I was inspecting a home built in 2006 and notice several areas of settlement inside the garage and exterior areas. An addition, the stucco siding looks like it was recently sealed and painted over. I wonder if the settlement cause this as well. Please provide advice if this is normal for homes in humid climate or should I refer the client to see a structural engineer?
Thank you
You should fill out your profile so people know where you are.
What is the right answer in one region may not be the right answer somewhere else.
IMO the general movement evidence in the OP dosen’t look normal. In the third picture the soil errosion would indicate a lot of water moving through that area but it is hard to tell from the one picture whether it is coming from under the slab or towards the slab. Either way just from those few pictures I would want to recommend a structural or soil compaction engineer to look over what is going on. My basic reason is that much visible movement hasn’t occured over decades but over only 10 years. Has the original owner indicated when all the last repairs to the wall covering was carried out or are they not willing to devulge that? To me that would also be an indicator that something abnormal was going on.
Seeing as how from your web site you are in the Orlando region and I have read about severe soil movement (sink holes and the like) that kind of house movement would be a concern.
Thanks for the response!!
I’m not a pro but doesn’t look bad to me. Stucco just like concrete cracks, just the nature of the product. The void under the concrete could be anything like from a down spout not discharging properly. If I saw cracks that started smaller or larger then where it ends I might be concur but now all cracks are thin and equal size. I would mention about the cracks and recommend to monitor.
