Rental house shifts/settles too much with seasons, bedroom floors with slope (?)

[Jeff Ryan]

Hi, In Muskegon more specifically, to note for seasonality of this. I've owned the house (SFH) for a little over 3 years, rented to the same tenant.

She's noted/complained about 2 of the far bedrooms floors 'sloping' and seems to be with the seasons, worse in the winter than in the summer, where they seemingly go back to normal.  Also, per the images, a crack develops in the kitchen, on the other side of the house where the wall meets the ceiling.  This also showing up in the winter, and the crack closes back up again in the nicer summer weather!    

I went into the bedrooms and don't notice the sloping floors so much just by 'feel' and admittedly haven't put any measuring device like a level to it.  She says she notices it in bed and has to put the bed a certain way (like with head on higher part).

This doesn't seem to be enough of a problem where any part is unlivable or that requires immediate attention, but the main jist of this post is, where would I start or what type of business or contractor could I start with to find out about this?

I had the house inspected when I bought it, and nothing really came to light about this.  The foundation was noted as good, and the foundation in the basement doesn't show any obvious signs of problems that you might typically see with foundation problems.  The basement is full, concrete walls that are very straight.  

Is it some kind of foundation specialist to start with to at least know what it is and know if there is anything reasonable that can be done, a general contractor, or is this something I just write off as seasonal shifting of the foundation that happens with some?  Thanks!! 

[Jonathan Klemm]

Hey @Jeff Ryan - While I can not speak to your exact situation, I can speak to the thousands of homes I have walked here in Chicago, where majority of the homes were built in the late 1800s/early 1900s.

I would say that 7/10 of the older homes I look at have some sort of settlement in the foundation, which causes the cracks and sloped floors you are mentioned you are seeing in your property.  Over time especially here in the Midwest with the expansion (summer) and contraction (winter) we get, things move including houses. 

The other thing I often see is that over time, different homeowners/contractors have decided to DYI adjustments to their home aka took out walls, didn't shore things up properly, put in new doors, etc.

My point is that what you are seeing is not abnormal for older homes.  It will not hurt to have an engineer look at it, but there is likely no major issue.  If there were, you would see some cracks in the foundation, and the slopes would worsen over time, so continue to monitor.

Maybe the next time you do a larger renovation, you address the structural issues, but if it were me, I'd likely do anything until that time.