Serious question, did anyone else get totally schooled by their inspector on foundation grading?

Honestly, I thought our yard looked fine, but the inspector in Austin pointed out the soil was sloping towards the house. He said 'You're going to get water in your crawl space within two years if you don't fix this.' I had to add about 40 cubic yards of fill dirt and re-grade the whole perimeter. Has anyone else had to do a major fix like that right after closing?

3 comments

3 Comments

rowanharris29d ago

Forget the grading, what did your inspector say about drainage? Mine missed a downspout dumping right onto the slab.

river3201mo ago

Oh man, the "sloping towards the house" thing is a classic. My inspector in Phoenix flagged something similar, but it was this weird patch of compacted clay right next to the slab. He said it would wick moisture like a sponge. Ended up having to dig out a three foot trench all around and replace it with gravel. Cost me a weekend and a ton of Gatorade.

victor_jones991mo ago

Ever notice how the biggest home headaches start as tiny, ignored details? Your clay patch story is just a perfect example of that... a small flaw that demands a huge fix later. Makes you wonder what else we're all overlooking right now.