Foundation ????? (I Did Read The Other Posts)
I'm looking at a house that is in great shape exept some visable cracks in the foundation on the outside of the house and inside basement. I didn't see any water leakage and the sellers do have an FHA loan and the cracks passed their inpection a little over a year ago. The house was built in 1960. I'm going to have a foundation person take a look at it but is there any easy way to cosmetically touch the cracks up if they are not leaking?? I know Home Depot has some cement caulking that an FHA inspector wanted me to use on a house I sold that had minor cracks. Any thoughts??????? A couple cracks on the outside are at least an inch wide 
Thanks--Jim
Quote:
On 2003-12-22 16:54, tomjerry200 wrote:
didn't see any water leakage and the sellers do have an FHA loan and the cracks passed their inpection a little over a year ago. The house was built in 1960. I'm going to have a foundation person take a look at it but is there any easy way to cosmetically touch the cracks up if they are not leaking?? I know Home Depot has some cement caulking that an FHA inspector wanted me to use on a house I sold that had minor cracks. Any thoughts??????? A couple cracks on the outside are at least an inch wide Thanks--Jim
Hi Jim,
Cracks that are 1 inch wide are not minor. Yes it is common to have cracks in the foundation or brick veneer as the years go by.....not not 1 inch wide.
I just bought a fixer upper that dates back to the early 40's, all brick, and there is not a crack that is larger than 1/8 inch yet alone 1 inch.
It is common to have to point up the bed / head mortar joints which may be 1/2 at most.
I would investigate further on the inside of the house as well, paying particular attention to doorways and windows, looking for major cracks as well.
By the way, have any of the cracks actually gone through the brick itself or is it just in the joints?
I have to agree. 1 inch cracks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOWW!!!!!!!
Ask yourself: Where did the 1 inch space between the 2 sides of the crack come from?
Answer - from the walls/structure/house(take your pick) moving at least 1/2-1 inch latterally in opposite directions!
This would make me pretty nervous.
I agree with all of you. the funny thing is that there truly is no leakage-----at least not yet. Best case scenario---I know of a guy who buys wholesale and is a foundation specialist. He would probably love this house.
Thanks for the advice. Cracks (concrete) scare the heck out of me.
Jim
Where does one go to learn foundation repair? It seems like it would be a lucrative business. Does anyone know of any foundation companies for sale in OK?
Foundations here in the wilds of LaLa land are really pretty much where we all begin. After all we do have the occasional earthquake and many many fault lines. So with us it is something that we play at almost on a daily basis.
Of course in the hills it is something else, indication of improper soil considerations at time of construction. If you do not solve that situation the rest of your endeavors are wasted cause you will be be notified of the cracks as time goes by.
I am the proud creator of what is called the Nine Cassion System for building on a hillside with a really major downslope. I pride myself in creating the rounded bottom of a cassion, thus allowing the nine cassions to indulge in sort of a dance at time of ground disturbance. The Grade beams holding everything together. At the end of the jiggle, I usualy get in my little VW pickup truck and go to visit my many children (houses) scattered throughout the Hollywood Hills. I have never had a failure, although one of the houses on a similar downslope lot, next door, did respond to the push of gravity and slid all the way to the bottom. The lady who had been drinking the night before, rode her king size bed all the way to the bottom and emerged with nothing more then a large splinter imbeded in her left Buttocks. This was rather convenient as she was left handed. Of course the accompanying electric cord and vibratory control had been destroyed. I believed the items were covered by insurance.
All in all a fun time in the early morning.
Cheers Lucius
I agree I'd have a foundation expert check it out. I'd want him to check to see that the proper amount of steel (rebar) was used in the footings.
One inch is a pretty big crack as stated. Patching is hard to match up great. Might consider a coat of cement paint or concrete stain (mottled verigated color to hide imperfections). Additional landscape shrubs work well too. Of course this is only to cover a cosmetic problem.
Good luck,
Terry
I would be interested in how a foundation expert is going to tell you how much rebar was used in the foundation? X-ray the thing?
I would love to know more about this, if there is something here that I don't know about.
Hi,
I've been told some folks have used metal detectors...but I've not tried this .
I'm not a foundation expert, but I've come upon a few foundation problems such as the large cracks in the slab. Both the sides of the slab visible above ground and slabs with large cracks on the floor of the house (new construction, not my company ). Two causes of course, footings not dug to proper depth, solid ground, or not enough steel used and/or not proper placement of the steel. Only way to know for sure if it's the later, is to jackhammer out a small section, check for steel, it's placement, and check the depth of the footer itself. Obviously this can't be done on a basement (practically), but it works on ground level slabs.
I am assuming also that nothing was wrong with the concrete mix itself.
I cannot imagine dealing with building in an earthquake area. But if I did, I'd want to use monolithic steel-reinforced concrete homes or Lufos steel container homes!
Terry
Right on prior posters.
To answer your question, yes I have xrayed steel grade beams in search of non present proper no 5's Reed Barss.
Needless to say the prior builder had neglected to install the items in question but I had my answer. This was on a cassion constructed dwelling high in the hills of Hollywood. Funny thing was that the cassions were correct, just in the grade beams. Go Figure that one.
I had tried one of those items you use in a mine field but for some reason no reading. Of course latter on I found out why, no steel. But I needed an answer either positive or negative, so I spent the money and did the xrays. Lovely pictures. The attorney built a case on it and achieved a really spectacular settlement. Yes I did redo the grade beam what a task, one of the few times it really rained in sunny LaLa land.
Cheers Lucius