House Project: This Is Where The Recriminations And Lawsuits May Start To Appear

We went up to the house last night, and we were very disappointed. The problem of the repoured concrete being gray I've already mentioned. Now there is an additional problem. The concrete guy power washed it, and then applied a finish to it that was supposed to make it a particular color: amber rose.

I don't have any pictures (yet) but that has to be done next for the inevitable lawsuit.

1. The power wash didn't remove paint spots and at least one gray concrete dab.

2. The finish in some places came out shiny (as it should) but very dark--almost a nut brown, instead of amber rose. In other places, it is like the finish isn't even there. The surface remains the roughly rose color of the concrete, but it is dull, not shiny.

My builder has been avoiding me for several days, so I called the concrete guy, who is clearly quite upset about the whole matter (and has already talked to the builder). The concrete guy says that the original cracking was because of insufficient drainage on that side of the house--a matter that I raised with the builder at the start of winter, but he never quite got around to it.

The concrete guy says that he mixed color into the concrete that he poured as a replacement--but it still came out gray. Variability in natural materials, and all that.

He also says that the finish varied substantially depending on whether it was in sunlight or not, and there's nothing that he can do about it except remove it. He suggested that the builder should be responsible for using an epoxy paint for concrete to get the color right.

I know that this isn't going to be cheap, and as far as I am concerned, this isn't my problem. The builder suggested the stamped color concrete, and I stupidly assumed that the builder knew something about housebuilding. I guess he knew a lot less than I assumed!

Had I realized how badly this was going to turn out, I would have gone with gray concrete. It would have been about $3000 cheaper, and with far less grief.

Last house project entry.