As severe storms thundered across the city, Natalie Caruso stood by her bedroom windows Tuesday evening, frantically covering them with heavy duty plastic to keep the wind out.  

"As soon as the alert said take cover, that made me extremely nervous to be upstairs, because I know that I have no insulation in my bedroom,” said Caruso. “So I was so afraid that those windows would fall out."

It wasn't supposed to be this way, not for a home rebuilt under the city's Hurricane Sandy recovery program, Build it Back, at a cost to taxpayers of at least $838,000.

Even for a program plagued by shoddy workmanship and soaring costs, the saga of this home stands out.

Shortly after the initial work was completed, Caruso noticed the house was uneven: the floors were buckling and the doors would not close.

Build It Back contractors returned to fix the problems. But the repairs didn't go as planned.

"They went too hard when they were shifting the house up," Caruso told NY1.

Her bathtub cracked, causing leaks, and kitchen cabinets began to pull away from the wall.

And it's getting worse.

Cracks in the walls are growing larger, and the kitchen floor keeps shifting at the rate of a quarter inch a month. Sit at the table now, and it feels like you're on a boat about to capsize.

"We have to keep putting lifts on the end of the table just so that it stays straight and so you can't really put anything on the table because it would fall off."

City contractors are set to return to the house again next month to fix what they've already fixed, forcing Caruso and her family to pack up for a third time and move out while the work is done.
Doing nothing is not an option.  

"This needs to be done to make the house safe. And sellable," says Caruso.  

Back in February, NY1 made a request under the Freedom of Information Law for all costs associated with the home. That request has not been fulfilled yet, and Build It Back could not provide an estimate for how much the new work is expected to cost.

Matt Viggiano, Press Secretary for Build It Back, issued a statement that reads in part, "This particular home passed all required inspections and was signed off by the Department of Buildings. There are no structural issues. Any repairs will be completed and covered by the contractor."