From: Sum 
Newsgroups: alt.building.construction alt.architecture alt.building.architecture alt.building.realestate
Subject: Re: Structural Engineering question
Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2003 07:18:18 GMT

A structural engineer (which I am one by education) can probably tell 
what is going on, but he will base his opinion on both what he sees NOW 
and what you are telling him happened ten years ago.  There is no way to 
prove that the house is absolutely OK because he cannot go back and put 
in a strain gauge 10 years ago and take measurements then and now.  And 
you don't have the luxury of time to wait for some sort of analysis that 
may take time.

I would probably do two things: (1) Have a structural engineer prepare 
something to state that the wall is structurally sound.  (2)  Can the 
structural engineer recommend some geotechincal services that can take 
soil sample from under the foundation to determine if there is any 
additional settlement?  If the house is sinking, and sinking uniformly 
you will not see this crack.  It only cracks if different parts of the 
house is sinking at a different rate at one point - differential 
settlement.  After this many years, any additional settlement should 
have occured already, unless you are in Miami and there may be a sink 
hole developing :)

Lastly, you can offer a home warranty to the buyer against this problem 
if you are confident that this will not be an issue.

Sum

Dj Mehrpuyan wrote:

>Thank you for your response.  We tuckpointed the crack about 10 years ago
>and
>have not noticed any changes.  The problem is that when buyers look at the
>house
>with a home inspector, they have no way of knowing that the foundation has
>been
>stable for number of years.  The inspector tells the buyer that the crack
>(now
>tcukpointed) was caused by a foundation settling problem and that scares the
>buyer.
>Sofar we had two buyers sign the contract to buy our house, but then
>canceled
>because the inspector scared them away.
>
>I have a second structural engineer look at our house this thursday.  They
>were
>recommended by the local building dept.  Do you think that structural
>engineers
>with many years experience and a high reputation can sometimes tell right
>away
>if the foundation is solid ?
>
>Regards,
>
>
>"3D Peruna"  wrote in message
>news:vh5qqpj606vj4c@corp.supernews.com...
>  
>
>>Option 1)  Get a letter from one of the structural engineers (or a copy of
>>his report) that states the foundation does not appear to have moved in
>>    
>>
>the
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>>near past and this is the result of historical settling.
>>
>>Option 2)  Get the structural engineer to conduct a test.  I used to work
>>for an engineer who used plaster ceramic "bow-ties".  He'd attach  one
>>    
>>
>over
>  
>
>>the crack.  If the tie didn't crack after a few months, there's a good
>>chance nothing new is happening.
>>
>>Option 3)  Get the crack tuckpointed and say no more...if the foundation
>>really isn't moving, then your just providing some peace of mind.  If it
>>helps, you could include, with the house, a letter from the structural
>>engineer simply stating there are no visible structural problems.
>>
>>Paul
>>
>>
>>    
>>
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