See pics below, first two are west side of same corner, last two are south side of the corner.

Long story short: this is the corner of the house that had previous foundation piers installed before we owned it. These cracks seem to be getting wider and almost sorta of pulling away from the house? Is this something to be concerned about? What are suggested fixes? Lastly, do I fix sooner or can I wait a bit? I know masons are expensive....

mAgnoliAg said:

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Don't fix until foundation is figured out

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Foundation guys have been out and said nothing to do really. It's not moved much enough to warrant doing anything.

There is a lifetime warranty for the piers in the corner of that house.

I think it's a legacy issue left over from the movement. Just worried about moisture getting behind the bricks and making problems worse.

That looks like all you need is a tube of mortar repair. If the cracks are too large, we back them with steel wool. This is purely a cosmetic fix, but it's cheep and works.

one MEEN Ag said:

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Get a second opinion. That's clearly foundation movement.

Have you watered your lawn regularly in this heat? If you've got brown grass and cracked soil, that could be causing the soil to shrink and still pull away.

Another issue is that soil movement is a 3D phenomenon, and concrete slabs 'float' on soil. Pinning one section deep into the ground to secure it basically makes your house like a boat tied to a dock with a single rope. The rest of the house can still move relative to your pinned corner and cause pulling away.

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I've called both the old company that installed foundation piers on that corner of the house and another company to come and give me an idea no hold bar. We had it looked at last summer, and the three companies said nothing really could be done cause it wasn't moving much.

I've been watering regularly this summer and installed a foundation drip system as well to make sure it's well maintained.

I suspect your boat tied to a dock comment is probably the problem. Frustrating to say the lease.

Gary79Ag said:

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Get a structural engineer, not a foundation company, to look at it and assess it from an engineering standpoint! He'll be able to tell you what needs to be done to resolve your issue!

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Thank you Gary! Cant believe I didn't think of this.

Where are you located?

mAgnoliAg said:

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Where are you located?

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DFW, specifically Plano.

Rice and Fries said:

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mAgnoliAg said:

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Where are you located?

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DFW, specifically Plano.

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Thomas Engineering Consultants. Aggie structural engineer residential focus

mAgnoliAg said:

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Rice and Fries said:

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mAgnoliAg said:

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Where are you located?

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DFW, specifically Plano.

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Thomas Engineering Consultants. Aggie structural engineer residential focus

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Thank you!

one MEEN Ag said:

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Get a second opinion. That's clearly foundation movement.

Have you watered your lawn regularly in this heat? If you've got brown grass and cracked soil, that could be causing the soil to shrink and still pull away.

Another issue is that soil movement is a 3D phenomenon, and concrete slabs 'float' on soil. Pinning one section deep into the ground to secure it basically makes your house like a boat tied to a dock with a single rope. The rest of the house can still move relative to your pinned corner and cause pulling away.

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I've seen a lot of this. Foundation company recommends a full underpinning of the house. Homeowner gulps at price quote and intrusiveness of interior work, asks if there is an alternative. Not wanting to lose the business, the foundation company offers a partial job of perimeter only or one side of house only. Homeowner opts for the partial job then spends the savings on fixing up the interior.

A couple of years go by and the house continues to move/heave in relation to the underpinned parts. Homeowner is angry that the lifetime warranty can't fix the problem (since it was never truly fixed in the first place) and their new floors and patched walls are separating.

And that's why I always recommend a structural engineering assessment! Need to get to the root cause of the problem and fix it the right way! But you have to do what the engineer recommends!

Mr. AGSPRT04 said:

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one MEEN Ag said:

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Get a second opinion. That's clearly foundation movement.

Have you watered your lawn regularly in this heat? If you've got brown grass and cracked soil, that could be causing the soil to shrink and still pull away.

Another issue is that soil movement is a 3D phenomenon, and concrete slabs 'float' on soil. Pinning one section deep into the ground to secure it basically makes your house like a boat tied to a dock with a single rope. The rest of the house can still move relative to your pinned corner and cause pulling away.

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I've seen a lot of this. Foundation company recommends a full underpinning of the house. Homeowner gulps at price quote and intrusiveness of interior work, asks if there is an alternative. Not wanting to lose the business, the foundation company offers a partial job of perimeter only or one side of house only. Homeowner opts for the partial job then spends the savings on fixing up the interior.

A couple of years go by and the house continues to move/heave in relation to the underpinned parts. Homeowner is angry that the lifetime warranty can't fix the problem (since it was never truly fixed in the first place) and their new floors and patched walls are separating.

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This is our exact literal situation.

We were in the house the first summer after buying and the cracks grew bigger every day. It's incredibly frustrating to deal with, especially when it's our first house and I've been diligent in watering the foundation and doing general upkeep to improve the house.

And don't even get me started on the damn hatch job in the attic when they were DIY'ing their own AC installation back in the late 90s.

We are getting to a point where it's more so, just slap some lipstick on it and sell it. Be done with it and make it someone else's problem.

I see a lot of good recommendations for this guy too:

David Isbon, P.E.
Isbon Engineering LLC
Office 817-794-0770
Office Mobile 214-405-7251

Any updates? I also live in DFW and my house has gained a couple new exterior cracks in the brick just like yours. Found some new cracks generally located around windows on the inside too. Not sure exactly who to call. House had some foundation work done to it before I owned it, but previous owner didn't keep the best records.

helgs said:

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Any updates? I also live in DFW and my house has gained a couple new exterior cracks in the brick just like yours. Found some new cracks generally located around windows on the inside too. Not sure exactly who to call. House had some foundation work done to it before I owned it, but previous owner didn't keep the best records.

