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We got inspection done on a single family home. Inspection report points out a long crack from the other side of the road, going through the driveway and all the way reaching the garage. Inspector says this is one long crack which he has not seen anywhere in his experience. Suggesting to get a soil engineer analyze this issue. Two questions to the experts in this forum:
1. I know driveway cracks are very common and so as the cracks on the road. But, this one talks about a long one extending till the garage. Should I worry about any earth fault line, etc?
2. Where do I find soil engineers in the middlesex county of NJ?
I don't think this is on a landfill. It is 20 year old house on a well maintained community. This crack is what is bothering me. No other major issue with the house.
How big is the crack ?? As wide as a finger or just a hairline crack ?? Good idea to have it evaluated, but keep in mind that a geographical survey can be very costly.
I don't think this is on a landfill. It is 20 year old house on a well maintained community. This crack is what is bothering me. No other major issue with the house.
Not a landfill, engineered fill. Sometimes the soil can't properly support a home so they remove it and put in engineered fill instead. I'm not sure when they started using engineered fill. Even well maintained communities can have soil issues.
Out here my first thought would be to look at where the water is being driven from across the road. It might be that the drainage is forcing it right along where the crack is.
I would get an engineer who specializes in evaluating soils and foundations, but NOT a foundation repair company. I'm not sure if foundation issues are common where you are buying but is that the main issue you are worrying about with the crack? We had an engineer do our home inspection because our home was built in an area where expansive soils can be an issue. We did have some very slight heaving in our garage but because the home is over 30 years old he was not concerned and also because the garage was a completely different pour than the rest of the house and the garage floor was not part of the rest of the home's foundation system. Our foundation was good but he really knew what to look for and did a very thorough analysis.
If the house is 20 year sold and that crack has been there for a long time I would think if there was going to be any major settling or damage it would already be visible to an experienced engineer.
Amazing to see these many useful replies. Thanks, everyone! We did visit the place once again today and took a close look. Our main concern was on the crack, how long it is and the note from the inspector that it goes all the way reaching the house. Few points that make us less worried now:
1. We did not find the crack on the road (1/2 to 1 inch wide) connected to the much smaller cracks on the driveway. So, it is not one long crack reaching the house from the other side of the road.
2. As we drove/walked around the community, we found many such cracks in other roads as well. Some were even wider than this one. May be these cracks are due to poor workmanship of the roads?
Any thoughts based on these points?
We are thinking of getting an opinion from a geotechnical engineer and negotiate with the seller to pay for this additional cost.
I would the engineer in charge of whatever municipality covers your area. That sort of person would likely have been in charge of hiring private companies to build the roads. They'd be very familiar with the history of such defects.
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