Hartford Fire Damage Rules: The Foundation and the Disclosure

What Pyrrhotite Does

Pyrrhotite is an iron sulfide mineral. Where it is present in the aggregate used to make concrete, the concrete deteriorates slowly when exposed to oxygen and water, and foundations containing it develop cracks and gaps that expand over time, impacting the attached structure.

The affected concrete in this state came from aggregate supplied out of Becker's Quarry in Willington, largely through the J.J. Mottes Company, in pours from roughly 1983 to 2015. Both companies subsequently entered into an agreement with the state to stop selling materials or products containing aggregate from that quarry.

Is It Possible to Have It and Not Know?

That is the normal case. The deterioration is gradual and it starts below ground, so a house can be in very good order today and require a full foundation replacement three or four years later. Somebody involved in the programme has put it exactly that way. The practical consequence is that the absence of visible cracking is not evidence of absence, and it is why an engineer's opinion is worth more than an owner's impression.

The Scale of It

Approximately 41 Connecticut towns may contain homes built with the affected concrete. The full scope of the problem, including its effect on commercial buildings, remains unknown.

The legislature began holding formal public hearings in 2016, and the Planning and Development Committee heard the bill that became Public Act 16-45 in February of that year.

What the State Has Done

Connecticut's response has run along four lines: establishing a pyrrhotite testing programme, generally requiring homeowners to disclose concrete problems before selling, establishing record keeping requirements for companies using stone aggregate in concrete, and creating a captive insurance company together with a loan programme to help affected homeowners.

Public Act 16-45 requires municipal assessors to inspect and reassess residential properties with foundations made from defective concrete, and provides that insurance companies cannot cancel or refuse to renew a homeowner's policy because of a crumbling foundation.

Public Act 17-2, June Special Session, section 336 establishes the Connecticut Foundation Solutions Indemnity Company as a nonprofit captive insurance company for the public purpose of assisting residential homeowners whose foundations are crumbling due to pyrrhotite. CFSIC is regulated by the Connecticut Insurance Department but does not sell or offer traditional insurance and does not collect premiums from homeowners.

Where Does the Money Come From?

From the Department of Housing and from a $12 surcharge on homeowners' insurance policies issued in Connecticut. Later legislation increased the Crumbling Foundations Assistance Fund by $100 million, in amounts of $25 million a year across four fiscal years. It is a genuinely funded programme rather than a gesture, which is part of why the eligibility rules repay attention.

What CFSIC Pays

CFSIC may pay up to $175,000 of the cost of remediation. It will also reimburse the licensed engineer's inspection and 50 per cent of core boring testing up to $2,000 where testing is needed.

It does not cover all the costs associated with a claim. Properties must be inspected by professionally qualified home inspectors who undergo annual training in identifying properties with possible pyrrhotite issues and judging how soon mitigation may be required.

The Severity Classes

To qualify, a homeowner must have a report from a Connecticut licensed engineer with a severity classification of Class 1, Class 2 or Class 3.

Class 3 is based on a visual examination, where a licensed engineer concludes that the visible cracking patterns are of the kind commonly associated with the deterioration. No core sample is required at that level.

Condominium owners who do not own the foundation beneath their unit may also be eligible for relief.

The Date That Matters to a Sale

This is the provision that turns a building problem into a transaction problem.

A home buyer who purchases after 1 February 2019 must have a report from a professional engineer, issued prior to closing on the sale, in order to be eligible for a claim for reimbursement or replacement of a crumbling foundation.

Why Does That Matter to the Seller?

Because the buyer's eligibility is worth up to $175,000 and it is destroyed by closing without a report. A buyer who understands the rule will insist on an engineer's inspection before completion, which is reasonable and which introduces a step and a possible finding into your sale. A buyer who does not understand it will discover the loss afterwards, and buyers who discover things afterwards are the ones who renegotiate or walk.

We publish no assessments of any individual foundation, and nothing here is engineering or legal advice. Whether a particular foundation contains pyrrhotite is a question for a Connecticut licensed engineer, and questions about disclosure obligations on a specific sale belong with a Connecticut lawyer.

