Crack Question - 1938 Single Family Cast Foundation

[JHoll97]

Hello again

Just had an inspector look at a home we're purchasing and he found a crack in only one wall of the foundation in the crawl space. This horizontal crack is approximately 15 feet long, roughly 12 inches below grade (if I had to guess), 8 inch thick wall, soil is more of a silt. The wall above and below the crack are still mostly plumb.

The inspector recommends having a structural engineer look at it. He also suggested filling it with some sort of grout compound which he said he's done himself for his own foundation and said his hasn't changed since doing so. The grade is definitely too low next to the exterior so I will have to build it up with some sort of dirt and I will also add extensions to the downspouts which are draining in the general area of the crack.

What would you fine people do/suggest? I don't have much more information than that but let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks!
J

 

[phamENG]

I would suggest hiring a local structural engineer as your inspector said. We don't have enough information here to give you an opinion. You need somebody on site who knows what to look for and what questions to ask. This could be a cold joint from when the house was built and won't matter, or it could be an out-of-plane flexural failure from something loading the other side that will cause it to collapse next month, or it could be something else entirely. Without being there, we don't know.

 

[JHoll97]

@phamENG For sure going to get an engineer out there. Whenever that happens, I'll provide an update to this post so other's can check it out.

 

[jayrod12]

First picture "Doesn't look so bad"
Second pictures "Yikes"

Is that standing water in the basement? What's the basement floor material?

We would often brace cracks like this with vertical steel angles regularly spaced. But that is dependent on having something competent at the base to deliver the load to. The pictures don't give me a ton of confidence there.

 

[JAE]

Yes - hire a structural engineer.

This site isn't for homeowners to get engineering conclusions about situations in residential homes.