Hello, I have a similar problem with my new house under construction
and would like advice on how something like this is "fixed."

The preliminary:
The footer in the house is something like 18" deep and about 12-15"
wide. After that hardened, the builder placed hollow, concrete cinder
blocks (this is common practice in this area - about 8-9" x 12-14") to
form the walls. In between each row of block is a long piece of some
metal grid or rebar-like material placed in the mortar running
horizontally. These walls are about 2 ft (2 blocks) tall in the front
and 6-9 feet tall in the rear corners. About 3/8-1/2" rebar was placed
vertically in the walls about every 2 feet all the way around with
each rebar extending about 2-3 feet above the top of the wall. These
cinder blocks were then poured solid with concrete.

Now the problem:
The concrete-filled walls sat about a week. Lots of rain on and off
while many loads of dirt were brought to the site. Over the course of
two days, the dirt was backfilled into the structure. No problem at
first, but at the end of day while the track-hoe was smoothing the top
and packing the dirt a vertical crack developed in the corner of the
wall running perfectly vertical (not following the seams of the
blocks). The track-hoe was only a couple of feet from the corner when
this occurred. The crack begins actually on the side of the structure
but at the rear corner about 1 block width from the rear corner. It is
about 1/2-5/8" at the top and gets smaller at the bottom. It doesn't
totally reach the bottom and tapers to a hair-line fracture at the 2nd
block from the bottom. It does appear to go all the way through the
wall.

The builder is not playing it off. He is upset and consulted an
engineer (?) who hasn't looked at the foundation, but told the builder
it should be fine. The idea is that with the rebar in the walls bent
over and tieing the walls into the soon-to-be poured floor and the
metal grid-work running horizontally in between each row of block, it
should be ok. I am assuming some type of "filler" will be used as well
to seal the crack. Further, the builder intends to drill 6 holes 16"
deep and 5/8" in diameter through the rear corner into the side wall
and drive some bars into the holes with a steel plate against the rear
corner wall.

The outer surface will be ultimately finished with brick. My concern
is that over time this could continue to separate. There isn't a bulge
anywhere currently but there is separation on the wall at this time.

Any recommendations? If you had to "fix" this, what would you do?

Thanks in advance. Sorry to hijack the thread and with a long post to
boot.

Robert



frankg wrote in message . ..
On 4 Oct 2003 07:47:40 -0700, (Zhixin Tang) wrote:

Hi, I found out there is a vertical crack on the foundation wall
(poured concrete) all the way from ceiling to floor. It is on the 40'
foundation wall, in the middle of garage, close to steel pieces in the
concrete, about 1/8" wide. The foundation is only 2 months old and the
house is close to completion.

I think one wall is settling down more to cause the crack. I am afraid
that the crack will become bigger when settling continues. Is not rare
for a 2-month foundation has such a long and wide crack? I am
currently requesting the builder to hire a structural engineer to
assess the problem.

Since the house has been closed, I may have to option to walk away if
it is a serious foundation problem.

Folks, I would appreciate your advice on this problem. Also if I do
accept the home, I have to disclose the problem when I sell the house
in the future?

Thanks.

Tom

In my opinion, 1/8 inch settlement in 2 months is too much too soon.
I suggest for peace of mind, hire your own structural engineer (your
cost) to inspect it independent from the first report to see if the
results are similar or not.

Or if you just don't feel comfortable with this project, don't buy it.
Hopefully you won't lose any money but if you do, it may be a lot less
than if you make the purchase and have to either repair the damage at
your cost or sell a house with a foundation problem at a probable loss
in value.