Just bought house and having problems.... (Fayetteville: apartments, home inspection, living)

[SamLNew86]

My husband and I just purchased a house in Fayetteville about 6 months ago (built in 1982). The home inspection we paid for only return cosmetic problems & the foundation expert signed off on the foundation, so we went ahead with the purchase. Well, here we are 6 months later and I have a hairline crack in my hallway ceiling the goes across the full 6 ft. We keep hearing a LOUD popping noise from the wall in the living room near the crack and from up by the front door (no cracks appearing near the door though). There's also a crack that has appeared underneath one of the windows in the master (it doesn't start at the corner of the window but about 5 inches in).

We have a certificate from the foundation expert where he says the foundation is stable and I was wondering if we find out that the foundation is in fact NOT stable, if he would be the one to fix it since he signed off on it? This is our first time owning a home - we've always rented apartments - and we're both at a loss. Any help with be appreciated.

[SamLNew86]

Guess no one wants to help or offer any advice?

[Brian_M]

Post in the House forum as this has zero to do with being in Georgia.

As for liability, that all depends 100% on what the contract says... and then what you can enforce in court. Chances are the "expert" will demand proof that costs more than the house is worth before assuming any kind of liability (if they even Have to assume any liability, which is doubtful). Without that, they stay out of it... which then means you'd have to try to go through a court process with all the associated legal fees (unless the contract states all disputes much go through a mediator). Have to wonder what they might "guarantee", if anything.. heck, what do they inspect for in the first place?

In all cases, you have to read the information you were given. The *most* logical next step is to simply call the person/firm and voice your complaints and ask then to make it right (which might be simply refunding the cost to you).

In the mean time, do you know these are New cracks? Some repairs make it hard to tell if it's been repaired in the past (larger pieces of drywall replaced), some are dead obvious (layer of mud just along the crack line). You may want to ask a professional if it's not completely obvious, as it could be a situation where the sellers simply covered up an old issue that's now appearing again (which would mean the foundation is fine, or at least stable).

This isn't some simple issue. Most likely you're going to just have to suck it up and accept that it's life, and life isn't fair.

As for the popping sounds, I've had that in every home I've owned/lived in (owned 4, lived in another dozen). That's almost certainly simply expansion/contraction sounds. Does it happen most frequently just after sunrise, tapering off through the day until just after sunset where it then tapers off again? Does that area get a lot of direct sunlight? Then probably just expansion/contraction. Again, ask a professional (builder/handyman).

[SamLNew86]

Oh, ok. I'm new to here so I couldn't really figure out to navigate to the appropriate section.

It happens at any point of the day and night. I checked our front door where we've heard some popping and we've noticed it looks like it's started to crack along the frame. I'm not really sure about the rest. There's one or two places I know there was cracks because the seller told us before we bought it - inspector checked it out and said that there was no structural concern. The other cracks that I can't tell if they're new or old look new. Doesn't look like mud was painted or taped over. =/ I grew up in a house that was almost 30 yrs old and in direct sunlight and it never popped like this. It's almost like a lid popping off something that expanded in a jar. It's pretty loud. It's woken my husband and I up a few times.

I'll have to get the guarantee for the foundation to get the exact wording on it.

Thanks for your feedback. I'm going to go find the house forum and post this there too.