We have a detached 2 car garage that's about 1.5 cars deep. When you pull in, the wall in front of you has a door that goes to a finished room in the back (insulated, AC, etc). A few months ago, I decided to turn that space into a home gym and ripped out the carpet (needed to be replaced anyway). When I did that, I noticed that the slab back there is divided. When you first walk in, the slab from the garage is about 2' and then there's another ~4'x the width of a 2 car garage. This was not an addition the previous owners made as several of the houses on our street have this. Since then, I've noticed some cracks in the sheet rock and around one of the windows. First, I noticed some of the tape at the seams was coming up, and then the cracks there and a few other places. I took a level and put it around the floor and it's level in the 25 different places I checked. The window where the sheet rock is cracking opens and shuts just fine as do the 2 doors to enter/exit the room (one exterior).

I was reading last night and I found a few articles saying something like this is common in vacation homes that do not have the AC running all of the time. I turn the window unit on when I get home and go out after dinner, then shut it off. I'm wondering if pulling up the carpet is allowing more moisture into the room than it used to and is causing issues, or if I need to have someone out. Also, there's no crack in the concrete anywhere (inside or out). If it's not a foundation issue, I guess I need to put a moisture barrier down and maybe some of those rubber tiles?

You gave far too little information about the nature of the cracks, the type of foundation, the distances in question, etc. No one can give you any educated advice with the information given except to consult an engineer.

Could you possibly elaborate on what kind of info you need?

Cracks are vertical on 1 wall about 12 inches, maybe 1/16 wide. On the same wall, float tape is coming off and there's a crack there. Opposite wall has a crack at top of window running diagonal as well as one running vertical parallel to window about 2" from edge of window. No cracks in ceiling or on concrete, outside of the seam where the 2 slabs meet.

Pictures would help significantly!

aTm2004 said:

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Could you possibly elaborate on what kind of info you need?

Cracks are vertical on 1 wall about 12 inches, maybe 1/16 wide. On the same wall, float tape is coming off and there's a crack there. Opposite wall has a crack at top of window running diagonal as well as one running vertical parallel to window about 2" from edge of window. No cracks in ceiling or on concrete, outside of the seam where the 2 slabs meet.

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Pictures. Even then, it's not enough. You need a professional on site----not a salesman.

Gary79Ag said:

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If you get someone to inspect it...have an engineer do it for you, not a foundation repair guy! An engineer will give you an engineering analysis while a foundation repair guy will sell you piers, etc...

I had my house inspected by 2 foundation repair companies and they tried to sell me 11 and 22 piers, respectively. I then had an engineer inspect it and he determined that the root cause of my foundation issue was due to a slab leak which was only hundreds of dollars to repair compared to the $10-25K foundation repairs which would not have fixed my real issue!

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This times eleventy billion trillion.

The engineer will cost you a few hundred bucks but he/she will provide not only peace of mind but a certified report that you can keep on file should you sell the property in the future and there are questions.

Too many of us on there have had to deal with this same issue. I thought I had problems (had all the classic signs of foundation issues) and had companies quote everything from $10k-$30k in repairs. I decided to have a PE give me an assessment and $500 later, I was assured there was absolutely nothing to worry about...just some natural settling and corner-cutting by the builder using cheap materials.

Quote:

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The engineer will cost you a few hundred bucks but he/she will provide not only peace of mind but a certified report that you can keep on file should you sell the property in the future and there are questions.

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Eh,the engineers report that I paid for wasn't worth wiping my ass with.

It's certainly no guarantee that your're going to get your money's worth. Find a well respected and recommended foundation expert with a long history of dealing with your area. Whether it be an engineer or repair company.

True. But you can say that about anything.

I called around and did my research before choosing my PE. He spent almost 2 hours at my house taking pictures, measurements, and looking at every nook and cranny. The report he provided included his written findings, drawings of my home with his measurements, and references to construction standards. I was impressed with what he provided.

Carpet isn't going to keep moisture out of the space, so pulling it up didn't change that.

How old is the house?

How long has the window unit been in there? Have you changed anything with it's usage?

Do you know if the room itself is insulated?

What part of the country are you in? Have you experience high changes in the amount of moisture in the soil, rainfall, etc.? BCS and SE Texas had crazy amounts of rainfall last year into the first half of this year. We had a door that hadn't stuck since we made the addition 6-7 years ago and it stuck this year, probably because the moisture was able to get lower in the soils and affect more movement on that part of the house. Once summer came and it dried out, it went back to normal.

Cracks could be due to a host of issues, foundation (sounds like your slab isn't moving enough to cause window issues, but drywall could crack with smaller movements, especially between two slabs), poor workmanship, humidity changes inside and outside, etc.. But not likely because you took the carpet out.