This house appears to be sliding down the hill, not the least of which is evidenced by the stress on the gas meter at the side of the house.:shock:
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Garage foundation was unbelievable, cracks, uneven upheaval, etc.
Lots of uneven floors, cracks at all window corners, ceiling cracks, etc.
DEFINATELY calling out for a structural analysis by a licensed structural engineer.
This was probably the most issues I’ve seen yet…and I’ve only uploaded the 5 of some 125 images of problems I saw.
Jeff, I’m sure you saw it but if not go to the "Additional topics "column and read the post called “for all the experts here” about the woman’s new house that is total junk, being pushed up out of the ground.
Couple of years ago…50 year-old house on a hill in a known slide area…house had slid forward about 2 inches…evidenced by separations in the block foundation wall and the rear was 2" forward from the rear foundation. Recommended structural engineer to determine the integrity of the structure.
Client was a flipper. I know what he did–he covered the openings in the foundation walls with a parge coat…removed the botton wall siding board in the rear and laid a concrete patio against it so it would not show.
The were numerous other severe issues with this place–mostly electrical and HVAC. I offered to forget the inspection if he wanted and we could move on to something more livable, but he went ahead with the “renovation”. I doubt that he even got permits.
…and then there was a house built in 1824–nice place, except in the basement where the entire front rim and base structure had been totally devoured by termites. And the added posts in the basement to prop up the weak beams (the posts were not secure on the basement floor–no footing underneath). Other than that, nice house.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot–steel roof…sheathing rotting away…not protection or support for the roof–metal rusted.
But, nice house…unless you want to consider a couple of second floor rooms that had a 2 1/2" slope in an 18 foot span.
Flip house in Jackson, Ms. Lot sloped about 8 degrees, back to front. Expansive clay soil, lots of hydrostatic pressure from the back (higher) portion of the lot. The guy had done a lot of cosmetic stuff inside (go figure, huh?), but the curtain wall was literally being shoved from under the house. Some of the curtain wall was completely crumbled, separations 2 to 3 inches in several places. Corner trim boards on the front bowed out at the bottom about 5 inches. Gummy wet in the crawlspace, bowing joists everywhere, tilting brick piers, makeshift treated wood 4X4 piers resting on 2X12 planks were his answer to the problem. I shudder every time I think about the whole thing giving way while I was under there. I actually had a couple of nightmares about it. I could go on and on, but I’m starting to get that feeling again…:shock:
Hi Guys,
Yes, there was plenty of additional evidence of movement.
This is in whats called the “Broadmoor Area”, up against the foothils of the Rockies front range, here in Colorado Springs.
The client is an “investor” and this was proving to be eye-opening for both of us…:shock:
Steven, From a home inspector view you should call out a sturctural engineer and you may want to receommend a geo-technical engineer…
That comment geo technical engineer saved me from losing my company when the home owner took everyone to court… I was off the hook due to my comments and recommendations…
The Broadmoor area is going to have expansive/unstable soil. There’s a significant difference between “settling”, which is vertical movement and common, and “sliding down the hill” which is lateral movement and unusual. If that house is relatively new, inadequate compaction is probably part of the problem.
Either way, it’s bad, and I’d recommend a Structural Engineer, because along the Front Range they’re used to this problem and he’ll be able to design something to deal with it. A soils engineer may only identify the problem, recommend an SE design a solution, and even though the SE will charge for design, your client will only pay for one person.
