Anytime concrete is 12 feet or more in any one direction, it will
crack. That is the reason for saw cut contraction joints, tooled
contraction joints, and true construction joints. Most
residential floor slabs are not jointed. They will crack. This
is just as true on a huge commercial floor, a highway, or a
sidewalk. I suspect the crack was there before the ceramic floor.
IF the installer had seen the crack, he should have used an
isolation sheet like Dutra to bridge the crack or installed an
expansion joint in the tile.

I would not let the crack influence my decision. Consider the
cost of the advice.
______________________________
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"themeanies" wrote in message
...
I can't imagine this is a rare problem, so if there is a better
place to research this please feel free to direct me elsewhere.

We have put a contract on a house and the inspection uncovered a
crack in the slab.

The home is 5 years old built on what used to be a cotton farm.
The area is now suburban with paved streets etc. The house is
in a very dry climate with temps ranging from 25-105F annually.

The crack in question is approximately 25 ft long and travels
under two walls. 4ft of the slab is exposed in the garage and
the other 21 ft are tile in the kitchen. The grout in the tile
is cracked. The crack does not seem to travel from one side of
the slab to the other. The outer edge of the slab is
approximately 10 feet parallel to this crack. There is what I
assume is some very small shifting of the door frame into the
house from the garage. This door is perpendicular to the crack
and between the crack and the outer edge of the slab. Most of
the rest of the home is carpeted and I am unable to see any
other telltale signs in door frames or walls. The home is about
2 feet above the surrounding street and it is possible that this
crack is from settling. I do not yet know how long it has been
there or if it has been looked at professionally. The overall
quality of the home is outstanding. High quality building
materials were used and the builder has a great local
reputation. The finish out is medium quality. There are no
water lines involved as all water delivery is run through the
ceilings.

A picture of the exposed area can be found he
http://www.tekn0lust.com/images/slabcrack.jpg


So questions.

1)Is this a deal breaker?

2)Should I look into stabilization?

3)What is likely to happen to this in the future? We plan to
stay in this home for a long time.

Any other comments are greatly appreciated.

tM