Kitchen cabinet in new construction home fell off wall damaging cabinet and dishes

[Captcha]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Illinois

Last Thursday, in the new construction home my spouse and I purchased in 2006, the main kitchen cabinet containing a complete dining set, wine glasses, and other dinnerware, fell off the wall, breaking the cabinet and shattering roughly 75% of the items in the cabinet (I now have a large box filled with shattered ceramic and glass).

Upon immediate personal inspection, I discovered the reason it fell off was only two 2 ½” wood screws were holding it up at opposite ends of the top of the cabinet, and the screws were placed very close to corner edges of the ½”-thick particle board back material of the cabinet. When the cabinet fell, one screw came completely out of the wall as it was drilled in sideways to reach the stud, but due to the acute angle and distance from the stud, the screw did not penetrate the stud very far and was not secured very well. The other screw was still secured well to the stud, but the particle board material of the cabinet sheared completely. With the cabinet and broken dishes in a mangled mess on the kitchen floor, looking up at the wall, I was in utter disbelief of the small piece of particle board still attached above the screw on the wall that apparently held the cabinet with hundreds of pounds of weight all these years. It is truly a miracle the cabinet did not fall the second the idiot who installed it, let it bear its own weight, and a miracle the cabinet stayed on the wall all these years, especially with all the weight it had in it. I took out my stud finder and low and behold, there was another stud in the center of the cabinet that could have been used, and all three of these studs could have been used again along the bottom of the cabinet, which would have still been concealed, not just at the top. Also a reinforcement strip of wood could have been used, as well as longer screws, etc. Bascially, A LOT could have been done to better secure this cabinet to the wall, but instead it was almost a sick joke to the installer to do it as poorly as he did.

This sort of spotty workmanship is not uncommon for the houses in my subdivision. A similar incident with the main kitchen cabinet occurred to my neighbors directly across the street. They came to us immediately after it happened to them to inform us and see what we thought. Fortunately for them, it happened during their 1-year warranty “punch list”, so the cabinet was replaced free of cost by the developer, however they were not reimbursed the cost of their dishes, and my neighbors did not decide to pursue it any further.

After it happened to us, I immediately contacted the developer even though I knew I would be told we were outside our 1-year warranty “punch-list”, and this was truly all the developer had to say.

I honestly don’t care about the cost of the dishes or replacement of the cabinet, and I am not after any sort of money unless money is the only punishment that can be used against them. What is enraging to me is the complete and utter lack of human intelligence and regard for safety when these cabinets were hung, and I firmly believe someone should be held accountable for this, namely the developer. I understand at 4+ years since we purchased the home we are well outside of our 1 year, but I am interested in more than just warranty replacement or the possibility of reimbursement for the dishes.

What other recourse is available?

 

[Who's Liable?]

You are outside the 1 year warranty.

You are owed nothing.

You can make a claim to your insurance company, however are the items broken worth the deductible?

 

[Captcha]

Thank you for your response, but I am interested in any recourse, monetary or otherwise as punishment for this gross act of negligence or otherwise (not sure if negligence is the most appropriate term here).

In the interest of being thorough, no. Not worth the hit to my insurance; broken items are worth just about the same as our deductible.

 

[Captcha]

For example, if reported to the correct agency or agencies (what would these be?), and encouraging other disgruntled neighbors to do the same (some may have already done so), could this bar or help bar the developer from any further building, or result in hefty fines for what may be serious building violations?

 

[ecmst12]

Call Mike Holmes.

 

[Who's Liable?]

Call Mike Holmes.

He's in Canada, US LAW ONLY!!!

=P

 

[ecmst12]

That's true I forgot he doesn't do much in the US

 

[John_DFW]

Thank you for your response, but I am interested in any recourse, monetary or otherwise as punishment for this gross act of negligence or otherwise (not sure if negligence is the most appropriate term here).

In the interest of being thorough, no. Not worth the hit to my insurance; broken items are worth just about the same as our deductible.

You can file with the BBB, but the response from the builder will most likely be the same, well outside warranty but it will document the quality of work they do for other potential buyers, which may motivate them to have a better resolution on file (or not).

 

[Captcha]

You can file with the BBB, but the response from the builder will most likely be the same, well outside warranty but it will document the quality of work they do for other potential buyers, which may motivate them to have a better resolution on file (or not).

I was thinking about calling the local and/or state building inspector and bringing this to their attention.

Put another way, under what circumstance(s) is whether or not something is built according to code NOT an issue to them?

 

[Who's Liable?]

I was thinking about calling the local and/or state building inspector and bringing this to their attention.

Put another way, under what circumstance(s) is whether or not something is built according to code NOT an issue to them?

Wouldn't do any good. Even if it were out of could right now, or when it happened. As long as it was installed per code the year it was installed, it would be grandfathered in. Any replacement cabinet would need to meet the new current code.

You are still owed nothing.

 

[Kiawah]

This is not intended to throw fuel on the flame here, as the builder obviously blew it...but if I had a neighbor where this happened a year after purchase with the same developer and you knew of poor workmanship, I would have checked all of my cabinets and added additional screws. Unfortunately 5 years after the fact, way beyond warranty.

 

[Captcha]

This is not intended to throw fuel on the flame here, as the builder obviously blew it...but if I had a neighbor where this happened a year after purchase with the same developer and you knew of poor workmanship, I would have checked all of my cabinets and added additional screws. Unfortunately 5 years after the fact, way beyond warranty.

I anticipated this response as I was writing the original post. No problem. My answer is yes, I should have done something, but at the time, I had no idea what the nature of the problem was, the reason why it fell off, how cabinets are hung in the first place, etc. I got a crash course if you will. I also figured, since they had just moved in a few months prior when it fell, if ours were to fall, it would have fallen years ago. I was clearly wrong with that hypothesis.

Interestingly, when I went and knocked on their door to let them know it happened to us, and to find out how they went about it, I discovered theirs fell because the back of their cabinet actually came apart from the rest! The screws and back were still well secured. Oh well. Thanks for the response.