has been in Las Vegas 34
years. "We build 1,500 homes a year. Check with the Better Business
Bureau, and see howmany complaints were settled."
Ruloff said there are about 150 home builders operating in Southern Nevada,
and with this many, he expects some to be marginal.
Which is why California attorney Tom Miller recently opened an office
in Las Vegas. He has handled construction defects in Southern California
for 15 years.
Miller said he has seen builders in Las Vegas, some of whom are from
California, make the same mistakes as in Southern California. He credits
problems to lack of proper on-site supervision by the general contractor
and not following the architect and soil engineers' designs.
"The projects are so new here, and there isn't a lot of rain hitting
the property," Miller said. "Give these properties five or six
years, and a lot of problems will start turning up."
Miller said he expects many homeowners will eventually see water intrusion
around windows and from the roof. Cracks will also develop in the stucco,
driveway and floor slab.
"Thirteen out of the top 25 builders in California are now building
in the Las Vegas Valley," Miller said. "These 13 builders have
had problems in California. We sued half of them successfully."
Miller advised any prospective new homeowner to have a thorough private
inspection done while in escrow."I think it would be money well spent,"
Miller said. "But make sure the inspector is insured."
© Copyright 2008 The Miller Law Firm. All rights Reserved.
If you experience problems or have questions, contact us at Info@ConstructionDefects.com.
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