On Oct 23, 9:07 am, hands on wrote:
On Oct 23, 11:36 am, BobK207 wrote:



On Oct 23, 7:18 am, hands on wrote:

On Oct 23, 1:21 am, BobK207 wrote:

On Oct 22, 1:08 pm, hands on wrote:

I purchased a new home in spring 2005 in Leland,NC. Since then I was
replacing the flooring and found 5 10 foot long cracks in my on ground
poured concrete slab. I also have 6 vertical cracks on the outside of
my slab between ground level and the start of the siding.
The builder (Veranda Homes LLC ) tells me these are normal and only
offered to fill in the cracks. One crack is 1/4 inch wide and the rest
are larger than hairline. 2 of the cracks are continuing in a straight
line and do not look like "normal shrinkage cracks" . My back patio
vinyl framed sliding door is out of square also along with having
drywall screws poping out through the drywall 2 1/2 years later.
Do you think I should have a structural engineer look at the house?
I wanted to sell this house but I think a home inspector/ appraiser
will question all my external foundation cracks.
you can see pics hehttp://home.ec.rr.com/yankee/

OP-

It is difficult to scale the cracks in your photos (a tape measure
would have been a good idea).

Concrete cracks.

The cracks look pretty normal for slab on grade construction.

I don't see any 1/4" cracks.

If it will make you feel better , hire a civil / structural engineer.

cheers
Bob

I have a foundation repair company coming to look at it. My home is
also on clay soil I found out.The close up picture is the 1/4 inch
crack. Is it normal to have 6 vertical cracks on the outside of the
slab above ground? 5 are flush across the crack but one crack is
higher on one side than the other side.

OP-

What do foundation repair companies do? Repair foundations.

So I'm sure from their point of view it will "need repair", expensive
repair.

Hire a (more or less) unbiased professional (civil engineer)......the
engineer won't make any extra $'s if he suggests repair and it won't
cost him anything if he suggests no repair (unless he's wrong)

do a Google search on

expansive clay

read the first four articles

If you're expansive soil , steps needed to be taken in design,
construction & maintenance to address those conditions

without a measuring tape in "lone crack" photos, scaling is impossible

the tack strip & the table leg do give some scale

More importantly, what's the builder's track record? The home was
built in 2005, near the middle of the housing construction frenzy.
Workmanship can suffer in that environment. In a rising market,
corners get cut, even crappy subs get work. Not enough good crews to
go around.

cheers
Bob

I sent my photos to a structural engineer, he wanted $350.00 just to
show up. He suggested I get a free estimate from a foundation repair
company for free and go from there.

OP-

he wanted $350.00 just to show up

That's what engineers charge, that's how they make their living. Call
another one to see if that price is out of line.

IMO....... pay the $350, cheap for the peace of mind it will give you
(independent of his answers)

That "free" estimate isn't really free....the cost is built into the
work he's going to suggest you have done.

Get the engineer's evaluation & fix the cracks yourself (if they even
need fixing) with a suitable caulking product, the engineer can
suggest a product.

Did you read those first four Google hits?

Even if you "fix" cracks IF you've got expansive soil issue AND the
slab / foundation was under designed or under built. and oyu allow the
soil moisture content to vary.....you'll get new cracks.


You'll learn a lot more from the engineer's visit / letter report than
you will from the repair contractor.

Do you have the structural drawings for the home? How about a soils
report form the builder?

Before you do anything........ gather up the existing documentation it
will give you, your contractor & your engineer (if you hire him)
something to work with.

cheers
Bob



cheers
Bob