Excavation a problem

Letter to the Queens Courier:

Reading your article, “Built on Lies”, was very interesting. To learn that thoughtless developers will be taught that they cannot get away with whatever they want to do is a blessing. The article stresses the unsafe construction in the building of new homes throughout the community.

There is also another side to this issue; building regulations are being violated about adjacent homes. Two years ago, developers destroyed a single family home next to our home to build two two-family homes. To underpin the foundation of our home, the developers used a CAT machine to dig under our foundation. They then proceeded to put 4-inch cement blocks on the dirt for support to our house. These cement blocks started to tilt. After calling the Department of Buildings, and having several inspectors check on this matter, a stop work order was issued for proceeding to build with inferior products.

After the stop work order was placed, the contractor attempted to get us to sign papers that did not pertain to resolving the problem.

For over 18 months, we have had several major floods that destroyed our basement, exterior foundation, interior walls and personal property.

To put a band-aid on the problem, the contractor put a pump in the low-lying area (created by the underpinning) to drain the water to the street. This pump is never checked by the contractor. We have to make sure that it is on using our own electricity. If it rains more then the pump could handle, our basement floods. This has happened quite a number of times.

The price to fix the exterior wall to prevent future floods and to support our home from structural damage in the future, repairing the interior damage and replacing personal property, etc. is well over $50,000. Our headaches are severe, worrying about an unsafe home. We are extremely concerned about the damaged foundation and continued flooding affecting the future stability of our home.

The contractor has not tried to correct the situation. The lot just sits. The building of these new homes also leaves innocent existing homeowners with exorbitant expenses, hours of work and extreme anxiety.

How did this owner/developer get permission to destroy our home? Any similar act of this kind would be criminal in nature.

Ron & Mary Ann Todzi
Maspeth