Foundation Issues in the Willamette Valley, OR

[Johna M Winters]

Hello,

I own a home in the Willamette Valley in Oregon.  It rains a lot here and we have clay soil.  There was some cracking in my foundation when I bought the place but I had the foundation inspected and the engineer basically said not do worry about it (see below) and put his seal on the report.  This crack has always kind of bothered me however.  I had to patch a crack in the wall and I've planed most of the doors in the house so they don't stick.  I had terra firma come out and they said the north side of my house had sunk 1/2".  Their solution was to install 8 piers on the north side of the house to the tune of $23,000.  I'm having ram jack come out to tell me what they think as well.  My goal for this place is to hold it and rent it out.  Since I'm not going to sell it immediately, I'm not going to knee jerk spend $23k on something that's not a problem according to a structural engineer.

My question is, do I fix it now, wait until I want to sell, or just not worry about it.  I read that if you know of foundation problems you are required to disclose them to buyers.  

If there's anyone whit experience with this in my area, I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks

Conclusions and recommendations: 

1. .The comforting aspect of this horizontal crack is that this crack does not endanger the stability of the structure any more than the fact that there is a cold joint between the native soil (or rock layer placed under the footing) and the first concrete layer placed in the forms.

2. The repeated cycles of wetting and drying may at this point have consolidated the soils to a point that further settlement is very minor. I recommend that the cracks be cleaned out and then filled with a suitable concrete crack filler compound. This will provide some evidence by next year if there is still movement or that the soil has become virtually stable.

3. My recommendation with respect to the roof drains have already been noted above (drain to street had cracked but mitigated this by attached gutter extensions)

4. There is no concern that the observed cracks form a structural problem to the rest of the structure. 

5. If the problem continues and this aesthetic deficiency continues to be a matter of concern, then there are ways of resolving it , but the methods to implement it are of a considerable level of expense.