Rehabbing & House Flipping
Market News & Data
General Info
Real Estate Strategies
Landlording & Rental Properties
Real Estate Professionals
Financial, Tax, & Legal
Real Estate Classifieds
Reviews & Feedback
Updated about 3 years ago, 12/28/2021
Foundation Repair all it's cracked up to be?
First off, sorry for the pun. I recently purchased a property in Fort Worth, TX from a flipper that had some foundation work performed. They placed steel piers all around the foundation, absolutely overhauling it.
The property comes with a foundation warranty, which covers only the foundation. The inspector pointed out some issues with the house that may suggest that there were foundation issues present including some sloping floors, cracks in exterior walls, or poorer drainage. I felt somewhat comfortable ignoring that because the seller just repaired the foundation, so I would expect that there would be signs of damage, since I knew the foundation was recently in disrepair.
This leads to my question. Some exterior walls still have major cracks in them. They are not bowed out or seem to be on the verge of collapse. (see below). I know cracks can be scary as a homeowner because they can indicate serious foundation issues. Are cracks by themselves dangerous, or are they scary because they indicate foundation problems? In other words, if the work was already done, should I be concerned? Should a high-quality foundation fix have closed these cracks? I talked to the company that performed the work and they indicated the only work they did on the cracks was putting nonstructural foam in them for aesthetic reasons. Is that standard?
Of course, I plan on talking to a professional about this but was hoping to get some unbiased, educated opinions first. Thank you everyone and hopefully someone reading this can learn from my mistakes :)