Buy a house in Tukee with crack in foundation and burst water pipe? (buying a house)

[HarveytheRabbit]

I'm thinking of buying a house built in the 80's, it has no carpet or flooring in the entire house and you can see a large 10-12 ft long 1/8 inch wide crack in the dining room foundation. Also I was told that a pipe burst in the bathroom and it's been replaced and fixed. I didn't see any cracks in the walls but could shifting have caused the burst? Or is it more likely that it's been sitting empty for so long and with no A/C just got too hot inside last summer?
I can see it is very slightly raised where the crack is so that might make it hard to lay carpet or tile. Are foundational problems common in PHX? Ahwatukee? What does something like this normally cost? Too big a headache or can I just patch it up?

[Captain Bill]

Get an opinion from your home inspector. There are areas that have expansive soil and it will cause foundations to move.

My personal opinion is if the slab is cracked and moved so that it is not level, then the problem is to much for me do deal with. If the carpet will not lay level due to the slab issue, I would have a difficult time selling it in the future.

For the burst water pipe, again you need to have a professional inspector check it out and he may recommend a mold inspector.

The best advice I can offer is to get the professionals to check it out. It's money well spent. However, if you don't want to spend the money on inspections, yet the issues are a concern to you, then I would find another house.

[Ponderosa]

Sounds like a normal shrinkage/settling crack. 1/8 inch is not going to matter. Three things about concrete. It's heavy, it's hard and it cracks.

Pipe burst could be anything BUT AC and again a small crack like you describe would not affect anything. It was probably a lousy solder job, or more likely not a burst at all but a pinhole leak that is not that uncommon in copper plumbing.

NOTE: It is possible that some homes in that area in that time frame were built with polybutylene plumbing. They leaked notoriously. Most were replumbed under the settlement of a lawsuit, but not all. If your house has PB lines, my advice would be to walk away. It can be identified by its gray color and the way it is installed. It would certainly be mentioned in a home inspection report.

[rjrcm]

Originally Posted by Captain Bill

...The best advice I can offer is to get the professionals to check it out. It's money well spent. However, if you don't want to spend the money on inspections, yet the issues are a concern to you, then I would find another house.

Ditto.

[themudpuppy]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

If your house has PB lines, my advice would be to walk away.

I totally agree. My current house has PB lines. At the time I bought it, there were no lawsuits yet and I wasn't aware of the problems with PB. I couldn't afford to replace the entire plumbing system all at once, so I had one busted fitting after another. Luckily most were under the house, and being that it's a mobile home, it didn't damage anything having water run under the house when one busted. Finally had the last fitting replaced last year. PB is a pain in the butt! My house was one year too old to qualify for the re-plumbing under the lawsuit. I would never buy another house with PB plumbing, unless I was prepared to replace all of it at once.

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by HarveytheRabbit

I'm thinking of buying a house built in the 80's, it has no carpet or flooring in the entire house and you can see a large 10-12 ft long 1/8 inch wide crack in the dining room foundation. Also I was told that a pipe burst in the bathroom and it's been replaced and fixed. I didn't see any cracks in the walls but could shifting have caused the burst? Or is it more likely that it's been sitting empty for so long and with no A/C just got too hot inside last summer?
I can see it is very slightly raised where the crack is so that might make it hard to lay carpet or tile. Are foundational problems common in PHX? Ahwatukee? What does something like this normally cost? Too big a headache or can I just patch it up?

Definitely talk to the pros so you'll feel better about the deal - all cement cracks, even the new "post-tension" slabs - generally, a crack with "displacement" is worse than a crack without it, but if it's less than 3/16" wide and the the displacement is less than the thickness of a dime, the displaced area can be ground flush, and you can use "kerdi" membrane to tile right over it. It'll cost a little more, but the tile won't crack & it isn't a big deal. If there's no displacement, many tile guys will just coat the slab with "redguard" & then tile. (Redguard is cheaper than Kerdi membrane)

There are companies in the valley that specialize in floor grinding (even for slabs that aren't cracked, just wavy) - it isn't terribly expensive & it will allow you to get a nice tight grout line with big tiles.