Cracks in walls......Should I be concerned? - Posted by Billy

Real Estate Investing
#1

Posted by garrison on March 03, 2002 at 22:11:26:

you must determine how deep the cracks are. they could simply be surface cracks which occur in older plaster or they could be deep exterior cracks that will require much more attention and money to fix. if i think it is something of concern i have my contractor look at it before i make an offer.

last month i was ready to put an offer on two townhouses that needed quite a bit of work but when my contractor looked at the cracks he advised me to stay away because they would require extensive repair which would leave me in the red when i would go to sell.

good luck
garrison

#2

Cracks in walls…Should I be concerned? - Posted by Billy

Posted by Billy on March 03, 2002 at 20:23:16:

I just looked at a house today and there were alot of cracks in the living room walls and ceilings. Is this something I should be concerned about? What questions if any should I ask?

Thanks,

Billy

#3

Re: Cracks in walls…Should I be concerned? - Posted by RickCA

Posted by RickCA on March 04, 2002 at 01:01:30:

Cracks are normal in old houses - that doesn’t mean they are a no-issue. It really depends on the reason behind the cracks. If it is a settling problem, you should be able to see some evidence of it in the foundations. Many houses settle and cracks appear. When the house stops settling the cracks can be repaired once and for all.

The kind of cracks that you really need to look out for are shear related cracks that shoot out diagonally (about 45 degrees) from the corners of doorways and windows. These usually mean that the foundation has moved.

Lots of random ceiling cracks in a large room sounds to me like somebody was up on the rafters and wasn’t treading too lightly…

Have a look at the foundation, either get an engineer (expensive) or a home inspector to look at it if you are not sure what you are looking for - beware of home inspectors - make sure this person has a solid background in construction or engineernig. They should be able to point you in the right direction.