I am house hunting, and fell in love with this newly built 2-story single family house, with unfinished basement.



The basement wall is a concern (see attached picture). It's poured concrete, however looks like a three-layer cake. And the top layer has a darker color. Not surprisingly, the builder doesn't have any convincing explanations.

Can anyone advise what happened? Is this a serious issue?

Should I consider this house and pay for a home inspection at all?

BTW, the wall seems dry (there is a dehumidifier in the basement), and the dark layer doesn't seem to be caused by water damage, instead, it seems like a different type of concrete was used. I am from New Jersey.

Thanks a bunch!
Mike
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Well I was a project manager for 4 years. I can't see the photos you posted for some reason. I have seen things like this many times before. Most likely it's the difference in concrete from the few trucks it took to pour it. I bet the bottom layer is the lightest and they get darker as they go up.

Concrete is only good for 90 minutes after water is added. My guess is the builder didn't know how to order concrete and had all the trucks batched one after another instead of in 20 or 30 minute intervals. The oldest truck (top of wall) was sitting in the street while it's 90 minutes ticked away. The concrete was starting to take it's set when they backed it up to the pump and poured it. If you aggitate concrete that has started to set it appears darker.

It could also be the slump of the concrete (how wet). They want the bottom concrete to be thinner so it can flow all the way to the bottom of the forms. The top concrete they want a little thicker so they can level the top off and the anchor bolts they embed in it will hold position.

My suggestion would be that if you want to learn exactly what the problem is, you must engage a bonafide concrete inspector, one who would be classified as an “expert” by the courts, should the need arise. The wall is part of the foundation and it may be better to be safe, rather than sorry.

Important Notice: This information is provided as basic educational information by the author and is not a substitute for the advice of an expert and/or the advice of a lawyer. There is NO representation as to legality, accuracy, correctness of the herein information and the reader is strongly urged to consult a lawyer in the relevant jurisdiction to ensure accuracy before acting on this information .

Funny how not one of the many inspectors that post here have bothered to respond!

The description in the original post is rather ambigous, and without any pictures, it's difficult to even speculate.

My guess is that this issue has already been dealt with in another forum where the pictures were posted? Just a hunch.