Baldwin Homes built a house, and the county eventually passed the inspections. But I ask you, how does a cracked foundation get passed, well it gets passed by the inspection taking place before it is run into with a backhoe. It is filled with putty by the contractor, never reported or reinspected, and then covered up with thick silver-backed insulation. How does a house not have adequate heat, but pass inspection? Well, you first find a contractor to falsify a manual "J", for a cookie cutter style house, which Baldwin has built many times over, and you suggest it is only 2200 sq. Ft. Of living space, when in fact it is 3500 sq. Ft. Of living space. That allows you to put in one 3.5 ton heat pump outside, and a 4 ton air handler inside. Then you use flex pipe like some have on there dryers, and you bend it every whcih and any way you can to make it fit, especially in the attic areas where most flaws go undetected. You would be suprised just how much this stuff can be bent, kinked, and run for long runs in this condition, to a duct, that will never blow hot air, by the time it gets there. Oh and that is if there is enough ducts, and if it is big enough for 3500 sq. Ft. To make it more interesting, the returns were undersized, but that's no problem right, who would know the difference.
Now when it comes to safety, Baldwin is a gem... I think it's funny that the smoke detectors go off intermittently so that the children and family living there call the fire department for no apparent reason, and then because of this happening frequently, the kids and family kind of ignore them, because to evacuate on a false alarm is silly. Well... in February it was not a false alarm... But the problem is, they did not go off right away... The kids could smell the burning of plastic which took a while to find. Imagine being downstairs in a 3500 sq. Ft. House, and smelling a smell that is coming from your master bedroom, which is where the fire was eventually located to be. The problem is... The smoke detector in that room is suspected to have failed at the time of the fire. Luckly, we all got out of the house... And luckly my kids didn't try to put it out with water like they were trying to get to put it out. Later at the hotel I learned they could have been electricuted it they would have put water on the fire. Imagin 3 years of never being able to drink or cook with your water, because the well was not drilled deep enough... Reports show the builder did not meet the counties requirements, when drilling... And did not dig to the minimum level. What about being told after you buy the house that the contractors broke the well line after it was installed, contaminating the well, never inspected again, but rather chlorinated.
What about the house no being fastened properly to the foundation. No welding of steel support beams, and they really could not be anyway, they don't line up, on sunk lower then the other one. Have you ever heard of someone cutting out a footer after the basement is poured. Well here you have it. Cracks were left where this was done, and after we bought the house I discovered this... So I put a coat hanger down in the crack. I only got about 2 inches into the crack of the floor/footer, but when I pulled it out, it had moldy smelling mud on the hanger. I didn't know I would reach dirt that soon. This is suppose to be a full basement. Speaking of full, after we bought the house, the neighbors were kind enough to let us know that someone else was going to buy the house prior to us, but backed out of the deal because of 2 feet of water in the basement. Unsuspecting that the sump pump was not working as it should in this brand new house, we got to experience the flood first hand about 7 months after we moved in. April shower, will do it every time I suppose. It only cost me a few thousand dollars in damage that I never got paid for because our homeowners policy does not include failures, and floods that result from the issues we had. Oh and back to the foundation, I decided to see what was hidden under that beautifully placed silver-backed insulation, so I took it down so I could open pandora's box. I found water infiltration in 2 areas of the basement walls. One was were the foundation had been cracked, (above, and below grade) which was plugged with these cork looking things appoximately 8 feet long vertically. I guess it didn't quite do the job it was meant to do. The other was a long crack by the window below grade. That was never plugged though and no one ever gave an explanation.
When the cold temperatures came for the first time after we bought the house, we wanted to use our fireplace with a blower to warm the house, and save some money, only to find out the blower did not work. When we had someone come out and look to see why it was not working, they discovered that the electical box had not been hard wired. There were no wires running to this box at all. We would have to use an external extension cord to plug it in, and leave the cord sticking out from inside the underside of the firebox. When we called the builder, they said we were not suppose to get a blower with the house. Long/Short no one fixed it. We had to live with it this way. When our basement flooded for us, the builder told me the sump pump was working fine, we had lots of rain and the power went out. I called BGE and had me send out a confirmation letter that we had not lost power for that entire month, and that the flood would not have resulted in a power outage. They then sent someone over to my house, to look at the pump. Later we were sent a letter that my son had told them that he had unplugged the pump. My son never uttered those words. But it was easy for them to pin it on a 12 year old boy. Good kid too... Doesn't lie. Could they go any lower? 200 lbs of pressure is the requirement for railings in Anne Arundel County. Tell me how much pressure can a 22 foot span of railing with one null post bare. Oh and keep in mind the post with which the 22 feet span is divided, is not anchored properly into the floor. I'll tell you, I was hanging a wreath up on my railing and didn't want to lean very far, I thougth I would fall to my death. It wobbled badly. Didn't seem to take much to make it lean. Next, we had a swimming pool in the front yard and the back yard during rain.
An get this too, we had stormwater management, which allowed 4 roofs to dump into one gutter which went to an emultion pit in our back yard, with a supposed swail, which went to nowhere, but the side of the house, and flooded the areas all over. Our sump pump drained to the other side of the house where there is no fall either. We can't keep up. It may not have been so bad if they would have graded the property appropriately to allow water to flow away from the house, and to drain off of the property at an acceptable rate. Worse than this may be the ENCROACHMENT" on the property. Our neighbor has a garage that sits more than 3 feet over our property line. This was not disclosed either, but the builder and the title company (Champion Title / Chancellor Title Settlement of Annapolis) would have had proior knowledge because fo them settling the property prior to our transaction.
It is truely amazing what people are getting away with these days. I filed a consumer report complaint, but they tried to force arbitration. I filed suit in Circuit Court where the case is still pending. Oh and the property has excessive dead trees still standing on it. We don't know what killed them, but we did water them during the summer months which is when we noticed them die within a week of watering. I'd like to know the true cause fo the death of these trees. Well it's getting late, and I get up early. Good Luck to anyone considering buying a Baldwin Home, or already owning a home built by them and their contractors. Baldwin sent a couple of people to fix a flaw on the front porch. The contractor found it necessary to chop/chillil some of header around the front door, to make room for his repair. None of the things I'm telling you about were disclosed prior to settlement, and we were told by real estate agents that it was not necessary to get a home inspection, because the county has to inspect before issuing an "occupancy permit". It's a waste of money. Well we are the dummies for listing to agents from Champion Realty. Both represented buyer and seller / dual agency... Never again. This is enough for now... You get the idea... If you own a home, check it carefully. Make any necessary corrections and fixes. Good Luck... Take
Care... Thanks for listening.
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