Originally Posted By: gbeaumont This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Hi Russell
your question is one of the more difficult to answer, as every inspector has a different set of standards based on knowledge and experience of indevidual systems.
For myself (and taking your first senario) I would always recomend that rot or evidence of WDI be further evaluated by a proffesional contractor, but I would only recommend that a proffesional engineer be called in if I felt that the degree of damage that was visible led me to belive that there was a danger of structural failure. If not let a contractor get into it and if he feels that based on his “invasive” testing that the system is failing it is his call as to whether he needs the advise of a PE.
Your second senario is what I call the black art that is trying to understand what is going on with foundation cracks. to be honest it takes me an hour to discuss in a class room enviroment the ins & outs of this one, but you need to get educated on the following: What is a shrinkage crack ? What is a settlement crack ? what is a new/recent crack ? What is an old one ? How to tell the difference ? Does the crack show any vertical or horizontal displacement ? Are there coresponding cracks seen in other areas of the foundation ? I could go on and on but I'm boring myself let alone anyone else
My Final thought on foundation cracks is if in doubt based on knowledge of the above (and if you see ANY horizontal cracks, call in a PE or specialist foundation contractor.
that is trying to understand what is going on with foundation cracks. to be honest it takes me an hour to discuss in a class room enviroment the ins & outs of this one, but you need to get educated on the following: What is a shrinkage crack ? What is a settlement crack ? what is a new/recent crack ? What is an old one ? How to tell the difference ? Does the crack show any vertical or horizontal displacement ? Are there coresponding cracks seen in other areas of the foundation ? I could go on and on but I'm boring myself let alone anyone else 