The Curse of the Three Meadows Basement
January 16th, 2009 . by Jon ModeneWhen I was a young boy, we moved to Perrysburg. From Chicago Illinois. My parents contracted with a builder to build a new home in the hottest new subdivision in Perrysburg. It was called “Three Meadows”.
I did not care about the wooded lot.
I did not care about the bike trails.
I did not care about the very efficient and well designed road layout and platting of the subdivision.
I cared about 2 things:
1. Getting the largest bedroom.
2. Staying at the Holiday Inn French Quarter and running around for 3 months while the house was being built. (There is/was a game room, 2 indoor pools, etc. all in a day that did not know water parks, etc. I even remember playing Pong! My brother and I ran around that place day and night like wild hooligans.)
It was a great house on Bexley Dr.
Except when the walls started buckling.
You see, all of those builders simply dug a hole and put a basement in.
They then shoveled all of the sticky Black Swamp clay back around the basement.
And in about 10 years most basements failed.
By today, just about every basement has.
Showing houses in Three Meadows will expose you to the various methods different homeowners have had in dealing with this serious problem:
1. The Band Aid Approach – just slap some kind of liquid patch on the cracks.
2. The “Wall Anchor” Approach – just slap a metal plate on it and watch the walls fail around the plate.
3. The Hide Away Approach – just put some kind of finished wall in front of it and forget about it.
4. The Channel Approach – just put some kind of water diversion pipe on the base of the wall and watch the wall fail above the pipe.
5. The Steel Beam Approach – just put some steel beams in and watch the wall collapse around the new steel.
6. The Build a New Wall Approach – which involves shovels, black jack, earth moving, new tile, and most importantly removing the clay from the basement. This seems to work since it fixes the cause of the basement wall caving in problem.
The clay always wins in Three Meadows.
And most every house I have shown/sold/listed has used 1,2,3,4,5,or 6 to deal with this serious problem.
Buying there? You better get this issue right or it’s an equity destroying monster.
Selling there? There are several different ways to handle this disclosure issue and sales wrecker. You better get an experienced agent or you may someday get a certified letter from an attorney.
The clay always wins.
Jon, you’ve had a couple of postings concerning basements. Do you recommend an honest, affordable Company to fix it and do you feel the dig out and removal is the best fix? Second, how about addressing the STUCCO issue in town. I’m curious to hear what you’ve seen. Thanks! Enjoy your blog very much and now visit weekly.