Investor · Clarendon Hills, IL · Member since 2015 · 89 posts · 7 votes
Looking at a potential foreclosure property, backyard of house is on a slight decline, as is all the other 5 houses in a row. There are several cracks throughout the exterior of the house, some have even been tuck pointed?.... And cracks still appeared. Any insight on this matter would be great! Structural engineer? soil samples? Should I run the other way?
Flipper Mostly · Redwood City, CA · Member since 2012 · 107 posts · 26 votes
11y
I've bought em like this, fixed the foundation myself and made lots of money, don't run just yet... I'm no structural engineer but I can get a good crew to dig under, setup heavy bottle jacks, raise it and fix it... big thing to look for is if its red tagged by the city, then I would run...
Investor · Lake, FL · Member since 2015 · 121 posts · 28 votes
11y
I would always go to the listing broker and POUND them about past structural reports, inspections, etc. done by anyone, (especially from those who wanted to buy the property!).
Vendor · Tuttle, OK · Member since 2015 · 4 posts · 0 votes
10y
It looks like an add on. If the original footing has failure, If you dont pier both sides of that exterior door wont do you any good.....it will fail eventually due to the weight re-distribution.
Vendor · Tuttle, OK · Member since 2015 · 4 posts · 0 votes
10y
There is foundation failure in that area without a doubt. The mortar cracks had been "sealed" prior to the "tuckpoint" job. The only reason for the double sized mortar joints and the "oops we got mortar all over these bricks" is to cover up the fact that a 1/2" or better crack existed. The drywall on the interior has pulled and seperated almost 100% guess. The base boards, the vertical corners of drywall and any closet doors adjacent to this wall within 2 feet have started sticking. The freeze boards and soffit and/or soldier bricks have been affected by this movement at this point. This is a minimum 4 pier wall (likely a 5) based on the likely hood that this is a bedroom window. (usually a min of 4' from the 90 degree of an ext corner.)
Vendor · Tuttle, OK · Member since 2015 · 4 posts · 0 votes
10y
In regards to this detached garage....The footing on the front left (sitting in your car in the driveway) has experianced failure enough to have allowed the slab to follow suit. The footing has failed to the point that the expansion joint between the slab and the footing has opened up at least 20' down that wall (most likely causing a "crack" in the brick that starts from the top and gets more narrow on its way down the way. If you take a sqare and run it accross the brick row, it will show the front of the wall stands proud of the rest of the wall. If there is a door on this same wall, it will show seperation between the brick mold and the brick or possibly the door will stick/not latch.
Once the footing has experianced enough failure, the slab will follow it. This means, not only will there be a gab in the garage door (hardware is attached to the ext wall) but also there will be a crack down the center of the garage slab (high sided of the crack will be on the same side of the failed footing). Most flat work is not attached to the footings which means they need to be lifted seperatly and not wont move together during the piering process. (depending on the form work of the concrete contractor.) Call with any questions. Jeff