Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hmmm, I kinda hijacked Hdzup's thread, as she is a buddy of mine, and I know she wouldn't mind. She sold her house and moved to her dream location. The pictures are of foundation cracks are my house, not the one with the chimney separation problems. By the way, we have absolutely no water coming in to either the crawlspace or basement.
We have a cinderblock foundation, with parging (sp?) over it. Here are some pics of the lay of the land. The other sides of the house don't appear to have any cracks.
Last edited by tambre; 08-27-2009 at 12:54 PM..
Reason: too many buy the ways
What about paying for an inspector to come in and look at the issues or a trustworthy mason? It might really ease your mind to know what's going on ahead of the game.
I agree with this, but dh is of a different mindset. Kinda like, why go looking for problems, since nothing bad is happening, just some settling. Guess we'll find out when the buyers have someone come and do an inspection.
The minor surface cracking in the joints of cinderblock walls in houses is more common and not to alarming as long as the cracks are not deep or spreading or involve too big an area.
Can be lots of causes.
1. Temperature changes
2. Minor settling of the footings
3. Laid up on too hot or too cold a day
4. Mortar mix being a lil weak
5. Block too dry when laid
6. Somebody drove heavy equipment or some heavy load too close to foundation at some point in its life.
7. House load is pretty heavy for the size block used.
8. Water table pressure might have an influence
9. Poor workmanship at some particular block or area. Joints did not get properly filled or constructed. It can happen.
10. Lack of including a supporting pilaster pier into the design in the block wall where either a steel main carrying beam was used or other carrying beams are sitting on a cement block wall. This can concentrate forces in one point of the wall and cause cracks in adjacent areas at the joints. Having the carrying beam just sit on a normal wall thickness point is in general a bad design factor. Additional support should have been included in the design to help support the load at that point, normally that is incorporated by building a type of pier into the wall with additional block thickness at that point. Even if the wall is not cracking I would view the failure to provide additional support as negative and that it could happen some time later in the life of the wall.
Could be a host of other causes. Minor cracking is not that rare. As long as the block are not letting water or showing actual failure, not to big a concern. You sure do not want to be seeing actual failure with a crack thru the body of a block and not at just the joints. Cracks at jointing walls tends to show poor design or workmanship, especially if all walls were constructed in the same time frame. Being constructed in different time frames, you expect to see some but it should only be surface type cracking of minor width. Always to eyeball any particular wall and see if you can spot a direct cause for any cracking no matter how minor.
Depends a bit on age and conditions but I would not deem it major if minor cracks on just one side of a block. Prefer not to have it but that is life. You do not want to see cracks at the joints running for the total height or length of walls or longer distances or completely thru the blocks on both sides in clearly defined cracks. That is pointing to something more serious. Cracks for a few layers not too big a deal, hopefully more or less on just one side. Don't like to see them at corners in too big a way either. Do not want to see clearly defined patterns that can be identified with particular standard type causes.
Cracks in walls that are deemed to have been laid with too small of blocks for the service would be of more concern as would any other defects that would point to future problems that might not be showing themselves at the time. Got to eyeball it and see what can be determined showing at the time, what might be going to occur, a more complete understanding of the critter.
One big one I failed to mention above is improper backfilling of the wall during construction. That can apply to both cement block walls and solid cast in place concrete walls.
Happens a lot more than commonly thought. Some of those monkey's never should be allowed to work in the construction biz. They either put the wrong materials in contact with the walls, drive in parallel to close to the wall to compact the soils, or push soils with force against the wall.
This is probably one of the biggest common causes after cheap crap mixes for concrete. Walls have almost no cure time to gain strength and should be treated as being more fragile than they might appear.
Can also be a big cause of cracks in cement block walls. A lot of care should be used, not what gets done a lot of times. Can be a long discussion of all the factors involved. Backfilling equipment should not drive too close to the walls. Even with good mixes, good materials and construction techniques, this cause can undo all the other good work, can also be a bit difficult to identify in some cases after the fact.
Thank you for both of your posts. You really covered the question very thoroughly, and have put my mind at ease about most of the cracks. Very comprehensive posts. Thanks
You probably have the common problem of most houses with cracks in the foundations / slabs. The most common cause is crap cheap concrete mix when it was built. That and improper prep, poor installations with out reinforcement wire / rebar or additives. Once a cheap crap mix is poured from the truck it is all over but the shouting, not much will fix it.
It seems the only way to check a slab for these issues is to look under carpet and flooring, although under flooring is close to impossible to do I guess.
The long - and short - answer to your question, is ~It might be common but it's sure not normal or acceptable~.
My house was built in 1984, several of my neighbors' houses were built in the mid-80s and we've experienced nothing like what you described. I've also owned 4 rental properties, built in the 60's and 70's, and haven't had any such problems.
All of the houses (mine, my neighbors, the rental houses) have slab foundations except for one, which is pier-and-beam.
FWIW, we live in an area known for its shifting clay soil.
Sorry if that's not helpful, I'm just addressing the original question as indicated in the thread title. If the foundation and construction are done and maintained correctly, you'll occasionally see minor, short, easily patched wall cracks. But what you've described is a flaw that should be taken seriously and corrected. If I were buying a house, I'd pass on one with such obvious foundation problems.
I'm not saying your situation is hopeless. That's what foundation repair folks are for.
It seems the only way to check a slab for these issues is to look under carpet and flooring, although under flooring is close to impossible to do I guess.
What are you going to look for???
Looking will basically tell you nothing. You need the ticket the truck driver had when the concrete load was delivered stating what the mix supposely was. Either that or a concrete test cylinder which is never made for home construction.
From experience you can suspect concrete is of poor quality from appearance once it is poured there is no way to tell exactly what quality mix was actually delivered without a test cyclinder to break. Slabs and walls have also probably gotten too thin, good footers in many houses are only in a dream.
It is not that good quality houses are not still built. There are many with no problems, good quality concrete or block walls with zero defects. The other is also true, many trac type housing is pure junk. The question being how to tell the difference after the fact?
Way to many houses are built with junk mixes. They have gotten the walls so thin that they have to make the mix so much more surry that it will flow. Everything works against good quality construction.
After it is out of the truck, forget fixing it. Foundation repair by experts is just a fairy tale. The junk stuff cracks and where a good mix probably will not. Improper handling during pouring and improper backfilling of walls just makes a bad mix so much worse.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
, but dh is of a different mindset. Kinda like, why go looking for problems, since nothing bad is happening, just some settling. Guess we'll find out when the buyers have someone come and do an inspection. 
Cracks in the cinderblock walls............
