differential settlement cracks
Well, we gave an offer on a house in Bay Ridge and had our first ever inspection. The inspector was very thorough, but his report is discouraging. The house had two sets of cracks on parallel walls which inspector believed to be differential settlement cracks. The house is 80+ years old; we don’t know when…
Well, we gave an offer on a house in Bay Ridge and had our first ever inspection. The inspector was very thorough, but his report is discouraging.
The house had two sets of cracks on parallel walls which inspector believed to be differential settlement cracks. The house is 80+ years old; we don’t know when those cracks have occurred.
He basically recommended that crack monitors should be installed. If cracks are growing, this would indicate that there is foundation or subgrade failure. There are other signs that this may be the case.
We really like the house, but this is probably a show stopper. We want to withdraw our offer, but before we do, we’d like to know if this type of thing is common in Brooklyn houses?
Is it reasonable to ask the seller to install those crack monitors?
An answer a little bit too late but we provide simple and effective crack gauge to monitor evolution with accuracy to 1/10th of mm : http://www.saugnac-gauges.com/G1-gauge-documentation.php
Hope this could help for next crack!
Sorry, but 2-4 cm is huge (3/4″ – 1.5″). Any building inspector who’s not incompetent would suggest further evaluation by a structural / soil engineer to determine what’s happening with that house. Corresponding cracking on upper floors can be dated by finding out when painting was last done, as usually cracks in plaster are usually patched as part of prep work. It will cost $$$ to hire engineers, so you should ask yourself how committed are your to this property.
Old houses settle! – totally normal
Also – i find engineers to usally be OVERLY cautious when inspecting homes, some are worse than other and some are notorious for detroying deals
point is – he has to cover his own a$$ when submitting his report.
If this is really a deal breaker for you, agreed with previous posters and hire an structural engineer to evaluate the foundation and beams
Take a ruler draw a straight horizontal level line across the crack. Make two marks, one at each end. Measure between those marks. There is your crack monitor. Come back in one month, three months, 6 months, and remeasure.
If you can’t wait, I would suggest you contact an engineering firm that could do a geo -technical study of the subsurface soil conditions, They might recommend that boring samples be taken. They would also give you an idea as to what remedies exist to stop the movement. Are there any other houses positioned on this same hill with problems. Are there any retaining walls? This is not cheap.. I am currently dealing with settlement issues (caused by neighboring contractor) that already reached the six figure mark and we haven’t even fixed a thing.
Folks, thank you for all the info! Very helpful.
The cracks are v shaped. They are best seen in the basement, but they continue up the wall to the second floor.
In the basement the cracks are about 1 cm in the bottom, 2-4 at the top. On the upper floors the cracks are patched up and covered by plaster, but the plaster itself is also cracking. This in itself worries me most, I guess: seems that cracks continued to develop after repair.
There is a cinder block garage in the back of the lot. It has same types of cracks but they are much wider: you can almost put a fist through them. The inspector warned us the garage will likely need to be demolished.
We do really like the house, but we are unprepared for major structural work (in terms of time and money). I guess we’ll think about structural engineer consult.
Yes, the new information completely changes things. Christ, sliding down a hill!!!??? Get a structural engineer report or walk away.
If the back of the house is sliding down the hill, it’s best to hire a structural engineer. This new information sounds bad. Is this house worth the trouble and expense to you?
If you’re worried, you need to hire a structural engineer to have another look.
how wide are the cracks?