Cracks/chips along driveway expansion joint
 

I have villa with a 1.5 car garage and I noticed nine of these chips along one expansion joint spanning the width of the driveway. I haven’t noticed any of these during my previous trips and I had washed the car a few times. None of them were noted during the June one year inspection. Could these have just developed over the last few months? Nothing I can do about them now, I guess?

T&D Concrete can fix those easily by chipping out the concrete and patching it. Probably take about 30 minutes. If it is not covered by the warranty, I would just pay for it. I wouldn't try doing it myself because the concrete patch material sold at Home Depot will not be a good color match.

You never know until you call the warranty office. If may or may not still be under warranty. Even if it isn't the warrant office may be helpful in finding out what can be done. And even if it is out of warranty the warranty office may do something about it.

One thing for sure though... the cracks aren't due to ice expansion:)

I thought it was rather difficult to patch concrete like that without it cracking again?

It’s worth a call. Thanks.

I had them patch several similar areas under warranty, and have had no problems. It is worth a try and won't cost very much. It kind of looks like that area was subjected to a heavy load before the concrete had properly cured. I doubt that the warranty office will fix it if has been longer than a year.

I had a few of those found during inspection, it took them no more than 5 minutes to fix them. These little concrete problems down here compared to winter damage up north are trivial at best.

I’ll call warranty on Monday. If not covered, I’ll get an estimate to fix from T&D. Thanks all!

It is also a characteristic of "HOT" concrete. If they placed the concrete on a brutally hot day which is probable and there was leftover concrete from the job before and they loaded fresh material on top this is a common result. The Shelf Life of Concrete is about 90 minutes from the time it is loaded. If they added more water to the load to keep the Concrete Alive you can also expect results like this!

I know some people don’t like seeing negative posts on the forum but it might be helpful to others so I’ll keep posting.
I posted ealier today about the garbage disposal no longer working.
When we arrived back here the week before last, since we have had two previous water leaks, I opened up the access box outside and there was a puddle of water. So it was time for the third repair. Since the repair guy couldn’t tell where the leak was originating, he replaced much of the piping.
Don’t get me wrong, I actually love the Villages and our courtyard villa but I never thought so many things could go wrong with a new house.

FYI, all three water leaks have been covered by warranty.

Glad to hear they were covered by warranty. We bought a new house as well, and within a year the air conditioning had gone up, and they came in and dug up pipes and replaced them (under warranty). Our roof was replaced under warranty because of faulty shingles. I suspect most houses are okay, but they put up so many houses in such a short period of time, that there are going to be problems with a few of them.

I'm not offended by negative posts, it's what's real and it's good info to know!

Since we have had our share of problems some of which resulted in additional charges relating to the water leakage after the meter as well as higher electricity costs due to a faulty heat pump, I’ve decided to write a letter to warranty detailing all of the this outside of the routine types of repairs (paint touch-ups, additional caulking, etc.). I’m not sure what, if anything, this will accomplish but it will make me feel a bit better.

Things happen with new construction everywhere. I found The Villages very responsive even after the Warranty period. Thay are still honoring the repairs for the HVAC copper lines under homes. There is a form on Villages.net. Thousands of roofs were replaced, including mine, because the roof manufacturer had a faulty product. In contrast, in Sun City Hilton Head, it took 11 years and a Class Action law suit to correct a Stucco problem. And to my knowledge, Pulte they never dealt with a structural problem in the attics, which homeowners had to fix themselves.

I agree that the Villages Warranty Dept. Is very responsive.

My mistake - garbage disposal is working. I was instructed in the contractors forum how to use an allen wrench.

All new disposals come with that wrench. The plumber should have left it under the sink.

:oops: Might not want to mention the DISPOSAL thing! :rolleyes:

I already took it out.

T&D concrete fixed my cracks and chips. Good job.

I’m going to give them a call. Thanks.

Ohiobuckeye
 

The bad thing is, Patching looks like patching when you get done. You can always tell you patched, but it's not fool proof that it won't crack anymore.

I would guess poor concrete quality or mix, a patch job will show forever, seal the cracks to prevent water entering good luck

Called warranty office. No luck fixing after the first 12 months of ownership. Called T&D. They were already at another house in Phillips Villas. They patched up the spots free of charge.

Could be the disposal is frozen u can break it loose turning the hex bolt underneath the disposal and pushing the reset button

There is no way that I personally would ever accept a patch job on a concrete sidewalk or driveway or patio after spending a bundle on a new house. NEVER, EVER,

NEVER. There was a deficiency in either the Concrete the time it took to finish the concrete or the preparation or the curing of the Concrete.

A patch is a hatchet job that is cheap for them and screws the homeowner. PERIOD!

First of all, the house is not new, it is out of warranty. And secondly, the one year warranty for exterior concrete slabs only covers cracks that exceed one quarter inch in width or depth. The remedy for these cracks is to repair the area, and the warranty specifically states that the repaired area may not match the existing area in color and texture. This is all clearly stated on page 14 of the warranty agreement.

Accept that information if you wish. The Villages and the Concrete Supplier and the Concrete Company who place the material would not hold to the letter of the law so to speak I would think as they would not want an unhappy customer. Especially one who has had other problems with the home.

To your knowledge has The Village ever remedied a problem after the warranty period? I believe they have and I believe they would in this case. Time will tell but thanks for the specifics of the contract. It was an interesting short story.

Knowing what I know I respectfully would crumble up that part of the warranty paperwork and throw it in the new load of Concrete that they would place in my driveway. Out of the three people involved in making this correct, it is NOTHING to them, they could even split it three ways. I wonder if the fact that another house in the neighborhood needed repair means anything. I would think so. That's probably not in the contract though????

If the OP takes this advice, I wish him luck.