Anyone have experiences with house foundation issues?

[ragingfish]

So I discovered today in our basement that our foundation wall has some pretty significant cracks where the main waste stack exits the structure and heads out to the septic field.There are also VERY large cracks along the entire length of the concrete floor...Anyone ever had to have their foundation repaired? What does it entail? How much money are my parents looking to drop if this is determined to be a legitimate problem that needs to be corrected?

[joatmon]

could be expensive, but it really is hard to tell without knowing the full extent of the damage, and the construction of the house, and even then I couldn't tell anyway. Get several estimates, and be sure to use a contractor that does not employ people in the country illegally

[nygiantzz1]

The first thing you need is an inspection by an engineer. If the cracks are caused by settling, no big deal, they can be patched. If they were caused by leak (septic, waste stack, pipes, etc.) then some digging may be required to patch the leak. Think about potholes in the road, caused by water running under pavement and freezing. This happens a lot in the northeast. The worst case scenario is roots from trees. Are there any trees close enough to the house to be growing into the foundation? If so, cut it down and dig up the roots (pain in the a**) then patch the foundation. I hope it ends up being settling. Check with your town building inspector for an approved engineer. Good Luck.

[ragingfish]

Quote, originally posted by joatmon »could be expensive, but it really is hard to tell without knowing the full extent of the damage, and the construction of the house, and even then I couldn't tell anyway.Get several estimates, and be sure to use a contractor that does not employ people in the country illegallyI'll get some pictures. I'm sure it wonm't give you too much to go on, but should give a reasonable idea of what we're dealing with...Quote, originally posted by nygiantzz1 »The first thing you need is an inspection by an engineer. If the cracks are caused by settling, no big deal, they can be patched. If they were caused by leak (septic, waste stack, pipes, etc.) then some digging may be required to patch the leak. Think about potholes in the road, caused by water running under pavement and freezing. This happens a lot in the northeast. The worst case scenario is roots from trees. Are there any trees close enough to the house to be growing into the foundation? If so, cut it down and dig up the roots (pain in the a**) then patch the foundation. I hope it ends up being settling. Check with your town building inspector for an approved engineer. Good Luck. A leak can't be ruled out as a possibility unfortunately. The cracks happen to be right around the area where the waste stack heads out to the septic. Ugh. We've had septic issues in the past, I seriously hope that isn't the situation. As for trees, there are only a few trees within close proximity of the foundation, and I think they're all dead lol. But I suppose that's a possibility as well!Thanks for the info guys!

[keithvibe]

Have your parents seen any water coming in threw the cracks? Does your parents live between two hills where as all the water run off comes into their yard? How old is the house? Is there any signs of buckling? As soon as you post some photos of the inside and outside, most of use could give u a better idea what might be causing the problems.I had water issues myself in my home to deal with because of the low level area and being in between too hills. I ended up haveing minor cracking and seepage threw the foundation walls because of this. I ended up haveing to put in a waterproofing system to combat it.....http://www.basements.com/index.htmI used them because they asured me walls and floors to be dry with their system and their system is used in the library of congress, and white house

[ragingfish]

Quote, originally posted by keithvibe »Have your parents seen any water coming in threw the cracks?I just noticed the cracks today, but we've never had any water in the basement. It gets humid in the summer, but that's it.Quote, originally posted by keithvibe »Does your parents live between two hills where as all the water run off comes into their yard?Nope.Quote, originally posted by keithvibe »How old is the house?27 years.Quote, originally posted by keithvibe »Is there any signs of buckling?Nope.Quote, originally posted by keithvibe »As soon as you post some photos of the inside and outside, most of use could give u a better idea what might be causing the problems.I had water issues myself in my home to deal with because of the low level area and being in between too hills. I ended up haveing minor cracking and seepage threw the foundation walls because of this. I ended up haveing to put in a waterproofing system to combat it.....http://www.basements.com/index.htmI used them because they asured me walls and floors to be dry with their system and their system is used in the library of congress, and white house[/QUOTE]Quote, originally posted by keithvibe »Have your parents seen any water coming in threw the cracks? Does your parents live between two hills where as all the water run off comes into their yard? How old is the house? Is there any signs of buckling? As soon as you post some photos of the inside and outside, most of use could give u a better idea what might be causing the problems.Will get inside pics tonight, outside pics tomorrow.

