1

I am currently looking into buying a house built in the early 60’s and our private inspector noticed this crack in our foundation. The crack is underneath one of the basement windows and appears to run from one side of the window to the other. He was not very concerned about it and believes that a professional repair/waterproofing will be enough to fix the problem. We noticed that the downspouts in the back yard do not have extensions, so they are releasing water quite close to the foundation. This was planned to be fixed (regrading, downspout extensions) as soon as possible after closing.

No other issues were noticed with the inspection (such as bowing, doors not closing properly, etc). We were quoted about $450 for a waterproofing/repair from a reputable local crack repair company, which seems reasonable to me.

Does my inspectors opinion seem reasonable in this case? Or does this appear to need additional oversight or corrective action?

straight on view

view from the right

view from the left

closeup with tape measure

closeup of different location with tape measure

overview of different section of crack

Improve this question
2
  • you probably won't even need to "fix" it if you take care of the gutters and downspouts.
    – dandavis
    May 20, 2022 at 18:46
  • Holy cow you are worried about a crack in a skim coat!!! , this could’ve been a crappy prep job , a leak or a real crack but I doubt it with the info you provided, I would have nothing that cost me anything to do, I might cut out the skim coat and check it out but it is at most a leak at least a bad surface prep for the skim coat
    – Ed Beal
    May 20, 2022 at 23:06

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

At this point, I'd have to say to take the word of the inspector and the reputable crack company since they were at the site and examined the crack, hopefully on both sides of the wall. We usually advise the DIYers to monitor the cracks over time and look for any increase in crack width. This is an older house and settling cracks are common.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.