what is a pop in the cement?
 

Read on here someone in Sanibel has pops in the cement on their lanai.

Is a pop a hole?
According to engineer hubby if there are holes in the concrete within the first few years after a pour then the mix wasn't right or they didn't vibrate it enough to get it to settle properly. If this is a problem on the lanai what about the interior slab under tile that may then crack.
I worry about the level of construction when they were putting them up so fast. The warranty is a year is that right? Non visual structural issues can take years to show up.

I think they do an excellent job putting up homes. Their concrete crews have been with them for twenty years as have most all their building crews. They have many, many specialty crews. They have different ones for each kind of home; designer, premier and villa. They have crews who ONLY roof, crews who ONLY frame and crews who ONLY plumb and those that do electricity. They even have a group that seals each seam on the interior, the crown moulding and the baseboard, etc.

They may work quickly but they work carefully and every single thing is checked. I could see the builders notes and directions that were stuck to the back sliders when our house was being built. We have built many homes over the course of our lives and our children have built several This is the most efficient process here in The Villages that we have encountered and we have built a couple larger custom homes too.

If you have a question call warranty. They are the ones who have power over all the different teams and they will see that any problem is corrected.

P.S. I don't work for the developer.

I think structural warranty, is much longer.

They may be referring to this, if a rock in the concrete is close to the surface, the hot sun will heat the rock causing it to pop out leaving a small hole. In the Northern states this can happen with a porous rock that absorbs moisture and then freezes. I had this happen to a couple of spots in my driveway when we first moved in, that was the explanation I got.

I've been told it is happening because the contractors TV hired didn't let the concrete sit (cur?) long enough before they applied the coating.

Structural has a 10 year warranty.

We had an "eroded" area on the corner of our driveway and they fixed it...three years later.


There are thousands and thousands and thousands of homes here. I don't see the concrete driveways falling apart.

What coating ??

there are so many things wrong with your post i don't know where to begin.
I have also been a builder in the north for 36 years and they do have a lot of employee rotating and some builders have been there awhile.
Concrete needs 28 days to Cure and the houses are built in 60 to 70 days so you do the math. for the speed they build for production houses they do ok, don't get me wrong i am very pro Morse and what he does for the economy here in Central florida, they feed a lot of families.
The reason why they stay to the production houses and not custom homes here, is less chance for errors and it becomes repetitious.
a lot of the help knows their job once there told and they do it over and over again, but a lot of them don't have the ability to read plans.
I will stop here or this post will be a mile long. To the average eye the homes are ok, to a trained eye there is a lot of hidden errors due to them moving too fast. One thing to point out, look above eye level, top of tiles on roman showers are rarely chalked (mildew can build behind tile) , top of ledges on archways are not textured or painted, the Molding on base molding have way to much chalking and miter joints are poor etc.... I HAVE TO STOP have a nice day:)

Did you buy one? Are you sorry?

I did buy a Ivy on a viewed lot and had my father-law taking pictures every day and it was a day to day challenge to get things done correctly from 1200 miles away. At one point i thought i was going to have to fly down to deal with the problems. Thank God i had A designer Gentleman that set are home up, when they were still building for folks. The Designer was also a builder and helped us through a lot of problems. They were building 350 to 400 house a month and going way too fast and alot of errors. Supply and demand is the problem and you just can't snap your fingers and increase your workforce by 30 % when Morse decides to ramp up.
P.s. My wife said Nurses make the worse Patients, (she is a Nurse) i think you get my Point.
Also i did get most of everything repaired that needed repair, but it took a great deal of convincing. The Blame game among contractors is endless.

By whom?
Those guys at the 19th hole will tell you anything....................

Good questions.

We have built seven houses and watched our kids build two.

The last one in Cincinnati was 4500 sq ft.

We have had two brand new homes here. One was a spec home and the second one built for us. We watched the second one being built every day. One day we walked in to see the tile guy tearing out the cap tile in the kitchen backsplash. I said what is wrong? And he was not happy, he said the builder told him to redo it. Both of our builders said they had been with the developer for many years. I am very happy with our home here. It doesn't have some of the wow factors of our last home in Cincy but it is well built and insulated and finished. Certainly worth the money and a very good investment.

Picture of tile in our small bath.

[QUOTE=TrudyM;978341]Read on here someone in Sanibel has pops in the cement on their lanai.

It's an old Italian term.

Jury is still out on that one.
As a builder i would of much rather built a custom home to my expectations.
However if you want to live in the Villages you are not buying a home but a lifestyle.
Now the wife wanted to live here and here is where we live and that is my story and i am sticking to it! L.O.L.
for the most part it is an adjustment from 5500 square feet on the top of a hill overlooking the water in the north. But who in god's name wants to maintain that in six months of snow and when you hit your mid 50's on top of it.
I just have to figure OUT THIS DAME GAME OF GOLF everyone is talking about. L.O.L. i watch it from my Lanai and i hear a lot of grrrrr, i am not sure if they are having fun or are ****ed off L.O.l.

