Foundation issue or settling?

[juiceweezl]

I'm having the same problem, along with a door frame that's no longer square. That typically due to settling issues, which started for me after the drought in summer 2012. I wouldn't be too concerned, unless you start see the masonry joints outside coming apart.

Oh, and the soil will get blamed for what is really poor bracing of the framing. A post-tensioned slab (the most common residential type here ) is mean to 'float'. It's not so much a case of the soil moving under/pulling away from the house as it is the slab shifting too. In that case, inertia wants the house to not move. As it begins to shift, you have the inertia forces applying load to the structural framing. If it's not braced, it will shift, drywall will crack, doors and windows will become stuck, etc. Make sense?

[bjtheman1]

BJ, are these cracks at the sides of your house, or front, or back?

Billy (Juice), knows what he's talking about. That said, I've been to your house. If they are close to the sides it's foundation issues due to the run off between the houses. You have a bit of a 'valley' between you, especially on the east side. That will cause settling as the dirt erodes.

And his house is post tension.

Actually, quite a few of these cracks are on the east side of my house but some are in other areas as well.

[ceyko]

Trust me, there will be a point in the next 15-20 years when class action lawsuits begin to occur. People will sue the cities and the builders (whomever they can find to sue) because of negligence in code enforcement. The building code is a MINIMUM standard, and it is extremely rare to find a house built remotely close to meeting code. When you look at cities like Allen, Frisco, McKinney, etc. that have sprawling developments going up like crazy, it's begging for a lawsuit when failures start to occur.

I'm currently in a custom home and it is night and day different from the hold First Texas Home I came from. Both built within a year of each other.

Just as an example, I have 2000 sq ft more in this home and pay less in electricity during the summer. I spent a lot of money in the old home trying to insulate...etc...etc, but the walls - I swear they forgot to insulate them or something. haha

Edit: The points of the post were...

1. You're right, those workers/builders are not doing their jobs.
2. I HOPE people start suing the crap out of the builders/cities for the crap they are turning out. I used to watch Holmes on Homes and he did mention one thing I agreed with. Generally speaking, in any other industry you have clear and definitive recourse/proof if work is shoddy/terrible. However, with homes it's the largest purchase most people will make - they are stuck with the cost for a long time and it's a bitch to...

a. Make sure it is done right
b. Get it right if f'ed up
c. If a/b fail, get compensation when you have to do it on your own