Originally Posted By: Melanie Anderson This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Hey everyone,
I've enjoyed reading this board during the past several months, now I have a question about my own slab foundation
Do these look like anything significant to you or just normal cracks? It's hard to tell but they are 3/32" at their largest point and no displacement. There are 3 of them. The walls you see are all outside walls. There are no cracks to be found on the outside of the house and no cracks in the drywall. The house is almost 3 years old. Our builder was kind enough to send out their concrete contractor to take a look even though we are almost 2 years past our warranty. He said they are nothing to worry about. What do you think?
Originally Posted By: Steven Brewster This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Interesting photos. These cracks appear to correspond to the inside portion of the footing for the slab and I was just wondering if this is a typical finding? I have not seen this particular type (as pictured) of stress cracks in the slabs I have inspected.
Originally Posted By: mcyr This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Hi. Melanie;
In all three pictures you supplied, I have see this before and seem to indicate the the slab on grade was poured to some sort of foundation wall where a brick shelf was not designed in the construction to have that joint at the wall framing.
Since you live in Utha, I would imagine that there is some sort of foundation.
The typical parallel crack that follows the wall shows a separation between the two elements, slab/vs. footing, foundation.
The crack in the corner is typical when a bond breaker or expansion joint filler is not used. The concrete sticks to the opposing wall or other substrate and dose not release with movement expansion or shrinkage.
Originally Posted By: Melanie Anderson This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Thanks everyone. I guess some faith in my builder has been restored and I can sleep much better at night . We will check them again in spring to make sure they haven’t grown at all after the freeze/thaw and then fill them with urethane.
Originally Posted By: rwashington This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Not to take anything away from your feelings towards your builder but…in Texas, our builders structural warranty is for 10 years so…you get my drift… I know the builders around here generally do not come out unless they have to.
Originally Posted By: Melanie Anderson This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Richard - 10 years!! I can only dream for that good of a warranty, unless I move out of state. Most the builders here seem to offer only 1 year, and of course everything wrong is always discovered after that year is up Only a little faith has been restored in my builder, not enough to make me ever buy one of their houses again, but enough to make me feel that the house isn’t going ot fall down . It seems quite clear that everything was done to barely pass code. At least I know what to look for on our next house.
Tim - The foundation is reinforced with rebar and has the plastic vapor barrier underneath. I do know they put down the required gravel before the pour because I remember walking on it. I do not, however, recall any stress /shrinkage joints in the slab at all. Maybe that is part of the problem? We will definitely be watching the drywall very close.
Originally Posted By: thejnicki This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Melanie there probably will be some common cracks in the drywall at some point, tapers take shortcuts which can result a crack in the taping mud and not necessarily the drywall…
Do you have vaulted ceilings? If so there could be a lot of build up there.
Originally Posted By: ccoombs This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Melanie
At first look the cracks look bad. However, I agree they are the result of construction. It is not normal to pour foundations this way...in my area. The main concern I would have would be with a ridged floor covering such as tile. The other issue would be moisture. The moisture barrier will help with this, but may not be totally effective.
As for a fix, I typically advise to do as little as possible. The developers in this area will grind the cracks larger to fill with a ridged material (epoxy or others). Then when there is movement (especially earthquakes) this ridged filler will push up and cause a bump under the carpet or crack tiles. The exception to this is to prevent moisture. If there isn't a moisture issues, I wouldn't do anything to the existing cracks.
As for the 10 year warranty, it isn't what you are thinking it is. Developers provide a 1 year "fit and finish" warranty. The state requires the developers to warranty construction and material defects for 10 years. It sounds like your developer is doing more than the average developer in my area as far as customer service.
Originally Posted By: Melanie Anderson This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Tim - We don’t have any vaulted ceilings. I actually did find one hairline crack on an inside corner in another room. It is very small & looks almost like someone took a pencil & drew a line in the corner.
Curtis - I think it definitely is the way they poured the slabs. Our neighbor right next to us has cracking in the exact same spots. I didn't actually see the cracks myself, but I would guess they look almost identical. I've already decided our next house will have a full basement or crawl space 
Originally Posted By: kshepard This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
In some areas it’s common to pour the footings and foundation wall in one pour and the slab later. This creates a cold joint between slab and foundation wall. Basically the slab floats within the surrounding foundation walls.
If when they pour the slab, they pour to the top of the foundation wall and the concrete finisher trowels to the outside edge of the foundation there will be a thin layer of concrete over that cold joint that will crack very easily with shrinkage. If that were to happen it would look just like your photos. No problem unless you have a high water table or Radon.
Originally Posted By: ccoombs This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
In our area they do two pour foundations. However, they pour the footings only to the top of the trench, then they pour the slab over the footings. This prevents the type of cracks that you see.
Only a little faith has been restored in my builder, not enough to make me ever buy one of their houses again, but enough to make me feel that the house isn’t going ot fall down . It seems quite clear that everything was done to barely pass code. At least I know what to look for on our next house.