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Yes lots of updates:

Had Structured Foundation come out, they thought that we have a leak in our main water pipe under the foundation. This is causing our foundation to buckle in the middle. This is evidenced by the number of growing horizontal cracks along our walls plus the exterior brick. They are quoting $14K to have the leak found and repaired and then 65ft of tunneling under the foundation to install 9 piers to support the house.

This gave me a bit of sticker shock, so I called the structural engineer to come out and they confirmed that the house is buckling in the middle, along the water main. He basically said it's probably been leaking for a good while (since former owners had the house) and you can tell there's been some obvious repairs along the living room walls to hide the cracks. Said the longer it takes to get found and fixed, the more damage it'll do. But because the foundation was a well-built tension slab and cared for (my foundation drip system), is why it's not causing more issues.

I had Align Foundation come out to bid, they were slightly cheaper ($11.8K) but they are wanting to drill into the foundation and repair that way.

My wife is 39 weeks pregnant, so no way are we going that route with all the dust and noise and a newborn, so it looks like we are about to drop $14K to have structured foundation fixed.

One thing that all three parties said to me that stands out is all 3 parties said older houses built in the 80s seem to have better foundations. Seems like slab foundations built now-days under the same conditions (age and stress via pipe's etc) would be much worse off. Probably because they waited 30days+ for curing.

That stinks but at least you now have a handle on the issue and a plan to address.

Also, not that it helps but it could be a lot worse than 14k for foundation issues. We had a contract on a house last year and during inspection noticed several cracks that were covered up. Turns out that because the house was built in a valley between two small mountains (Colorado) the pressure exerted on the house was moving it.

It was basically falling away from the center point of the house. On average there was a 4" drop from the center point to the edge and in the worst part a 9" drop. At some point they finished the basement but compensated the floor to make that even so if you fix the other parts of the house you wreck the basement floor.

Had structural engineers and foundation companies look at it. The average estimate was 200k+ and that was just for reinforcing the house not the damage caused by lifting the house 4-9 inches, landscaping and basement issues. They also said it was only 80% chance more damage wouldn't happen.

We backed out of that purchase and felt bad for the guy. He took it off the market until this Spring and re-listed it. We knew he had to disclose it but what he did was have different engineers come out until he found one that said 20k and a couple piers will fix it good. It sold this summer and I feel bad for the people that bought it.

Rice and Fries said:

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helgs said:

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Any updates? I also live in DFW and my house has gained a couple new exterior cracks in the brick just like yours. Found some new cracks generally located around windows on the inside too. Not sure exactly who to call. House had some foundation work done to it before I owned it, but previous owner didn't keep the best records.

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They are quoting $14K to have the leak found and repaired and then 65ft of tunneling under the foundation to install 9 piers to support the house.
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One thing that all three parties said to me that stands out is all 3 parties said older houses built in the 80s seem to have better foundations. Seems like slab foundations built now-days under the same conditions (age and stress via pipe's etc) would be much worse off. Probably because they waited 30days+ for curing.

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This is what I'm fearing. We're about to close on a refi to pull equity out with the intention of remodeling our master bathroom. The last couple of months, since I've been home more, I'm noticing more little tiny cracks here and there, and exterior doors that rub against frames. Then I noticed a fairly large crack in the exterior brick on the front window frame, and another in the back yard. My heart broke when I saw these because I knew my bathroom is going to likely have to wait.

House built in 1988 with some previous foundation work. Had a foundation company come out to inspect before we bought the house 3 years ago, and they said all was fine. There was evidence of crack repairs, but they (Sellers) swore it was done after the foundation was repaired.

Sounds like We are in the same boat friend.

But really, I think the whole lesson to be learned here is:

1. Don't buy a house that's had foundation work (tough to do in the DFW area)

2. You can't take sellers at their word because they just want the problem to be not theirs anymore. Ours definitely did this, along with some other things that the old owner did DIY that was just horribly messed up and done improperly.

It's the joys of homeownership I guess.

Sounds like good advice, although good luck finding a home 30+ or older without some work done! I went back through the stack of random paperwork the previous owner gave me, and it turns out our house has never had any foundation work done, it was the detached garage's foundation that had work done. Now that I found that out, I do remember that being the case. But there is clear evidence of brick crack fills, thus the reason we had the inspection done where they said all was good.

But 3 years is 10% of the house's life, so things can change even in that amount of time.

Has work started on your house yet?

helgs said:

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Sounds like good advice, although good luck finding a home 30+ or older without some work done! I went back through the stack of random paperwork the previous owner gave me, and it turns out our house has never had any foundation work done, it was the detached garage's foundation that had work done. Now that I found that out, I do remember that being the case. But there is clear evidence of brick crack fills, thus the reason we had the inspection done where they said all was good.

But 3 years is 10% of the house's life, so things can change even in that amount of time.

Has work started on your house yet?

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Not yet. Plumbing leak discovery is next week. Doesn't look like digging will start until Mid-October as they are a bit backed up right now.