foundation drain

When I purchased the home, the inspector I hired noted there was not a foundation drain opening. When I asked the builder, he claimed it drained into gravel. I asked him if there was a gravel pit at the end of the drain and he said yes. I asked the county inspector about this and he backed my builder. Since the county backed him and my builder had been building for 25 years, I accepted his explanation. Big mistake. I confronted the builder before closing, December 2001 and July 2003. Each time he told me that it was there and working properly.

Here is the back right corner to the house. As you can see, I went several inches below the bottom of the foundation wall. The black pipe showing is the pipe that I installed for the gutter downspout July 2003.

My builder still didn't believe me. So I paid my current inspector Mark Cordle contractor to dig the right front wall. No drain here either. At the bottom of the hole, we hit hard red undisturbed clay as expected.

The builder still claimed that he had installed a foundation drain. The arbitration was scheduled for 11/1/2004. On 10/29/2004 the Builder requested to dig and show me the drain. This is even after seeing the photos above. Below are the photos of what the builder found (or didn't find). If you want to see a big picture, click on the smaller photo.

Excavation Proximity

Excavation Results

The water traveling under the house, eroded the back of the house exposing insufficient footings.