Hello. I am considering to buy a house in a waterfront and found many cracks in the basement cinder block wall. Some are vertical and some others are stair step crackings. The house is built in 1948 and once there was water infiltration through the basement walls, but never afterwards, that is what the real estate agent of the seller side says.
I attached a couple photos of the cracks below. First 3 photos are from inside the basement and last 2 photos are from outside the house. You can see some cracks patched up.
Since it is impossible to look at the foundation on this site, you should hire a professional (not a home inpector) to look at the foundation. A structural engineer would be best.
He will be able to determine the probable age of the cracks and the probable cause. It is possible they were caused early in the life of the house and are actually "dead" cracks and not active.
If there is a high water level around the house, there should be evidence of any recent leakage. If you have a stable water level and granular soil, there may be no leakage. - I had an old house with 1/8" vertical cracks that you could see through above grade, but there was never water in the basement because the soil was clean sand and the water table was about 2' to 3' below the floor.
Hiring a professional is a good move.
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Posts: 154 | Location: Minnesota | Registered: 28 July 2007
Here is what I would be telling you as a home inpsector. It appears that the paint on the wall is not that old. Perhaps past 10 years or so. What this has told me is that the cracks have appeared AFTER the paint. The reason I would make this observation is that there is little or no paint in the cracks of the wall and very little debris in the cracks as well. The cracks also look as though they are fairly sharp along the edges. This is a sign of a recent and currently moving wall. Recent being within the past 10 years or so. What I would most likly find outside of this wall is gutter leader pipes dropping next to the house or possible underground pipes that are broken or plugged. While these types of cracks are fairly common, There is no bowing I would not be overly concerned, but would suggest that this movement be monitored and that any exterior water drainage be corrected in this area. As far as water leakage, I would not bet on it not reoccuring. Try to get the seller or the agent to put in writing that the basement does no longer leak. That will never happen. You can bet if there is no bowing of the wall, and you have cracks like this that they travel completly though the wall to the outside. The result leaks. I also see effloresence on the second picture. This is a sign of water collecting in the block wall. This is the white powder you see on the wall. This wall is leaking. You may not see water but its evaporating on the surface leaving the minerials from the masonary material behind. Again I see cracks that were filled with cement that have cracked once again. These cracks most often come from water intrusion against the foundation. It can come from undersized footings, poor soil compaction before the footings were placed.
As far as hiring a structural engineer I would agree with concretmasonry that this should be done. But. Your inspector should have written this up as a building defect, And should have suggested that this be done. Only then based on 90% of the contracts I have seen are you allowed to bring in another inspector to further evaluate this issue. If the seller is reasonable he or she may allow further inspections on the property without this suggestion being in the home inspection report. But they have the right to refuse if the time period for inspections has passed. As typically you only have a set amount of days to have all inspections complete. The recommendation in the inspection report sort of allows these additional evaluations to be made after the agreed amount of available inspection days have passed. Check with your attorney about this before you begin to spend more money.
Also be sure that the structural engineer has either a soils background and or a foundation epertise. If not find one that does. I have seen structral engineer inspection reports that were over the top as far as suggestions. You need one that fully understands what he or she is looking at.
As far as telling you to buy or not to buy, that is your choice. Remember all things can be fixed regardless of what it is. Of course some cost more then others. As a home inspector I would advise my buyers to purchse ANY home if they like it as long as repairs have been made by professional contractors that provide long term warranties on their work, that the work has been inspected by local township officals and that is is done BEFORE I would take ownership of the property. DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT take ownership of any home with structal damage unless the contractor is willing to put into writing that his price quote is firm and will not change even if more issues arise after he starts. All to often buyers purchase a home with credit for repairs only to find that the repairs cost several hundred or thousand dollars more then what was quoted or given as credit.
Posts: 1115 | Location: New Jersey | Registered: 31 January 2006
Originally posted by concretemasonry: Since it is impossible to look at the foundation on this site, you should hire a professional (not a home inpector) to look at the foundation. A structural engineer would be best.
He will be able to determine the probable age of the cracks and the probable cause. It is possible they were caused early in the life of the house and are actually "dead" cracks and not active.
If there is a high water level around the house, there should be evidence of any recent leakage. If you have a stable water level and granular soil, there may be no leakage. - I had an old house with 1/8" vertical cracks that you could see through above grade, but there was never water in the basement because the soil was clean sand and the water table was about 2' to 3' below the floor.
Hiring a professional is a good move.
It seems that you replied on my question before I edited to add the link of the photos.
Originally posted by The Home Care Club LLC: Here is what I would be telling you as a home inpsector. It appears that the paint on the wall is not that old. Perhaps past 10 years or so. What this has told me is that the cracks have appeared AFTER the paint. The reason I would make this observation is that there is little or no paint in the cracks of the wall and very little debris in the cracks as well. The cracks also look as though they are fairly sharp along the edges. This is a sign of a recent and currently moving wall. Recent being within the past 10 years or so. What I would most likly find outside of this wall is gutter leader pipes dropping next to the house or possible underground pipes that are broken or plugged. While these types of cracks are fairly common, There is no bowing I would not be overly concerned, but would suggest that this movement be monitored and that any exterior water drainage be corrected in this area. As far as water leakage, I would not bet on it not reoccuring. Try to get the seller or the agent to put in writing that the basement does no longer leak. That will never happen. You can bet if there is no bowing of the wall, and you have cracks like this that they travel completly though the wall to the outside. The result leaks. I also see effloresence on the second picture. This is a sign of water collecting in the block wall. This is the white powder you see on the wall. This wall is leaking. You may not see water but its evaporating on the surface leaving the minerials from the masonary material behind. Again I see cracks that were filled with cement that have cracked once again. These cracks most often come from water intrusion against the foundation. It can come from undersized footings, poor soil compaction before the footings were placed.
As far as hiring a structural engineer I would agree with concretmasonry that this should be done. But. Your inspector should have written this up as a building defect, And should have suggested that this be done. Only then based on 90% of the contracts I have seen are you allowed to bring in another inspector to further evaluate this issue. If the seller is reasonable he or she may allow further inspections on the property without this suggestion being in the home inspection report. But they have the right to refuse if the time period for inspections has passed. As typically you only have a set amount of days to have all inspections complete. The recommendation in the inspection report sort of allows these additional evaluations to be made after the agreed amount of available inspection days have passed. Check with your attorney about this before you begin to spend more money.
Also be sure that the structural engineer has either a soils background and or a foundation epertise. If not find one that does. I have seen structral engineer inspection reports that were over the top as far as suggestions. You need one that fully understands what he or she is looking at.
As far as telling you to buy or not to buy, that is your choice. Remember all things can be fixed regardless of what it is. Of course some cost more then others. As a home inspector I would advise my buyers to purchse ANY home if they like it as long as repairs have been made by professional contractors that provide long term warranties on their work, that the work has been inspected by local township officals and that is is done BEFORE I would take ownership of the property. DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT take ownership of any home with structal damage unless the contractor is willing to put into writing that his price quote is firm and will not change even if more issues arise after he starts. All to often buyers purchase a home with credit for repairs only to find that the repairs cost several hundred or thousand dollars more then what was quoted or given as credit.
