Originally Posted By: rkuntz
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Originally Posted By: Guest
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The engineers here will chastise me for saying this: That beam support is almost positively fine. It’s a smallish maybe seven or eight inch, medium to light weight, narrow flange beam. There can’t be huge loads on it and all the blocks are holding is a portion of the load on the beam between the blocks and the next support.
The crack probably developed during placement or shortly thereafter from an irregularity on the beam or block surface creating a small load point.
Lawyers have made me into a sissy boy though, and I'd consider deferring it to an SE for eval. If it was my house I'd never give it a second thought.
Originally Posted By: jpope
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For the most part, I would tend to agree with Chad, there probably isn’t much of an issue here. I don’t think I would go as far as recommending eval by an SE or PE.
Recommend that the crack be monitored for an increase in size and/or severity.
If this is an addition to the home, further recommendation may be to check for appropriate permits.
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Jeff Pope
JPI Home Inspection Service
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Originally Posted By: Randy Mayo
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Ron
As a structural engineer I would agree with Jeffery. If it is a hairline crack just monitor. As a side note concrete block (CMU) foundations are a totally different animal when compaired to reinforced concrete foundations. There are not only diffrent types of blocks to deal with, but there are other considerations such as; mortar strength, reinforced or not reinforced, concrete filled or not filled, etc. In general I am not a big fan of CMU walls being used below ground such as basements or retaining walls. Concrete blocks are less forgiving when it comes to poor workmanship and poor design than the standard poured concrete walls.
Originally Posted By: kmcmahon
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I would have to concur, and would note the same as Mr. Pope.
–
Wisconsin Home Inspection, ABC Home Inspection LLC
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Originally Posted By: roconnor
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| Chad Fabry wrote: |
| The engineers here will chastise me for saying this: That beam support is almost positively fine. |
You are right ... and should be chastised for that ... 
There is no way to know if it's fine unless you perform an engineering evaluation ... shame on you Chad!
Now, noting that there did not appear to be any visible significant/major defects, but monitoring is advisable, may be a better way to put that ...
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Robert O'Connor, PE
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