SOme of the tile stops on roman showers before it hits the ceiling, those are the ones that need to be checked.

Not much incentive for good craftsmanship here. Bang bang bang and they're done. I think that if the builders had to live in the homes they build they would be done differently. I wonder how much caulk is used to cover poor fit.

when the house starts to settle and the moldings dry out you will notice it in a hurry, they do not glue corners here when they do the door molding and base. the doors are split frame and referred to in the south as "clap nail and Alot of Chalk." l.o.l.

:mad:We are in our third home here in The Villages and each one had it's own nightmare. Only one was repaired through the warranty department and that was structural.. The second one was major plumbing and the third was lack of properly installed electrical fixtures.

These homes are not built they are slapped up to meet deadlines. Yes we do still live here for the lifestyle.

GG, I was told that the premiere Bridgeport Villages had dedicated window instlallers whereas other homes have their windows done by the general crew. Perhaps the rest of a premiere house is also built to a higher standard. That would actually make sense.

We also owned and thoroughly enjoyed a beautifully and well built Camellia in Hadley. We have been welcomed into many friends homes in these eight years and they are similarly pleased with their homes; villas, ranches, cottages, designers, premiers..

Not *&%*((. Just trying to explain the quality of the construction.

I chose to put a coating on top of the lanai concrete at our Design Team Meeting when we built our home. The coating has a texture to it. My Mom is 90 and I thought that this wouldn't be too slippery for her.

Sorry Bogie. It was my home inspector, T&D Concrete and another person affilitated with them, and three different tile stores. T&D also told me that the problem starts to show about 2 years after the home is built.

Lots of folks seem to think that this is a nice place to live and the homes are just fine.

The Statue Of Repose is 10 years for structural damage.

It is my understanding that the concrete used for the slab is a fast cure but it still has not satisfied my concern. I had three floors redone down to the concrete slab and the cracks while long where narrow and indicated normal settling. These homes go up much too fast. In fact I have witnessed people who have had additions that took much longer to complete

I support what Chillybean is saying because he has done this type of work and because he is addressing building problems and not attacking the villages of Lake Sumter , Inc (VLSI) (Developer) and any contractor.

I also agree that people really won't see much of a structural problem in their homes for perhaps the first ten years but then what?

It is common practice for all developers to cut corners to maximize profits.
Also given the price of a home there is little really style or amenities

I also don't believe price saves you from bad construction. In the Minneapolis area they had a real problem with succo/stone homes and water entry. A legal case/ decision that helped many homeowners involved a $5 million home that ended up with $4 million in restoration costs.

Finally I will always side with residents, and not the Developer, because they are my neighbors and they are experiencing the same concerns as me. Village of Lake sumter, Inc made his money off me and has long forgotten

there is no such thing in the concrete industry as fast cure, you can put calcium in the concrete during colder weather to accelerate concrete curing but it weakens concrete structure which isn't a big deal under tile floors generally. however it is the fill underneath the concrete that causes the problems with settling. They go through before putting plastic down they will vibratamp the sand to pack it. Then they use a Mapie Guard 2 rubber crack inhibitor over the concrete before the tile goes down, that does a pretty good job from tile cracking and will handle up to a 1/4 inch crack lateral not out of plain.
I can go into more detail but it would bore most people.
JUST A LITTLE FYI
P.S. if you ever see bridges being built, they are never done in the winter unless temperature of the concrete can be controlled and you alway see a water shower bath on the concrete in the summer so it cures at a slow rate, this is what gives the concrete its strength, there is quite a science around it

Your husband is right! I have a small problem with the holes, but my neighbor had them throughout her driveway. first, call Warranty. They will tell you that it's out of warranty but will give you the name and number of someone at T & D who is well aware of this problem. There have been many complaints. My neighbor ended up with an entirely new driveway.
Don't be disuaded - just keep after them.

I am quite aware of this issue,,, The Pop Outs,, alot of debate on that issue.

The are different type of mixes for concrete. Concrete is guaranteed to reach a certain strength threshold if you will. It will reach that strength in 28 days. Alot of mixes for T&D are designed not to "Cure Fast" but to achieve desired strength in a shorter period of time.

Slabs on ground (e.g. pavements, sidewalks, parking lots, driveways, floors, canal linings) and structural concrete (e.g. bridge decks, piers, columns, beams, slabs, small footings, cast-in-place walls, retaining walls) require a minimum curing period of seven days for ambient temperatures above 40 degrees Fahrenheit1.

