Rental Property Investor · Montrose, CA · Member since 2015 · 77 posts · 11 votes
Hi BPers!
I'm getting close to close on a property and there are cracks in the foundation that the inspector found. I'm asking the inspector for a more detailed analysis of these cracks so I can decide if the foundation will be a big expense in the lifespan of this property. I know my mom went through some trouble with our old childhood home that had a major foundation problem where the ground was eroding away and the house was slowly cracking. It's very expensive to lift a house.
Has anyone else had a similar issue? What would you say is a deal breaker from some cracks in the foundation? Again, I am asking my inspector for a more detailed analysis to see if it is minimal or extensive. Thanks all!
Are these the only areas with cracking? If so, then it doesn't seem like a very wide spread issue that would be a major problem but no one can say for sure without being there. The picture with the crack through the block is concerning but this could just be an isolated area.
If it was me I would just make sure there are gutters on the house and make sure to have proper drainage away from your foundations. Keep an eye on it and if it gets worse then hire an engineer.
I can only comment that I walk away whenever I find foundation issues. I view it as too risky. Doesn't mean you have to, just to me disconnecting all utilities, lifting the house, removing old foundation and pouring a new one, etc takes quite a bit of money and time. It would have to be an amazing deal for it to be worth it to me. YMMV.
John just make sure that youare as diligent as you can be with that. A private home inspector cannot really asses the problem . You need to hire a structural engineer to come check it out and do an engineering report on it. Dont take advise from anybody other than a reputable structural engineer that you hire and pay. The issue is a structural engineering report will not be cheap as egineers charge somewere in the ballpark of $400/hr or more. Good luck!
I can only comment that I walk away whenever I find foundation issues. I view it as too risky. Doesn't mean you have to, just to me disconnecting all utilities, lifting the house, removing old foundation and pouring a new one, etc takes quite a bit of money and time. It would have to be an amazing deal for it to be worth it to me. YMMV.
Thank you, Russ. I totally hear you. That's why I thought I should ask. I will look into it further.
I would look at the size of the cracks. Just hairline that you can't even feel with your finger nail is typically not going to bother me. There's an old "contractor" store that talks about if you can fit a penny into the cracks its something serious. I would just call a few foundation guys and have someone come give you an estimate. I once wholesaled a home where the slab under half of the home was cracked and there was a 6 inch gap. Buyers ended up having an engineer come in and fix it.
John just make sure that youare as diligent as you can be with that. A private home inspector cannot really asses the problem . You need to hire a structural engineer to come check it out and do an engineering report on it. Dont take advise from anybody other than a reputable structural engineer that you hire and pay. The issue is a structural engineering report will not be cheap as egineers charge somewere in the ballpark of $400/hr or more. Good luck!
Thanks Franco! I'll do some research on hiring a structural engineer. I appreciate your advice.
I would look at the size of the cracks. Just hairline that you can't even feel with your finger nail is typically not going to bother me. There's an old "contractor" store that talks about if you can fit a penny into the cracks its something serious. I would just call a few foundation guys and have someone come give you an estimate. I once wholesaled a home where the slab under half of the home was cracked and there was a 6 inch gap. Buyers ended up having an engineer come in and fix it.
Sounds like sound advice, Ryan. Thank you. The cracks looked "small" in the pictures. The structure is brick blocks and mortar. I'll have to check into it more. A 6 inch gap sounds horrific!
We are having the foundation on our rental completely rebuilt. For us, the cost is $200 per linear foot.
$200 per linear foot? So, measuring width x depth of the foundation = your price for repair? Thanks for the numbers! Best to you and getting that done!
looks like its not the entire foundation based on the pictures, so it shouldn't have to result in your lifting the entire house and redoing the foundation.
First, I would call in a few contractors who are foundation masons(Free advice and estimate). Then get the engineer to give you a plan of action.
From the pictures it looks like a corner of the foundation soil has given way and the crack is on one corner. So all you have to do is. Dig up the soil around it. Jack the corner of the property and repair that corner only. Then replace with classic rockface block. Thats what was orignally used.
