Looks normal to me. Concrete cracks, there's no way around it. I have a
brand new house, with poured concrete basement walls less than a year old.
Some hairline cracks have appeared in the walls and floor. This doesn't
necessarily mean that it's a problem. Deal breaker? No. Price negotiation
tool? *YES*
"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