A mineral known as pyrrhotite, occurring naturally in New England, is wreaking havoc among Massachusetts homeowners. Pyrrhotite causes concrete, the foundation material of many homes in central Massachusetts, to deteriorate and then crumble. When pyrrhotite deterioration is discovered, the homeowner has two equally undesirable choices: make costly repairs or risk collapse of the home’s foundation.
Due to the extent of the work required, it is not uncommon for repairs to cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. According to a FEMA According to a case study on pyrrhotite in neighboring Connecticut, the only way to properly repair a foundation where pyrrhotite has been discovered is to “lift the house off the foundation and completely replace all the concrete.”
Many homeowners get an even more unpleasant surprise when they discover that their homeowner’s insurance doesn’t cover repairs. Many others have no insurance at all. Even if they did, the problem for insurers in covering pyrrhotite damage is that it does its devastating work slowly over time. If the foundation is destroyed immediately, catastrophic loss coverage may come into effect.
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However, pyrrhotite takes years to destroy a foundation. For this reason, insurers in the area have adopted a policy of refusing to cover repair costs associated with pyrrhotite damage. This makes the problem worse for homeowners. Many banks and lenders in the area are reluctant to lend homeowners the money they need to make repairs, even if they have equity in their home.
Loan underwriters take a purely risk- and numbers-based approach to loan approval. Under these conditions, why would they lend money on an asset whose foundations are crumbling? If the owner defaults, the bank will be forced to seize an investment from the crumbling foundations and try to recoup that money at a public auction. This sounds like a recipe for losing money.
All of this has a devastating effect on homeowners. Many have horror stories where they suddenly find themselves in a situation where their most prized possession loses all value unless they make repairs they cannot afford. Even if they attempt to sell, real estate disclosure laws will require them to inform the buyer of the presence of pyrrhotite in the foundation. Decades of asset appreciation are being erased.
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Few things make a home less desirable than knowing its foundation is crumbling and could cost several hundred thousand dollars to repair. The saddest part of this story is that the fate of many affected houses was sealed the day their foundations were poured. Because pyrrhotite occurs naturally, it inevitably found its way into the concrete supply of quarries across the state.
For several decades, Massachusetts developers ordered and poured countless tons of pyrrhotite-contaminated concrete. Unfortunately for the affected owners, the slow pace of destruction of the pyrrhotite meant that they were well past the time frame within which they could still hold their builders responsible for the damage.
State laws have also been updated and quarries are now required to test their concrete for pyrrhotite before shipping it. However, this only provides future relief and residents facing pyrrhotite-related foundation degradation are currently suffering.
Many are uniting to fight back by seeking legislative relief by forcing Massachusetts to adopt a solution similar to that used by Connecticut to resolve its pyrrhotite problem. State Sen. Ryan Fattman is one of the bill’s strongest supporters.
In a meeting with affected property owners, he said, “This is the primary mechanism for how we can create a statewide program similar to what Connecticut did, where they added fees to homeowners insurance, then put that money into a fund to finance. changing the foundations of houses that have these pyrrhotite foundations that are crumbling and that’s what we’re hoping to do here.
The future of the legislation is unclear; however, there appears to be consensus that something needs to be done. Otherwise, Massachusetts homeowners could continue to see their property values decline as pyrrhotite slowly destroys their home’s foundation from the inside out. This would ultimately affect county budgets across the state, because assessments on private property are how most Massachusetts counties fund vital services like public education, fire and police.
Pyrrhotite is a natural problem that few people could have predicted. Now that it is, Massachusetts lawmakers, homeowners and insurance companies must come to a mutually agreeable solution. Otherwise, this damn natural mineral could potentially threaten the foundations of the Massachusetts real estate market.
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