This is a property that has a side wall that isn’t aligned. 1st impression was the roof might be pushing out the wall, but that is not the case. Under more scrutiny, the foundation is not aligned. So the questions are 1) was it built out of alignment or 2) did the foundation move (causing the stud wall on it to move)?
So I looked for evidence inside the home. On the inside of the subject wall, there is a staircase. At the 1st stair, the riser is angled away from the finished flooring. The finished flooring runs perpendicular to the stair riser. This seems roughly the same distance off that the wall bows out. If this is related to the bowing, then what caused the foundation to move out. There are no cracks in the foundation that show settling. The walls and staircase are all finished.
One thought I had, and it needs further inspection is that the weight of the staircase may be pushing out the wall. The floor system of the main floor does not meet the exterior wall because the stair cuts thru.
I did not get enough time inside to look into this further.
j/k… maybe the homeowners are an extra large couple and leaned against the wall, talk about lateral pressure, sheesh… got cookies?
You just don’t have enough evidence to prove either theory. Just state what you see and move on. If the occupant has lived in the house for a long period of time you might get some information from them, if your lucky. Most foundation movement is so slow most homeowners never know when it started.
I sincerely believe you need to study a little more or go work for a Building Contractor for a few years before your deep endeavor into Home Inspections. \
Hint: Roofs don’t push out basement foundations, nor does finish flooring in any direction.
Age of home, remodel, lack of wall anchors, built that way considering it is an old foundation, NO?
I have not ever seen a foundation wall bow out. Has anyone seen this?
I have seen one foundation where a short stem wall rotated out due to poor grading and soil saturation.
Yes, the house was built into the slope of a hill and the uphill soils were pushing the block wall downhill. As this pressure built up, the floor joists (which were snugly connected to the sill plate and the sill to the top of the block wall) pushed the other side of the house foundation out on the walkout side, bulging it away along the top of the foundation and down. Many years ago and pretty odd once I figured out what was happening, as I recall.
Not very common then. I’ve been in the business a long time and never saw that.
That’s why I asked.
Yes … Several times. Poor grading combined with built too close to drop-off edge of steeply sloped lot.
Same thing saw this twice