[nygiantzz1]

[QUOTE=ragingfish]A leak can't be ruled out as a possibility unfortunately. The cracks happen to be right around the area where the waste stack heads out to the septic. QUOTE]OK, next question, was the septic system installed when the house was built? or was it added after? If it was added after, then someone cut the concrete to get the waste stack outside. This could have caused some small cracks(from vibration when cutting) that have just gotten bigger over time and now need filling in. It might be that simple. I'm trying to be optomistic on this. If there is a leak, there will be undermining of the soil where the waste stack travels to the septic. Try digging (carefully) down to the waste stack. If you've got packed dirt all around the pipe, no leak there. RE: trees nearby, identify what type of trees they are and search the web for info on their root structure. Some trees have a very aggressive root system that can overpower a foundation, even after the tree has been cut down. Some are harmless and the roots will grow along the foundation rather than try to push through. Again, Good Luck.

[ragingfish]

Quote, originally posted by nygiantzz1 »OK, next question, was the septic system installed when the house was built? or was it added after?The original system was put in during construction. We had to have the tank and field repaired years later, but they never touched the foundation at any point.Here are the pics. Sorry about the quality, my camera is being an (removed) lately. Oh, and pardon my messy basement too. Click the pics for full-size...

[nygiantzz1]

That is a stress crack, possibly from settling, ground shift or heat expansion. It doesn't look that bad, only 1 block cracked and it followed the joints the rest of the way down. It may not be cracked on the exterior. I would get it inspected and go from there. It doesn't look like the house is going anywhere, the floor beams above it are fine.

[ragingfish]

Quote, originally posted by nygiantzz1 »That is a stress crack, possibly from settling, ground shift or heat expansion. It doesn't look that bad, only 1 block cracked and it followed the joints the rest of the way down. It may not be cracked on the exterior. I would get it inspected and go from there. It doesn't look like the house is going anywhere, the floor beams above it are fine. Thanks for the insight...I hope you're right and it's nothing but irregular settling.Showed it to my old man, he agreed, it's something we should get looked at...

[Houston]

Looks like normal settling to me. That's the way my basement looked 21 years ago when I moved in. The cracks still look the same and have never leaked.

[Atomb]

yup, i've got cracks on my basement floor that look strangely identical to yours (is that my floor you took pictures of? )not sure about the wall cracks, but i'd say the floor is fine...settling as explained above.

[keithvibe]

Dosen't apear to be anything of much concern. Pending the photos from the outside. The cracking in the basement slab is normal. when you look at a side walk most if not all have the seperation lines formed into the concreat when the walk is made.. This serve a purpose for expansion and gives the concreat a place to crack that is controled. Being most basement slabs aren't made this way the stress fractures you see in the slab follow the path of least resistance. The wall cracks are normal for a block foundation. I would recomend that you keep the photos someplace and refer back to them in say 3-5 years and see if you notice any changes.

[CAN-AWD-VIBE]

I had that happen to my new home... they patched it up and i painted the entire floor with garage floor paint.You can't even see it anymore and it has not expanded over the last 5 years.But I would still get it checked out.

[ragingfish]

yeah, we're gonna have it looked at (someday )tryin to talk my parents into putting down that epoxy coating you can get for garages...somethin like this:http://www.musclegloss.com/ima...s.jpg

[CAN-AWD-VIBE]

oooo shiny. mine not that nice... it's just the garage floor epoxy stuff from Home Depot. Works good in my basement, cause theres not nearly the wear there would be in the garage.

[ragingfish]

This is a better representation of what i want...i like the color specks in it...