What a Seller Must Disclose

The residential condition report, which residential property owners must use to make specific disclosures to a prospective purchaser, was expanded. Among other things it requires sellers to disclose and explain any knowledge they have about pyrrhotite in the foundation, and it carries a statement that prospective buyers may have a concrete foundation inspected.

Later legislation requires disclosure of all significant defects in a property's foundation even where the seller fails to complete the residential disclosure report, and creates a private right of action allowing buyers to bring a civil suit to recover actual damages from sellers who fail to make the required disclosures.

Does Not Testing Protect Me?

The obligation attaches to knowledge, and deliberately avoiding knowledge is a poor strategy in a state that has created a private right of action about exactly this. It also does not help commercially: every buyer in this region knows the issue exists, so an untested foundation in the affected window is priced as though it were bad. Testing converts a discount into a fact, and the fact is frequently better than the discount.

Two Further Disclosure Duties

Municipal disclosure. Certain municipalities must disclose specified information to prospective purchasers when selling residential properties.

Foreclosed property. Anyone selling residential property acquired through a foreclosure and located in an affected municipality must disclose any knowledge they have of significant defects in the property's foundation, including the presence of pyrrhotite.

That second one reaches investors and lenders as well as households, and it is a reason a buyer with a foreclosure portfolio will care about this question on your property too.

One Restriction Worth Knowing

Assistance is not available to a transferor who received financial assistance to repair or replace the foundation from the Crumbling Foundations Assistance Fund.

So the benefit does not travel indefinitely with the property through successive owners, which is another reason the position needs establishing rather than assumed at the point of a sale.

How a Fire Interacts With All of This

The rebuild sits on it. Where damage is severe, what remains is the foundation, and whether it is sound decides whether rebuilding on it makes sense.

The mechanism is oxygen and water. An open building with a basement taking weather supplies both, for as long as it stands unsecured.

The engineer is coming anyway. A fire file usually involves a structural opinion, and asking that engineer to look at the foundation at the same time is far cheaper than a separate visit later.

The disclosure duty does not pause. Anything a fire-related inspection reveals about the foundation becomes knowledge, and knowledge is what the obligation attaches to.

Your Options, Compared

Get the year, then get an opinion. Cheap, and it decides everything downstream.

Sell with a report in hand. Removes the discount buyers apply for uncertainty and protects the buyer's own eligibility.

Sell without testing. Legal, and you carry the discount and the disclosure question.

Rebuild on an unassessed foundation. The route where the expensive discovery comes after the money has been spent.

Across Hartford and the Region

Exposure varies sharply with geography rather than with distance from the city. The city's own neighbourhoods are covered under Hartford's neighbourhoods, with the most affected areas under east of the river and the northern towns. Further pages deal with the western towns, Tolland County and the quarry towns and the wider region.

Those areas include Manchester, East Hartford, South Windsor and Glastonbury to the east, Windsor, Bloomfield and Enfield to the north, West Hartford, Farmington and Simsbury to the west, and Vernon, Ellington, Stafford and Willington beyond.

The full index is on our service area index.

Rules Questions

When Was My Foundation Poured?

The town's building department and assessor hold the year. A foundation can be newer than the house where there has been a rebuild or an addition.

Do I Need a Core Sample?

Not for every class. Class 3 rests on a visual examination by a Connecticut licensed engineer, with no core sample required.

Is My Town on the List?

Around 41 towns are potentially affected. CFSIC and the Department of Housing publish current information and it is worth checking your own town rather than inferring from a neighbour's.

Primary Sources

Connecticut Public Act 16-45; Public Act 17-2 June Special Session, section 336
Office of Legislative Research reports 2018-R-0239, 2019-R-0184 and 2024-R-0029
CFSIC published claim requirements, severity classes and reimbursement limits
Connecticut Department of Housing crumbling foundations programme materials
Connecticut residential condition report disclosure requirements