Cracks in basement- how bad is this??
Hi BP nation,
I’m a bit stuck and hoping for some advice.
My fiancé and I just had our first offer accepted on a duplex in the south suburbs of Chicago last week.
The General inspector did his walk through on Thursday and everything looked good EXCEPT there are 7 repaired/waterproofed cracks in the basement. ( they were repaired in September of this year and have a 5 year transferable warranty) They run from the ceiling to the floor and are all around the basement.
He recommended we have a structural engineer come out and give us his opinion on whether or not this place is structurally sound. If it is the engineer would give us a ‘stamp of approval’ and guarantee on his opinion.
Here’s why we’re stuck-
- we’re on day 4 of 5 of the inspection period. Our agent was supposed to ask for an extension but I haven’t heard anything back yet.
- structural engineers are not common! There are basement waterproofing and repair companies everywhere, but we’ve only found a few actual engineers
- no one can come out until after the new year
- having an engineer come out is going to be expensive and we don’t have this budgeted
Has anyone run into this before and can give us advise on wether to pull out and run away or to move forward with the deal?
Important to note that there are no other signs of the foundation shifting- no cracks in the brick exterior, no slanting of the property, miss aligned doors/windows, etc.
Thanks so much!