Is this foundation deflection big concern? (Howe: houses, buyers, tile)

[vikisan]

Hello,

We recently got our offer accepted on an older house. After inspection, we found out that there is about 1.75 inches drop on one side of the house and about 1.0 raise on the opposite side. Is this number significant enough to be a deal breaker ? Should we walk away at this point or try to get it fixed and move on ? Thanks in advance for the inputs!

[mSooner]

What did the engineer say? They should be able to tell you if it is a deal breaker or not.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

You need to hire a structural envineer to inspect it. Then ask them questions.

[vikisan]

We just got the general inspection done so far. The inspector suggested to hire structural engineer and we are planning to get one today. But I m getting more worried now as we really like the house and will be difficult to move away if the repairs are needed and seller does not agree. We won this house in multiple offer situation. So there is a probablity that seller might go with others. Anyone with similar prior experience?

[jennifw]

Originally Posted by vikisan

We just got the general inspection done so far. The inspector suggested to hire structural engineer and we are planning to get one today. But I m getting more worried now as we really like the house and will be difficult to move away if the repairs are needed and seller does not agree. We won this house in multiple offer situation. So there is a probablity that seller might go with others. Anyone with similar prior experience?

If the seller doesn't want to do the repairs (if needed), you will have to decide if it is worth it to you. Pay for the repairs yourself or walk away. Only you know that answer :-(
Good luck.

[mSooner]

Get the structural engineer and go from there. Then you can get a foundation company to give you an estimate and try negotiating from there. It might not need any repair, a little repair, or a huge repair--until you know what you are talking about you have no idea whether or not the sellers will negotiate.

However, the sellers now have to disclose any foundation issues to any other buyers, so they will have at least some incentive to work with you.

FWIW, this is pretty common in Texas. Foundation issues alone aren't a reason enough to walk unless you cannot work it out with the seller.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by vikisan

Hello,

We recently got our offer accepted on an older house. After inspection, we found out that there is about 1.75 inches drop on one side of the house and about 1.0 raise on the opposite side. Is this number significant enough to be a deal breaker ? Should we walk away at this point or try to get it fixed and move on ? Thanks in advance for the inputs!

Just my opinion. Short of other related issues, doors that stick, large cracks in sheetrock, windows that won't open properly, lots of cracked floor tile etc. The amounts of variation to plane mentioned wouldn't bother me at all. 95% chance you can fix/minimize the -1.75 drop with a better watering scheme. The +1.00 on the other side may well be minimizeable too.

The first thing I would do is make sure no water is running in the house - all faucets, toilets etc. off - and see if the meter's flow dial spinner deal moves indicating a water leak somewhere.

[turf3]

You don't even know if the slab was poured that way. If it's low on one side and high on another side, it could also have shifted (taking the whole house with it) without any significant flexure or cracking. In either of these cases there would be no repair to be done.

When I had a structural engineer inspect a house I was concerned about, he DID NOT start out with laser levels. He showed up with a 6 foot level, a good pair of eyes, and a lifetime of experience. Among the things he did was to sight down all the mortar lines in the brick and also check the levelness of these and a number of other features. (I can't recall the whole process now; it was almost 20 years ago.)

In our case his conclusions were that:

a) the deviations in the slab were almost certainly that way from the beginning;

b) lack of any shifting, bending, or out-of-level of the brick mortar lines indicated that there had been only minimal shifting since the house was built, not enough to worry about; and

c) the one exception to that was the place where going from the house to the garage there was a 2 foot step down; that acted as a hinge and the garage moved up and down with respect to the rest of the house. There was absolutely nothing to be done about that as it was inherent in the design of the house, and it just needed the regular North Texas watering regimen.

This engineer also pointed out the pitfalls of starting with laser levels, etc., in that people often get snookered into paying for the repair of foundation conditions that have been there from the beginning; that's why he relied so heavily on visual inspection. I would recommend you hire a crusty old fart of a structural engineer who understands how to measure things without having to rely on the latest gee-whiz-bangery. As a mechanical engineer I understand this in my own field.

[turf3]

Also, it occurs to me that you did not specify either the meaning of "older house", nor did you actually specify that the foundation is a slab foundation. To me, "older house" means at least that it was built before I was, in other words at least 50+ years old, and in that case it would most likely be pier and beam. For pier and beam the criteria are different.

And one last point, in North Texas there were a lot of fairly inexpensive houses built from the early 70s through the mid 80s with very bad foundation design and workmanship. If you hire the above mentioned crusty old fart, he/she will be able to identify whether it is one of those or one of the later post-tensioned foundations.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

Don't just get the foundation company's report. They want to sell you something. My seller had 2 reports showing 8-10 piers needed. My structural engineer said water and observe. Five yrs later, still watering and observing. No significant change.