Cracks in New Foundation - Problem or Okay?
Dawn D
3 years ago
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millworkman
3 years agoRelated Discussions
Need help, crack in foundation
Comments (14)Are the sides of the crack still in plane (flat)? Is the crack even or tapered from footer to the top of the wall? Do the floor and wall cracks line up? Even a few inches apart at the wall floor junction means they may be from the same cause. Without a long term resident (and they are not always that reliable if they are the owner) the repair work may have covered over other shifting. Why was the main beam replaced? It is very hard to predict how a crack will behave if it is relatively new. If it has been there for many years and NOT altered much it is not likely to be a problem. Sometimes you can tell the age of the crack by looking for debris that worked its way in....See MoreWall Cracking = Foundation Problems? Help! - very long
Comments (4)sdello, yes we are on landfill and in 1990 post-tension slab was the thing to do in this area. What does that mean that the slab should be supported on grade beams? Do you mean they should dig up around the foundation (now that would be an expensive job as it is pretty much cement all the way around the house) and put some sort of pilings into the soil? We are not the original owners, but are the first people to live there. The original owners bought on spec to make a profit. The first year the builder would calk things, but then they moved on to their next development and then went out of business under that name. I would say that for the most part all these cracks have been there at least 10 of the 15 years in varying degrees. I used to caulk the ones I could reach, but never touched the cracks where the walls meet the ceiling. Funny thing, until I started wearing my glasses at home, I never even noticed them, but with my glasses everything came into focus. :-\ Some of the patches they originally did have held up the last 12 years or so. Some just kept spreading. I think made a mistake installing plantation sutters on all the windows before the settling stopped or at least slowed down as both sides of the house have sticking problems with the shutters. That was putting pressure on the opening. From the very beginning there was not a straight wall in the entire house and wall sections from top to bottom weren't even the same measurement, meaning left to right. We pretty much have patio surrounding 3 sides of the house, no contact with dirt, and then one section of the front is the driveway/garage, next to that is a planterbox area and then next to that is the frontdoor. I'd say the only sections that are exposed to dirt would be a section of the living room that is about 6'. I'd say it has probably been at a slow rate, but just never paid a whole lot of attention to it until I realized the amount of money we were spending for remodeling two bathrooms, kitchen and laundry room, also carpeting and whole interior painting. We have never painted the interior for the whole 15 years. Just minor touchups where I caulked or where there was a little wear and tear. The windows all operate, though both sides of the house, a couple windows are definitely out of square. Of course, they were like that when we moved in at 1 year old. I had the builder redo the one window, but didn't check it right away, but found that he didn't really do a great job replacing it level anyway. I'd say the areas where I patched myself, and didn't do the job right, just adding caulking and painting over it, some held up ok, others just kept reappearing after a few months or year. This was supposed to be our "forever home", so we are really upset that there might be a problem. We are hoping that this is just part of the pain of living on landfill and that there is no major problem. Can't afford to do repairs and remodel and the kitchens and bathrooms......See MoreFoundation cracks during build
Comments (84)No engineer will falsify a report or create an unworkable solution. But the element of unconscious bias that creates a prior restraint to thought processs enters into any transaction. An engineer may see that issue and right away think of Solution A. And know that it is the best choice for the home‘s long term viability. But she also also knows that it is the builder who is paying for that choice, and the builder will want something more cost effective. So, Solution B for Budget and C for Costcutting are developed. Neither are as good as Solution A, but they get the builder out of the immediate jam, at a price he is willing to pay. And the contractor presents B and C, to the customer, without ever even mentioning A. Because A never made it into the report at all, because the engineer knew that the cheapskate hack would not pay for it, and would rather just walk away from the project. The customer might have wanted the best solution, not the cheapest solution. The customer might even have been willing to pay the cost difference between the expensive and the cheap solution. But the customer didn’t pay for an independent report to go to them with the recommended beat solution included, as well as any others. Any design is only as good as the available budget for implementing the design. If an engineer consistently recommended the most costly approach, even though it was the best approach, she’d stop getting any calls from builders. Which might not be a bad thing for the engineer, as who in this industry likes dealing with cheap hacks?...See MoreHorizontal Cracks on Foundation.
Comments (8)If you're looking at using your" life savings" and from your comments, I see that this is your first house buying experience, what better investment are you going to make other than having the house inspected regardless of cost? There are always going to be foundation or other problems or some other issue that will arise over time but if you go into the deal with all the information at your disposal, you will at least start with a clear idea of what you have to work with. Clay soils have their own issues regardless of where in the country you find them but basing your buying decision on one house "down the block" without knowing the maintenance history behind that one structure is just looking for an excuse to keep looking. Please don't think I'm getting on your case but after being a homeowner for 50+ years and dealing with single and small multifamily real estate across the US for 20+ years before I retired (not as a realtor), and anytime someone says they don't want to investigate every possible aspect of buying a home because it's too expensive, I tend to say that whatever it costs to get all the inspections necessary before you sign on the dotted line is the cheapest insurance you'll ever buy. Those inspections will also give you a basis of any changes that happen going forward as the years go by. It also gives you a valid bargaining point with the seller should those inspections find something (bad) that the owner "forgot to mention" during the mandatory seller's condition statement usually required by law....See MoreJoseph Corlett, LLC
3 years agoDawn D
3 years agomillworkman
3 years agoDawn D
3 years agoMark Bischak, Architect
3 years agostrategery
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoFlo Mangan
3 years agoDawn D
3 years ago
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