crack-ed house

Originally Posted By: evandeven
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Ths home was built in 1999. The engineer has been called.


This house really is a “crack” house. It was raided by the Federal Marshal.


![](upload://M57jZNlYpEyfw6JxxGED4CrFzX.jpeg)



http://www.nachi.org/bbsystem/usrimages/crack2.jpg[/img]

http://www.nachi.org/bbsystem/usrimages/crack3.jpg[/img]



Here is the pool at this house:
http://www.nachi.org/bbsystem/usrimages/pool.jpg[/img]

This is the top of the garage:
http://www.nachi.org/bbsystem/usrimages/Garage1.jpg[/img]

This is the exterior wall of the garage. If you look close, you can see the step cracking.


This is one of the wndows. They all looked like this one:

This crack runs around the entire exterior of the home:
http://www.nachi.org/bbsystem/usrimages/Wall-foundation.jpg[/img]


--
Eric Van De Ven
Owner/Inspector
Magnum Inspections Inc.
I get paid to be suspicious when there is nothing to be suspicious about!
www.magnuminspections.com

Originally Posted By: ismetaniuk
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This membership was a big waste of my time!



Igor


Top To Bottom Inspections


Glen Spey, NY

Originally Posted By: evandeven
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Not yet, Igor.


This builder is no longer around and several of his homes have failed in the same manner. There was a large crack in the living room floor that ran the width of the home which parallels the cracking on the exterior, which is what I was told by the potential buyer. This house is only four years old. I have seen this movie before and I know how it ends!



Eric Van De Ven


Owner/Inspector


Magnum Inspections Inc.


I get paid to be suspicious when there is nothing to be suspicious about!


www.magnuminspections.com

Originally Posted By: Rusty Rothrock
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Eric -


Is this a true stucco house or a Dryvit type product?

If I had to guess (hearing about the parallel crack in the floor) I would say that the concrete footings where not substantial enough, or there was bad (or fill) soil at the foundation wall, or the back hoe man didn't dig down deep enough to solid dirt, or the concrete for the footings was diluted down. As you can see, there could be a number of possibilities. It appears that the foundation has dropped or moved some, thereby causing the crack on the floor as well.

Regards,
Rusty Rothrock
Richmond, VA


Originally Posted By: gbeaumont
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Hi Eric


your photos have me intrigued, is this a builder problem or is it related to the Flordia sink hole issue.?



Gerry Beaumont


NACHI Education Committee


e-mail : education@nachi.org


NACHI phone 484-429-5466


Inspection Depot Education
gbeaumont@inspectiondepot.com

"Education is a journey, not a destination"

Originally Posted By: evandeven
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This house is a CBS home built on a monolithic slab.


This area was swamp before the developments were constructed, so fill had to be brought in. A lot of the fill consisted of dead trees, tires, and other undesirable materials. This area is located in Coral Springs and is where the Honda Classic used to be played.


There was another home I inspected two years ago and it had the same symptoms. It was a different builder and it required $5,000.00 worth of structural work. Holes had to be drilled in the slab and concrete was pumped in to re-support the failing areas. I haven’t checked back with the owner on how it is doing.



Eric Van De Ven


Owner/Inspector


Magnum Inspections Inc.


I get paid to be suspicious when there is nothing to be suspicious about!


www.magnuminspections.com

Originally Posted By: kbliss
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Eric,


I`m in N. central Fl. and I see a lot of cracks in CBS homes. The cracks usually follow the block more or less around the mortor joints. I am guessing this is not the case with your house? When I see the cracks I mentioned, I usually figure it is just a case of the house settling. Now these cracks I see are basicallyare hair line cracks. I always put them in my report as typical cracks from the house settling. If the builder used organic materials to fill the area the I would guess there will be a lot of uncommon settling.


