How much to reinforce bowing/cracked brick walls?

[Trace P.]

Hi guys, I am in contract on a property, it is 80+ years old but pretty well maintained on the inside, plus a stable tenant who has been there for several years. The only major problem that the professional home inspector pointed out was that there are shifts in the basement and underground garage walls (structural / foundation issues), as shown in the pictures below. I have been calling foundation repair and construction companies to try to get a quote, but they have all requested for me to get a structural engineer in to make an assessment as a first step. This will cost a few hundred bucks, on top of the few hundred bucks I've paid for the home inspection, and I have not even closed on the house yet so I don't really wanna be sinking too much money in while managing my risks. I won't take anyone's word as an official quote here, but just wondering, have any of you had such foundation issues before, and how much did it cost to install rods / i-beams / etc.? 

Also, has anyone done grading before of the soil around the house? The ground is slightly sloping towards the house and I believe that's what's causing the foundation issues in the basement. Thank you so much!!!

[Bruce Woodruff]

That doesn't look all that bad, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. You definitely want to get the water away from the house, that can only cause trouble at any house. A visit from a SE would be a good idea as well. You don't want this to get any worse for sure......

But I don't think the fixes will be all that costly, you may not need any fixes once you direct the water away from the house....

[Scott Mac]

[1] Does water ever rush in from the cracks?

[2] Freezing water in the cracks might open them more over time.

[3] Someone spent time and money putting what looks like stucco over the blocks. That may have been done to camouflage more cracking(???)

[4] Attractive color bricks used on the house, how often have they had to be repointd to keep up with the foundation movements (???)

[5] Will your lender close on a house with cracks like this?

[6] Can you get insurance at reasonable rates with this type of problem going on(???)

[Trace P.]

Thank you @Bruce Woodruff, that's rather comforting, I agree that a SE would be a good idea either way :) 

Thank you @Scott Mac for the great questions. There are no signs of active leaks based on the home inspector's professional assessment. He could see signs of leaks in the past but no longer active. As the home is 80 years old and has passed through a few owners, I am unsure how often they painted it, but good point to note. This house will be purchased in cash so no lender involved. The rest of the house is in pretty good condition, the insurance company actually hasn't raised any concern. Thanks again! 

[Mike Hasson]

First thing I'd check before closing is to make sure it's insurable. And it's hard to tell from the photos, but it looks like if the grading is corrected that may put the basement windows below grade, therefore window wells would need to be installed, otherwise water will just work it's way back in through the windows.

But this damage wouldn't scare me, in fact, my last purchase had an arguably worse foundation that this. With mine, first thing I noticed was there was water control issues. IU had terrible negative grading basically around the entire house, the backyard didnt even have gutters, and the neighbors downspout was also pointed right at my property, so i started by solving these 3 issues. Installed gutters, raised the grading, and installed a french drain to diver the neighbors runoff. I'll get to the wall straightening eventually, but getting that water under control  was paramount. At closing there was about 2" of water in the basement, and today it's dry, so that step is complete.

If you have contractors coming to look at it, I'd be wary of any remedies that don't FIRST address the causes; drainage, grading, runoff, etc. Straightening the wall without addressing that water, will essentially be a waste.

Slightly related, I just inspected a home that had water coming through the basement walls. They had just painted it with that waterproof basement paint, and the water just popped some holes in the paint and continued to run through. Hydrostatic pressure carries some serious weight, and if paint was enough to stop it, then we'd just make our houses out of paint lol. Just please be cautious of the way products are marketed.

I did just write a brief article about basement waterproofing. Though it doesn't address repairing the foundation damage, it may give some insight into managing basement moisture in general:

[Marcus Auerbach]

This would not concern me too much beyond the expense to address it. Many of our rental properties have similar issues and we either bought them this way or more often had to do the work to address the issue. Properly done it is a permanent solution and large basement contractors will give you a 25y warranty.

Looks like the wall has sheared off; if it is less then 3/4 out of plum you can probably just brace it with steel beams, they go on every other joist and we pay about $350 a piece here in Milwaukee, so about $100 per linear foot wall. If the wall is out of plum more, you have to relieve the pressure outside (excavate), then pop it back out and then beam it. Often you end up also replacing drain tile and that is a lot of back breaking manual labor. That's a lot more expensive and can be 25k-30k. 

90% of all basement issues have to do with poor surface water management, so you want to get the exterior grading adjusted and make sure your gutters are working and you are directing the downspout extensions far enough (10ft) away from the foundation to a spot that slopes away further.

You are probably talking to the wrong contractors. A professional basement contractor does not ask you to talk to a structural engineer; they have one in house. Ask your agent or google the big players. Request a price reduction (try for 150%-200% of the actual cost) and have the work done after closing by a specialist who provides a warranty (they usually advertise that on their website).
  

[Theresa Harris]

Would you rather pay a few hundred dollars on an engineer than buy a home and have to pay thousands to repair the foundation or worse?  If the engineer comes back and says it is a problem, use that to negotiate a lower price.

[Bruce Woodruff]

Quote from @Mike Hasson:

But this damage wouldn't scare me, in fact, my last purchase had an arguably worse foundation that this.

As I have said before, I actually look for properties with foundation/slab problems. 90% of them are a relatively easy fix that I can do myself....(not counting displaced slabs)

Foundation issues will really scare away most investors. Then you swoop in and fix them, get a SE to come and document the work, and bingo, you just made a bundle....

[Trace P.]

Wow @Mike Hasson, thanks for all that insight, looks like you had a much more severe issue! I wouldn't even dare to buy a house with 2" of water in the basement, so bravo on you for rectifying that! I think the first thing I will address is the grading, as you have mentioned, to stop the cause. Good thing is this basement has no signs of active leaks, no water as assessed by the inspector. The downspouts are good for this house, so the only reason I can think of that causes water to push against the basement is grading. Noted on all your pointers, thank you again so much!!!

Thanks @Marcus Auerbach for your great insights too! Downspouts are good and there is no active leak observed, so I'll address the grading. LOL about "A professional basement contractor does not ask you to talk to a structural engineer; they have one in house.". You are right, I called another company and they had one in-house, even offering a 90-minute walkthrough + quotation for free. Thanks again!

[Mike Hasson]

Oh that's good that there's no water! 

It did just occur to me also, that I've also seen tree roots cause that kind of movement. Hard to tell from the pictures, but it doesn't seem like that's what's going on here. If there are any bare spots in the planter id move the surface dirt to check for old stumps. Maybe not the cause here, but more for your own FYI. 

Good luck! Let us know how it works out!

[Trace P.]

Thank you @Mike Hasson!! Yeah there are no trees around the property, so I doubt there are tree roots. But good point to consider! 

[Mike Hasson]

I just had some similar damage repaired by installing steel i-beams at about 5' intervals along the damage. The cost ran about $1000 per beam, and are designed to be adjusted over time to gradually straighten the wall. 

have you found anything new or gotten any quotes since this was posted?