I don’t know how much Geo’s are in your are in your area… but recently I found the buyer noting my “tiny” fee of $550 vs the $1400 for the Geo.
“The brick cladding had multiples areas with mortar deterioration and cracking. Have a qualified mason provide estimates to make all necessary repairs of the mortar and brickwork at the exterior cladding.”
This was from a report a few months back. There was cracking in quite a few different area around the house. There were no issues that I could find that would indicate excessive movement of the house. Doors and windows were free of cracks and movement in the interior.
Received a call from the Realtor that they had two different masons giving two different opinions. One wanted to repoint the cracks the other was stating that it was a structural issue that needed to be fixed.
Good point Troy. I think it’s impossible to really determine what’s going on after a 10 minute visual inspection.
Randy is a very well appreciated, objective contributor to this MB and he is practical with first hand experience, unlike a lot of other engineers.
Any new guys should pay very close attention to Randy’s posts if they want to accelerate their learning curve. Kudos to Juan for showing the initiative to learn fast and admit a mistake or two along the way. Juan is on the road to doing well in his new business.
Thanks Pete! I felt like **** a day for over reporting but it’s part of the job. Thanks I everyone for helping me in this learning experience.
Never apologize for “over-reporting.” It’s always better than “under-reporting.”
If you “don’t know,” you over-report (defer) to be safe. Otherwise, you are ignoring a potential issue that could come back to bite you.
I totally agree Jeff. That is more or less why I reported the way I did.
Actually the stairs in the front of house were sinking into the ground. That’s why I reported the way I did.
Just did an inspection today - sellers inspection actually, where the broker recommended an inspection because of some fairly significant cracks in several rooms near the front of the building. The building is about 85 - 100 years old. Cracks in some plaster walls were about 1/4 inch and space below the base moulding of more than an inch and I thought i might be referring an SE here. Everyone was interested to hear my opinion but I said that I need to assess the whole house before I would comment - always reserve your comments in these situations until you are positive you have the right answer, I have learned this the hard way.
After inspecting all floors and basement I came up with the following conclusion. The settlement was caused by a main girder in the basement that rotted at the bearing end on the foundation wall that settled down about 1-1/2 inches and there was fairly extensive decay of the wood floor structure in the basement due to rot. In addition it also appeared that a bearing partition in the 2nd floor had been removed. No structural cracks in the foundation therefore it was pretty apparent the settlement and cracks could be attributed to the decay and settlement of the wood structure.
In this case, I will refer a qualified contractor, not an SE, as replacement of the wood framing members is the likely solution - although I will not make recommendations on HOW to repair. Just thought I would share since it was related to the OP.
I think you need a GEO and a foundation contractor to make the “seal” repair to the garage slab. You need to dig down and see how far it goes. If you don’t repair the slab then you will always have problems with the brick above in my opinion. Water penetrates freezes and simply could cause more problems that why in my opinion everyone is telling you to monitor it.
PS… SE no from what I’ve learned especially through Jeff no you don’t need a SE. However I stopped referring them. I simply call for a foundation contractor then in may verbiage I tell the client “who may refer to a SE for further investigation”. This in my opinion takes the SE off my shoulders and puts in on someone such as a foundation contractor who is the expert.
I save referrals for when I don’t “know” the answer. When I know something is wrong, I just state what’s wrong. Ideally, when someone comes behind me it’s to correct something, not to look over my shoulder.
If in your assessment, you were unsure, then the right thing to do is recommend they seek an expert opinion. I wouldn’t consider that over reporting. Over time, you will be able to do this less and less.
Avoid being the inspector that sees something obviously wrong and recommends a specialist come inspect behind you. I hate seeing reports that say little more than hire a roofer, hire a plumber, hire an electrician, hire an HVAC contractor, etc. to come behind me and inspect all the things you just paid me to inspect.
I don’t know about in your area, but in mine, most all garage slabs are “floating” and will have NO effect on the brick, unless the damage is so severe it effects the foundation footings and walls. It is a very rare occassion that I ever see one poured as if a “slab-on-grade” home as you are describing.
Note: Reread post #1. There is no mention of damage to the slab.
Another useless statement!
Yep.
Quit hiding and go answer Mikes question in the other thread!
Are we playing hide and seek.
Keep laughing liar.
I would love to hear your opinion on why my post is:
Because KEVIN WOOD the CMI liar says so Jeff. 
Slow down guys I can’t keep up with the POSTs.