American Concrete Institute (ACI) Committee 301 recommends a minimum curing period corresponding to concrete attaining 70 percent of the specified compressive strength2. The often specified seven-day curing commonly corresponds to approximately 70 percent of the specified compressive strengths. The 70 percent strength level can be reached sooner when concrete cures at higher temperatures or when certain cement/admixture combinations are used. Similarly, longer time may be needed for different material combinations and/or lower curing temperatures. For this reason, ACI Committee 308 recommends the following minimum curing periods3:


Curing in Construction

http://www.calciumchloride.com/concrete.shtml



Little reading for those interested in this type of boring stuff.

tHANK YOU YOU ARE CORRECT BUT I DID NOT WANT TO BORE ANYONE WITH THOSE ACI Committee 308 STANDARDS.
:)

That is only the tip of the ice berg with concrete curing and properties. But since it was coming up,, little reading material :pepper2:

l.o.l. I'LL PUT IT IN MY LIST, THANKS :)

I have to respect the folks who have built more homes than any builder I can think of and feel that most of us are very happy with them. Gary, thank you again for your patience and skill and hard work. Your kids have a lot to be proud of.

You have posted on this forum and explained so many things about the things that happen behind the scenes here.. How did your friend do after his accident with the cement truck? Hope he will be well and enjoy Christmas with his family.

Merry Christmas Gary to you and yours.

Thanks to all who responded
 

I am glad to hear that the structural is 10 years that helps us decide to not buy homes build in 2004 and before just so we feel safer.
Hubby worked as a engineering aid for the DOT in between degrees so his knowledge of cement is highway construction and in Hawaii so hot and the rock in it was volcanic which apparently has it's own issues.
So if we decide to build instead of buy pre-owned (the assumption is issues will for the most part been addressed already) we will need to be there to watch them and make friends with Chellybean so hubby has someone who really knows for advice. As aircraft structures are not the same at all.
The goofs that get made even by the best intentioned happen. I was having a door put in and went to the bathroom when I came back the sub that the contractor was using had put the door flush with the siding instead of the sheathing so it needed a frame extension on the inside. The best of builders have an ebb and flow of workers that don't always understand what they are told.
I have been working for a year on hubby to get him over the sink hole concern so now I know 10 years on major issues.

Thanks again

I have seen enough newly built homes in the northeast as well as checking out quite a few other retirement communities before moving here. All I can tell you is that you get a very well built house for the price compared to what I have seen... never mind the environment and lifestyle.
Sure you can have better building techniques, materials, higher quality products, processes, etc. but its a value proposition - a cadillac with its corresponding price tag.
Ours was one of the last custom designer homes built and I checked the base molding, top of roman shower and miter joints, top of ledges as you mentioned and it was all done correctly. I'm not saying everything is perfect and that mistakes are not made but you have a year for the builder to fix the problems you find and they are responsive.

we actually had a cigarette butt in the concrete on our front stoop. I power washed out the cigarette, and it left a hole.

Please do not be offended by my comments. I offer them as a person who inspected homes for years. You are offering a layman's opinion on the quality of Villages homes. Generally, Villages homes are of a quality that is comparible to most home contruction elsewhere. To a person with a trained eye and home construction experience, Villages homes are chock full of flaws. For example, far too much caulking is used to hide flaws, very few inside and outside walls are straight, windows are inferior in quality, block walls are constructed on concrete floors not nearly cured long enough, vinyl siding was applied incorrectly for several years, and on and on it goes. I offer the following that a person can use to tell when a individual or contractor lacks construction experience. When they someone uses the term "cement" floor or perhaps "cement" driveway, that person is not a true craftsman. The correct term is always "concrete" floor, "concrete" driveway or perhaps "concrete" patio. Cement is the binding product added to stone, sand and water that hardens and creates CONCRETE....Where I come from, many use the terms kitchen sink and kitchen zinc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warren Kiefer (Post 978804) Please do not be offended by my comments. I offer them as a person who inspected homes for years

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warren Kiefer (Post 978804) . You

I am not offended, nor am I surprised. I have a good memory for posts and for opinions and attitudes.

BUT....Since you had all this information, all this background, all this expertise, why in the world did you buy a home here?

Did you not read my comments ? I stated that Villages homes are comparible to most homes anywhere else. I didn't simply buy a home here, I contracted to have a home built here, big difference. Generally, you get the quality that you would get anywhere else. But allow me to answer your question. I am here mainly because I was present in the Villages as my home was constructed from beginning to end. I can assure you my home is constructed much better than if I had not inspected it every day and insured it being acceptable to my standards. I watched my neighbor's home being built. He was not present. I assurfe you, hi is home does not meet the same quality as my home.