Househunting: cracks in hall, couple door frames (foundation, pools, heat)

[eskercurve]

Hi there, I am in the middle of househunting and we toured a "too good to be true" kind of house. It is ~$280k, 2050 sq. ft., and two car garage, newer construction, seems to be well maintained. Comparable houses in that area sell for around $320k or more. Close to some transit and easy to walk around, etc.

BUT, there's two things that made me go "huh?" with this house.

First off, if you can imagine, the house (and the rest of the subdivision) sits high above some wetlands that are right next door. As you have it, the house is right next to the retaining wall next to those wetlands. It is about 30 ft above the wetlands. The retaining wall is made of stone.

Being that I live in the Pacific NW, where it is damp about 9 months out of the year, would you say I should have danger lights going on regarding runoff and soil erosion? The house is about 10 years old and there's no obvious signs of erosion ...

Also, there's cracks in a couple of the door frames / hallways that run horizontal. Nothing 45 deg or vertical to the ceiling.

Connecting the dots, I'm suspcious and it may be a foundation problem, though I am merely speculating. Any ideas?

The other thing that made me go "huh?" is that it's been on the market for almost a year. $60k in price drops too since then. Hmmm ...

[Hemlock140]

The cracks could be normal settling over that many years, or could be a sign of something more serious like foundation or carpenter ants.

There is no reason you cannot make an offer subject to inspection, and rather than just the usual home inspection, ask for (and pay for) an engineer to look at the foundations and soils. It will cost some $ but if you like everything else about the home it may be worth it. I personally would avoid a home that close to a wetland, because of the many regulations that already exist and will likely get worse in the future. There has already been talk in some cities of banning car washing in your own driveway, wetlands or not,
and some cases where a nesting endangered bird in a neighboring wetland
prevents using a power mower.

[eskercurve]

Banning car washes in the driveway? Sheesh. I guess all those government agencies need to justify their bloated budgets and decide to pass ever more stringent environmental laws. Anyway ... before I get on that soap box ...

The mower isn't a big deal. Yard is so small a weed whacker could take the job. I don't want a big yard. Only enough for a few planter boxes.

[K'ledgeBldr]

Originally Posted by eskercurve

Also, there's cracks in a couple of the door frames / hallways that run horizontal. Nothing 45 deg or vertical to the ceiling...

I don't know how you get foundation problem out of this! Really, really, really, need pics.
In otherwords-


"Cracks in door frames", meaning door jamb? Sounds like someone was slamming doors- abusing them.
"Cracks that run horizontal", the only 'cracks I know of that would run horizontal are seams. Like at the 4' level if the ceiling is 8'- that's where the two sheets of d/wall meet. When a butt joint cracks it's usually because of poor installation and/or finishing.

[eskercurve]

In the end we decided against the house. We just couldn't square the potential danger of two things:

1) In the event a sizeable earthquake happens (say 5.0 or more ... which does happen occassionally and are overdue for by some estimates out here in the PNW), the ground will liquefy. The soil out here actually makes earthquakes worse. I don't pretend to understand it all, but I have heard mudslides will occur, and I'd rather not own a property right next to a wall that will likely collapse.

2) Safety of children near a 30 ft. wall going down to wetlands. We can erect a fence sure, but still doesn't mean they won't try any funny business, etc. We just couldn't imagine the kids being safe.

And at the end of the day, peace of mind should happen when you come home and that didn't happen. Were our fears unfounded? Only time and speculation will solve that. Logical? Yes and no. But there were our concerns and were insurmountable (and I'm an engineering geek, and actually obtained copies of the land use applications and geo-analytical surveys done by an engineering firm to analyze the soil composition and cross-reference it with an ancient ground stream that runs there and earthquake potential).

Thanks for the input folks!

[South Jersey Styx]

The house should have been listed as located on a "flood plain" meaning that a nearby creek, river, or some kind of protected wetland can overflow and enter the property.

A structural engineer should be able to help with your questions -- for both the house and wall.

You said this is newer construction? By any chance, is it built on a a "fake" hill vs a natural hill? I only ask this because I have seen developers bull doze the earth and create a pile that looks like a natural hill, but in reality, is a man-made one. I would think that this would be more susceptible during an earthquake?

Is the water running or pooling/still? If so, I'd think about mosquitoes in the summer. Good luck!

[South Jersey Styx]

Originally Posted by eskercurve

Banning car washes in the driveway? Sheesh. I guess all those government agencies need to justify their bloated budgets and decide to pass ever more stringent environmental laws.

It's a little more than that. Oftentimes, water restrictions will put a ban on watering of any sorts, especially during a heat wave.

In my home state (NJ) the water tables are low and the soil is mostly sandy. Therefore, things like in-ground pools are banned in certain areas and during a heavy storm, sewage systems (esp those with wells) can be compromised due to the sudden surge of water.

As a habit (and I live near the mountains now and have city-water, city-sewage), I do not do laundry or overburden the water systems if we're expecting a major rain storm.