New Jersey had its 155th aftershock early this morning. A disturbing trend is also appearing: pre-existing simple differential settlement cracks are now beginning to grind together with the seismic activity. Older hairline cracks are widening, older repairs are flaking off. New water penetration leaks are appearing. We can’t discount vertical cracks anymore. I saw one yesterday where an entire corner of the foundation, maybe 1/8th of the entire floor plan, displaced outward by the thickness of a dime. Popped out all of the old repair mortar in a fresh pile at the bottom of each crack on both sides of the wall. Had another one two weeks ago that luckily had old crack gauges still in place in most spots, and registered a jump in lateral movement in a plane that it had never moved before. My advice is to include language in your crack narratives to warn folks that older cracks have the potential to widen in the face of seismic activity, and that seismic activity has the potential create leaks in foundations that have been historically leak free.