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Posted by Harry on August 18, 2006, 2:35 pm
No-one can tell you the answer to this one. First you would need to
know the nature of the subsoil. Glass "telltales" would need to be
cemented across the crack. If they broke, it would indicate that
movement is still going on. They would have to be left for a year
normally to be fairly sure things had settled down.
I must say I'm quite amazed at the damage you describe. Here in the UK
there's so much rebar in a slab, there's no way it would break,
especially on a new place. Is there no builder's guarantee? Houses in
the UK have a ten year guarantee.
The answer would be to get a specialist firm in who would inject
concrete under the slab by drilling holes in it. It might be an idea to
get one in to advise you about this and whether it's suitable.
Injection is the cheap way. There's other solutions if it's not
suitable but all more expensive.
However there's now a great opportunity to beat the price right down!
I should think you'd get at least 30% off!
But see what the injection firm has to say first. Also check
wallsclosest to crack for verticalness.
themeanies wrote:
> I can't imagine this is a rare problem, so if there is a better place to
> research this please feel free to direct me elsewhere.
>
> We have put a contract on a house and the inspection uncovered a crack
> in the slab.
>
>
> The home is 5 years old built on what used to be a cotton farm. The
> area is now suburban with paved streets etc. The house is in a very dry
> climate with temps ranging from 25-105F annually.
>
>
> The crack in question is approximately 25 ft long and travels under two
> walls. 4ft of the slab is exposed in the garage and the other 21 ft are
> tile in the kitchen. The grout in the tile is cracked. The crack does
> not seem to travel from one side of the slab to the other. The outer
> edge of the slab is approximately 10 feet parallel to this crack. There
> is what I assume is some very small shifting of the door frame into the
> house from the garage. This door is perpendicular to the crack and
> between the crack and the outer edge of the slab. Most of the rest of
> the home is carpeted and I am unable to see any other telltale signs in
> door frames or walls. The home is about 2 feet above the surrounding
> street and it is possible that this crack is from settling. I do not
> yet know how long it has been there or if it has been looked at
> professionally. The overall quality of the home is outstanding. High
> quality building materials were used and the builder has a great local
> reputation. The finish out is medium quality. There are no water lines
> involved as all water delivery is run through the ceilings.
>
>
> A picture of the exposed area can be found here:
> http://www.tekn0lust.com/images/slabcrack.jpg
>
>
> So questions.
>
>
> 1)Is this a deal breaker?
>
>
> 2)Should I look into stabilization?
>
>
> 3)What is likely to happen to this in the future? We plan to stay in
> this home for a long time.
>
>
> Any other comments are greatly appreciated.
>
>
> tM
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