I got an Internachi inspector for a house I am buying. I am glad she looked behind the finished basement to discover this horizontal crack in the concrete block foundation, but I wish she made it a point to perform a structural inspection to rule out foundation problems, or inform me that this was not done.
I am wondering, from the looks of it, is it an urgent crack in a bowed concrete wall foundation, and does it look like the blocks were filled with cement? If I just support the wall with beams inside up against it, strong enough to hold the house should the foundation fail, and get rid of poor rain water drainage on the soil side, will I be fine for a few years? Or is it an immediate danger of having the mud on the other side break the wall open and dump into the basement?
I am wondering if the wooden structure is somewhat holding the foundation from bowing in? It is built like shelves and a finished basement, so I am guessing the original owner was trying to hide the crack before selling the house, and also support the foundation temporarily. There is actually a smaller crack in the picture two blocks above the one she noticed it seems.
From the snapshot of the report it looks like she properly identified the crack in the foundation and made the recommendation that you get further evaluation and repairs done.
Have you taken her advice and hired a structural engineer to evaluate and give you a quote on repairs?
I do not understand what more you want from her. She did her job. Did you follow thru on her advice? If so, what did the structural engineer of foundation specialist tell you?
She told me there were no major issues with the house, the crack was not identified as a major issue, but one of seemingly equal importance with the other minor issues she found. She should have highlighted this as a potentially issue. However, I am wondering if the foundation cracked because of premature backfilling during original construction and has not moved in the 80 years since?
The crack may not be a major issue. I don’t know. Neither does she. That is why she made a recommendation to get further analysis, and repair as needed. (It may or may not need repair). Determining the cause and age of the crack is not in the scope of a home inspection. She found visual evidence of a crack and documented it in the report along with advice for your next step.
Did you follow her advice as documented in the report?
This is O Connor or 1 of his friends etc, Hi Dan—O, have any brews left?
Play along, from the lil info ya slapped up, the HI did her job ‘rec further evaluation’, ya dig?
yes, the wall needs to be dug up on the exterior and waterproofed and backfilled correctly, NOT put a pathetic INT system inside w/some stupid wall anchors or dumb carbon F straps.
I don’t care what is on the exterior of some of these bowed in walls , multiple EXT cracks in wall, if there’s a porch or patio etc the wall needs to be waterproofed etc as mentioned, shtt a porch and-or its footing or patio etc may be one of the reasons/causes of some of the cracks, movement etc, got it?
NO installation of any type of interior basement drainage system would reapir/waterproof the exterior cracks in walls like this,THEY WOULDN’T STOP FURTHER WATER PENETRATION!!!
And they don’t remove, relieve,reduce ANY of the lateral soil pressure, possible underground tree roots etc OFF these walls = Idddiotzzzz
engineer report, ‘Long term WATER PENETRATION THROUGH the exterior block wall caused blocks to DISINTEGRATE which resulted in the collapse of the basement wall’
interior basement drainage systems do not STOP ANY water penetration through these walls/cracks, never have n never will, duuuh!
re—grading, raising n sloping the grade does NOT repair/waterproof any EXT cracks n will not keep all water/rain OFF-OF the entrie depth of these walls, ta Drrrreamin’ whether its California style or NJ etc. Pouring MORE concrete on top on existing concrete doesn’t either, in fact will cause more weight/pressure acting upon the dang wall
A professional structural engineer is beyond the scope of a home inspection.
If you have an inspection agreement you may want to review it for what is and is not included.
Inform you it was not done? Like mold assessments, asbestos, etc.
Again look @ your agreement. Perhaps you should be pointing the finger at yourself not the inspector.
How is the inspector going to be able to see the severity of the crack when it has paneling covering the wall. Get real the inspector does not have x-ray vision.
It’s not her job to do structural inspection. Read your Inspection agreement and inspection report again. She reported what she saw. It’s your job to follow up on those observations. It is not her’s to tell you what you do or not do about anything.
It seems to be that you have a sour taste in your mouth that this wasn’t called out as a major defect in the report. Please understand that a major is not a major until confirmed by a specialist. As stated in previous post she did her job and noted the defect, now it is up to you to hire a specialist to evaluate and put a dollar value to it. You have not yet stated whether this has been done or not, if you looking for an evaluation from us you probably won’t get it. Please follow the advise of your inspector.
John,
Yes, I would recommend that you have a qualified structural professional look at this crack. It is significant. The report note that is shown above the photo’s states that it should have “further evaluation”. That indicates that the home inspector has found a condition that is outside the scope of a general home inspector and needs a specialist to look at it. From the looks of the picture, the home inspector may have felt that the crack had been there for quite some time and maybe it wasn’t an immediate concern, but the note mentioning “Recommend further evaluation” shows that it is a concern that should be looked into further. the report needs to be read in it’s entirety and not just scanned for the highlights or summary.
Based upon the 2 pictures I might have said one of these 3 comments …
We were unable to fully view the foundation walls, structural components, etc due to finish materials obstructing access. This prevents the inspector from seeing, testing or having access to every area or component. In brief, it prevents the inspector from accessing and checking everything. Concealed defects are not within the scope of our inspection. Along with defects that might not have been seen due to such conditions, there may be deferred maintenance or items needing service or repair. We recommend that you have a competent foundation contractor or licensed structural engineer evaluate this prior to leaving your due diligence period.
The foundation has undergone movement and/or cracking at some point in time We did NOT see that previous repairs have been made. We recommend evaluation by a licensed structural engineer to determine if a repairs are needed.
In my opinion the foundation is not performing as intended and may need structural repair. Different people have different experience or tolerances, and another professional’s opinion may differ from mine. We urge you to ask a Competent Foundation Contractor or a Licensed Structural Engineer for a second opinion and to determine if a repair is needed. and if so what the repair would be.
