The crumbling concrete foundations that have ruined the lives of hundreds of Connecticut homeowners and presented big problems for real estate agents there have also been found in Massachusetts, and the growing consensus is that there are more here than previously thought.
The foundations in Connecticut were first discovered about a decade ago, said Bill Neal of Residential Engineering Services in Vernon, just north of Hartford. When he first encountered a crumbling concrete foundation with cracking that resembled irregular lines on a map, he recognized it as a problem, but didn’t suspect the cause.
“I had no clue,” Neal said. “It only became apparent after a lot of inspections and analysis. It came from concrete from a particular quarry.”
Eventually, the state got involved and by 2015 determined that the concrete for the now-disintegrating foundations was supplied by the now-defunct J.J. Mottes Co.
“Becker’s Quarry, the main source of concrete aggregate for J.J. Mottes, includes more than trace amounts of pyrrhotite, and is located on a vein of rock that contains significant amounts of pyrrhotite,” according to a statement from the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection.
Pyrrhotite is a mineral that contains iron. Tiny bits of pyrrhotite remain harmlessly embedded in concrete, often for decades. Moisture migrating through the wall causes the pyrrhotite to rust and expand, spalling off ever-larger chunks of concrete foundation until the wall eventually collapses. The only fix is to replace the foundation, which can easily cost between $100,000 and $200,000, or more.
Problems Appear In Hampden County
Attorney Russell Dupere and his wife bought their home in East Longmeadow in 2014, when it was 24 years old. He had a home inspection, but his basement is almost entirely finished and the foundation was largely not visible. In November 2016, his water heater leaked and flooded the basement. When portions of the damaged sheetrock were removed during repairs, he found the concrete foundation behind it was crumbling. Testing confirmed the walls contain pyrrhotite.
“Three walls are visibly damaged,” Dupere said. “Ten percent of the foundation looks like it is visually crumbling. A lot of it is turning a weird color, which is what happens before it crumbles. It’s noticeably worse since I discovered it a year ago, which surprised me.”
Since then, Dupere has spoken publicly on local access TV and his story has been published in the Springfield Republican. He said he’s heard of more cases in Munson, Ware, East Longmeadow, Wales and Palmer, all within an easy half-hour drive of the Stafford Springs quarry that produced the pyrrhotite-tainted concrete.
“I would guess that there are several thousand homes and additions in the area that fall into the right age bracket,” Dupere said. “I think it will be much more substantial than it looks now. People are afraid to come forward because they’re afraid of the unknown.”
Dupere said replacing his foundation is financially prohibitive and while the federal government was offering some help, the new tax plan, if passed, will eliminate that.
“The IRS had a ruling that they would count the cost of replacing the foundation as a casualty loss, so if you replaced the foundation you could deduct the expense from your federal return, but you have to have the cash to fix it first,” he said. “And anyway, that will disappear with the new tax plan.”
Dupere said he’s talked to a few real estate agents who told him they might be able to sell his million-dollar home for about half of what he paid for it – if they could sell it at all. Seven real estate agents contacted for this article did not respond to requests for interviews. He and his wife are considering foreclosure.
“The main reason I’m thinking of going on the foreclosure route is that it’s been too stressful on my kids, my wife and me,” Dupere said. “We can’t move forward with anything. Everything we’ve made up to this point in our lives, we put down on a house. I’ll have to rent for many years. The kids are worried about moving out of the school they’re in. From a financial point of view, I can’t think of anything worse. We’re 42. I’ll just move on and keep working, probably a lot longer than I’d planned to. But there are people much older and worse off than me that don’t have that option.”
Homeowners Devastated By Loss
There’s little recourse for homeowners: J.J. Mottes is no longer in operation. Homebuilders are protected by a 10-year statute of limitations. And homeowners’ insurance companies don’t cover this problem.
Attorney Brenda Draghi of Ellington, Connecticut, lives and works in the geographic center of the problem. She’s been working with affected homeowners as well as the state and the real estate community, to craft solutions for homeowners, many of whom have been or expect to be financially ruined by the costs of replacing their foundations.
“Individual stories are absolutely heartbreaking,” she said. “I had a young, big, strong law enforcement officer in my office who had this problem and he sat down at the table and burst into tears. I always have to keep a box of tissues handy.”
Some people try to “ride it out as long as the house is safe for occupancy,” Neal said. “Other people abandon the house and give it to the bank. Some people have sold the house at a deep discount. Unfortunately, I have way too many clients who are just basically stuck. I’ve had to tell three clients their house was unsafe and they had to leave.”
Neal said he has been hired by several people who discovered the cracking and called contractors who charged them tens of thousands of dollars for bogus repairs. He then had to break the news to them that not only was that money wasted, the only fix is to replace the foundation, which will cost substantially more.
“I have days when I come home and literally every person I spoke with that day was crying when I left,” Neal said. “Most buildings with this problem start to crack between 15 to 20 years after it was built. One started at four, and others didn’t start until they were 32 years old. Once it starts, it can crack extremely slowly or extremely quickly.”
Neal has worked for about 800 clients with this problem, mostly in Connecticut but some in Massachusetts. Around 650 Connecticut homeowners have reported their foundations to the state Department of Consumer Protection.
Connecticut has budgeted $100 million over the next five years to help owners of homes with crumbling foundations, but the scope of the problem is estimated to be well into the billions of dollars. The state estimates that there could be as many as 34,000 homes and condominiums in 23 municipalities built between 1983 and 2010 that could be affected. That number does not include commercial buildings.
Nor does it include homes in Massachusetts.
For more information about crumbling concrete foundations, visit the website of consumer advocacy group Connecticut Coalition Against Crumbling Basements at www.ccacb.org.
Email: jmorrison@thewarrengroup.com