Are these the only areas with cracking? If so, then it doesn't seem like a very wide spread issue that would be a major problem but no one can say for sure without being there. The picture with the crack through the block is concerning but this could just be an isolated area.
If it was me I would just make sure there are gutters on the house and make sure to have proper drainage away from your foundations. Keep an eye on it and if it gets worse then hire an engineer.
You are in escrow.... this is the time you scurry around and verify that all the assumptions you made when entering into the purchase agreement are correct. Call some foundation reputable foundation guys, have them out and get their insights and quote as soon as you can.
It doesn't look like a big (i.e. expensive) deal at all, but the time to resolve that question is NOW.
looks like its not the entire foundation based on the pictures, so it shouldn't have to result in your lifting the entire house and redoing the foundation.
First, I would call in a few contractors who are foundation masons(Free advice and estimate). Then get the engineer to give you a plan of action.
From the pictures it looks like a corner of the foundation soil has given way and the crack is on one corner. So all you have to do is. Dig up the soil around it. Jack the corner of the property and repair that corner only. Then replace with classic rockface block. Thats what was orignally used.
Good Luck!
Thanks Joey. I will look into the foundation masons. So the engineer does the assessment and the foundation masons do the repair?
@John Hodson From the pictures it looks like it could just be settling which almost every older home in Indianapolis has. Many are on clay soil which gets a lot of settling. A good foundation contractor can tell you what's going on. If you're concerned about foundation problems. you might want to more at homes build in the 50's and 60's on slab foundations.
Are you keeping the home as a long term rental or flipping it? What year was the house build? Were any of the walls pushed in anywhere or only the slight settling we see in the pictures? Are those pics all from the one corner?
@John Hodson Wow this is a great topic and has given me some great feedback as I am here in Florida and one of my properties is similar to yours. I got a few bids on it and the best price X's the best suited contractor was for $12000.
I recently was going to purchase a house with major foundation issues. The seller was going to reduce the house by the cost of the foundation repair estimate. The estimate was $27,000.
I found out that block was notorious with foundation issues and I passed because I didn't want to face the same issues in 15-20 years.
Foundation cracks... You need to know if foundation problems are normal in your area. They might very well be! Here in Texas (specifically the Dallas area) much of the soil is clay..a very expansive soil. Slab foundations very often (almost always!) eventually have issues here. If it's the same in your case, then I would not abandon a deal simply due to foundations. Bottom line will be number of piers required, how many external piers (accessed by digging from outside house along the foundation perimeter), internal piers (accessed by cutting into the slab from inside the house..don't be scared lol), the cost, and the warranty. The warranty should be from 20 years to life, and should transfer with the house. Additional issues to consider are that foundation movements can also be hard on the rest of the structure...exterior walls, interior walls, plumbing, ducting. So the inspector probably found foundation-related repairs inside the house.
Looking at the photos, the cracking I see is typical...nothing out of the ordinary. Full inspection report would provide the full picture of the issues though. Also, since you are an investor, build relationships(!) and get GOOD deals on foundation work. The numbers I see in this thread sound very retail to me. I usually get foundations resolved for under $9K.
Thanks everyone! Yes, this thread and topic has way more attention than I expected so thanks to everyone for chiming in!
I am looking up structural engineers on Yelp in the Indianapolis area. Any recommendations on finding a good engineer besides just the reviews on Yelp? Any engineers here on BP care to talk with me?
Let me give you a bit of an education about cracks in foundations. When you have vertical cracks, as in this case, it is likely that the footer cracked and settled a bit. I doubt that you have water collecting in the corner with freezing, lifting and shifting block, like we can have in the colder climates. Whenever you see a long, horizontal cracks along the block on the inside of the foundation wall, it means the the pressure of the dirt is causing the cracks and the wall was not reinforced properly with durawire and/or rebars. That is a much more serious problem than the slight horizontal issue those pictures show. When you have a 60 plus year old home and one corner settled a half inch, remember there is still dirt under the footer where the settling happened and the chances of it settling further are minimal. Of course there are variables. If you are purchasing as a rental I would have no concern about it.