Kurt Bliss


Originally Posted By: mpetner
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Hi Eric,


Vertical cracks in walls usually result from excessive differential loading. Some causes of this could be from settlement, like from poor soils as you already explained exist, or from drainage problems that could have undermined the foundation. How?s the drainage around the perimeter and how?s the condition of the roof drains/leaders? There could have been excessive loading from above, too. Maybe the previous owners liked alot of waterbeds, but that?s probably stretching it. Also, hydraulic expansion from the soils could cause excessive upward pressure against the foundation. Furthermore, settlement can cause horizontal cracks if the house was built on damp expansive soils that later dried up and shrank. All sorts of things could have happened.

Hopefully these cracks do not extend into the footing/foundation. It appears as though they haven?t really separated so maybe your in good shape. If they do, maybe the cracks should be monitored over time to determine how critical their conditions are. Good luck. It looks like a pretty nice looking house, except for that big crack in the living room floor.


Originally Posted By: evandeven
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I am going back to finish the inspection on this house today. An engineer went out and gave my client and estimate of $10,000.00 to fix the foundation problems.



Eric Van De Ven


Owner/Inspector


Magnum Inspections Inc.


I get paid to be suspicious when there is nothing to be suspicious about!


www.magnuminspections.com

Originally Posted By: jmyers
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Eric,


Ewww....kinda salty don't you think? Diggin a hole and pouring concrete in it really isn't that complicated is it?

Maybe Michael the engineer can help me understand that one. What do you say Michael, can you help me out here with what exactly need to be done here?

Joe Myers


Originally Posted By: evandeven
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They have to drill holes in the foundation and pump concrete under the home to fill in the voids. Pressure-creting is the term that was used by the engineer.


I just left a house which is the twin to this one only on a smaller scale. We are waiting to here from the engineer on this one. This house is smaller and was built in 1997.



Eric Van De Ven


Owner/Inspector


Magnum Inspections Inc.


I get paid to be suspicious when there is nothing to be suspicious about!


www.magnuminspections.com

Originally Posted By: mpetner
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Hi guys,


Sorry, but not really. Not by just looking at a few pictures and not without knowing all the details.


Based on the pictures I saw, the cracks didn?t look too bad, but you did say that a big crack extended in the interior, so that changes things. I would think you would want to monitor the cracks to determine if they?re active or not before doing any major foundation work. Unfortunately, that takes time. Did the engineer state how critical the problem is?


I?ve seen the city of Philadelphia authorities vacate properties when they have reason to believe that a structure was unsafe. I?ve seen them install strain guages, much like the ones in those home inspection professional equipment catalogues, over cracks to monitor crack activity. Crack activity could give you a good picture on what kind of differential settlement is occurring. This process could take quite some time. I guess what I?m saying is that, in some cases, it could take weeks (or more) to practically determine settlement activity. I would not want to spend big bucks on foundation work if the foundation was stabile.

I?m sure the engineer?s evaluation was accurate. Foundation work is rarely cheap. After jacking up the house and then stabilzing the foundation, the costs undoubtedly would be high. I'm interested in how critical the problem is. Does is warrant immediate action?


Originally Posted By: evandeven
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I just returned from the house and the inside is just as bad. There are three cracks about 12 feet apart running the length of the home from front to back. There are step cracks on the insides of both garage wall corners that parallel the exterior cracks.After reading the engineers report, the cost will be about $20,000.00 and they are going to install 10 piers under the foundation.



Eric Van De Ven


Owner/Inspector


Magnum Inspections Inc.


I get paid to be suspicious when there is nothing to be suspicious about!


www.magnuminspections.com

Originally Posted By: matthew berman
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eric ,did the engineer mention that the home could be built on a sink hole, they do occure down there.------matt


Originally Posted By: evandeven
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No,it isn’t a sinkhole, at least in the conventional way. There was low water pressure on the hot side of two fixtures(showers) and the dishwasher when it was filling. there may be a break in the hot water feed line which may be washing away the soil under the home causing the cracks in the interior floor. A plumber is going out to test that tomorrow.



Eric Van De Ven


Owner/Inspector


Magnum Inspections Inc.


I get paid to be suspicious when there is nothing to be suspicious about!


www.magnuminspections.com

Originally Posted By: jmyers
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Hey,


What's life without a little crack?

Joe Myers