Went to a house we have under contract for inspections yesterday and wanted to get some second opinions about this.
The house is 30 years old and this break in the wall sits below the basement level, which itself sits below the main floor.
We actually did not notice this crack during the walkthrough and caught it by accident when documenting poor gutter drains. It’s too low to see if it would be on the inside, and it’s near a finished part of the basement anyway. We didn’t really see any other major cracks on the inside.
We got one opinion that it is a “seam” rather than a crack. However, it looks irregular to me, but I don’t know enough about foundation pouring and structural issues to have a clue.
Thanks for any insight or advice on this. Is it normal? Should we bail? Or do we need to get an engineer out there?
One thing to look at more closely is the paint in that area. Is there a crack in the paint, to indicate that there has been any movement since it was painted?
Do you know the age of the building?
Do you know when the house was painted?
That seems to be the consensus, it’s a seam - this is just me being ignorant for not knowing about the pouring process. Thanks both you and Brian for the reassurance.
Unfortunately we have no more photos of this particular spot, it was caught by accident and I was just reviewing everything in the report. The building is 30 years old, not sure on the age of the paint, but it does not look like the paint itself has cracked.
AJ, it was a very reasonable and good question to ask. The vast majority of folks don’t know much about the construction process and even home inspectors still have a lot of the same questions and come here for answers and knowledge.
Your inspector probably saw what most here have stated, thought it being a non-issue and didn’t think it necessary for the report. I personally, take pictures of things like this and note it my report as a FYI for my client so they won’t call me later asking what it is and why wasn’t it in my report.
A.J. this is what you are looking at, it’s referred to in the industry as a cold joint and not a seam. The term cold joint is a joint that is formed between two layers of concrete when the second concrete layer is placed after the first layer has begun to set or solidify. If you did an online search using the key words “understanding cold joints in concrete” you can find many websites with information on this.
It appears that the foundation has a large step down at this corner of the house. Because of the hydraulic forces the concrete produces in step downs, contractors will pour the lower level of the step first, usually with dryer concrete, and allow it to set up some while they pour other portions of the wall. They will then finish the higher portion of the step. This technique is very common practice as it helps prevent the concrete from gushing out of the forms at the bottom. Unfortunately it can create an unsightly joint as you have there if the lower portion is left to set for too long. Pouring a foundation in lifts, or layers, can produce the same thing. Since the foundation contractor used wooden forms on this wall, the whole thing was likely poured in lifts. Cold joints are not necessarily a huge issue, even though they can be. The severity of this one or any issues it could or could not cause cannot be determined by a simple picture, however. The facts that the house is 30 years old, there are no visible rust stains from the internal reinforcement, no blowouts/big chunks missing, or signs of movement, would tell me that unless it is leaking water into the house, it can be fixed/repaired pretty easily and is not a huge issue.
It’s a cold joint.
(Traces of non-continuous concrete pouring)
No problem if the reinforcement is well mounted
No problem if the underground doesn’t exist
This process occurs when the floor slab is installed after the first installation of the foundation wall, and it is common to install the wall and the floor together.
It’s more like a construction management problem that appears as an inexperienced technology.
콜드 조인트입니다.
(콘크리트 타설이 연속되지 않은 흔적)
철근 장착이 잘 되었다면 문제 없음
지하가 존재하지 않는다면 문제 없음
이런 과정은 기초벽을 1차 타설 후에 바닥 슬래브 타설을 진행할때 나타나는데, 통상 벽체와 바닥을 일체타설하는 것이 일반적입니다.
미숙한 기술로 나타나는 시공관리 문제에 가깝습니다.
Poured concrete cold joint caused by the interruption or delay of the poured concrete process, when a batch of concrete has begun to set-up and cure before the next batch of poured concrete is added preventing the top layer intermixing with the bottom layer of poured concrete even when vibrated.
Typically/usually while under normal conditions, cold joints are not a problem structurally, if the joint is in compression.
