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OUR RETIREMENT DREAM HOME
In March of 2005, my husband and I came from the Chicago area to look at home sites for our
new home. We chose Centex, because we had looked at some of their homes in the Chicago
area and they were very nice.
After choosing the home that we liked, we were taken to the site where the house was to be
built. There were homes being built on a hill up above the site that our home was to be built
on. The home sites including the one that our home was to built on was sitting down hill from
above. There was a high tie rail wall and a steep incline coming down from the back of the
yard, which was to be our future home.
One of the first questions that we asked was what about the drainage, as we could see that
water would be coming down the hill. The sales rep told us that the drainage problems were
already being addressed. The next question was, what about the steep incline? The sale rep
replied that the steep incline would be graded FLAT!
THE NIGHTMARE BEGINS, THE DREAM IS SHATTERED
When we came back from Chicago for the walk through at the end on November 2005 we
noticed that our home was sitting up higher, and the driveway was steeper than the other
homes on the block. They stated that the foundation had been raised because our house was
at the lowest point on the block. We noticed that the steep incline was still there in the
backyard, when we asked about the incline being graded FLAT no one knew anything about it.
We also noticed at this time that water was in the yard, we were told that it was good for the
grass, which never grew. We complained about water in our yard continuously, in early 2006,
(keep in mind that we were in a drought situation through out all of 2006 and yet we had plenty
of water continuously in our yard) Centex continued to blow us off.
We finally got together with our neighbors on the block (we were all having drainage issues) to
set up a meeting about our water, tie rails and foundations issues with Centex.
THE NIGHTMARE CONTINUES
Centex put in a French drainage system in our yard which did not work, the water remained.
Then Centex put a 2nd French drain 5 feet behind the first one to help the drainage, which did
not help.
Several months later Centex decided to push back the incline in our yard with a rock wall
(which now has water flowing through the mortar) and put in a PVC French drain.
We were told that this would be done in about 2 weeks, and yet it took about 4 months.
We have not been able to use our yard since we moved in.
We are the lowest house on the block. We get water from above and from the north side of us.
(The north side of us is a street with their back yards slanted downward; causing their
drainage to flow into our back yard, the street that these homes are on is also on a downward
slope).
Centex put in a flag stone walkway in our yard to help the water flow out faster, but does
nothing to stop the water from flowing in to our yard in the first place.
Since we are still having drainage issues (and resulting pools of water), moss and mold is
now appearing on the flag stone and rock wall.
All of these water problems have caused our foundation to shift & move within the last 12
months. Our family has been deprived of the full enjoyment of our back yard, since we have
been in the home.
We are tired of the band aid approach to correcting the drainage problems we are having, and
not correcting the core problem.
