r/StructuralEngineers

BAS Renovations https://youtube.com/shorts/ltUHj3PQf2g

Hi experts, I took these pictures during an open house which is going on auction soon. It’s a 1950s house renovated about 10 years ago before this current owner bought it not long after that. After checking their original floorplan, they knocked down a few walls to open up the kitchen, dinning room and dining room. There’s no access to the subfloor which makes me a little uncomfortable😂. Looking at those cracks on the walls alone makes me concern about movement. And there’s plants growing over drain pipes (fixable). There also seems to be moisture on the external rendered wall with the exposed pipes?? I don’t know how I feel about rendering. I think it’s just masks problems. I mean the house looks nice otherwise, but I don’t wanna bid on a nice looking house that would give me costly surprise. I don’t think I’ll get a building inspection done on this house as they are not gonna see more than I could see to be honest other than looking at the roof (got two done before and learnt a bit of what to look at😂). Any advice will be helpful! Thank you!

Hi, im really worried about a crack in my wall. I’ve spoken to a couple of builders and sent them these photos but they are so busy at the moment. my anxiety is through the roof waiting for one of them to have time to come and look.

I’ve got what’s looks like a 1mm slightly diagonal 1.5 meter long crack in my internal plaster. it’s covered by wallpaper at the moment. It easily shows during the day in the warmer weather by creasing the wallpaper then mostly goes in the evening when it’s cooler outside. Its an upstairs, gable end cavity wall south facing so gets the sun all day. It starts roughly at the bottom of a windowsill up towards a chimney breast and looks like it follows up the side of the chimney a little. I’ve take the plaster off in a couple of places (about an inch) and it looks like there’s a gap between the bricks where the mortar is missing/failed.

The bottom of the crack steps out a tiny bit but I think the plaster has blown. it’s original 1950s, very thick and sounds hollow in places.

we had a much shorter similar crack looked at by a structural engineer a few months ago and he said that was due to old plaster and the heat. I feel like a really wasted his time and he was lovely so feel reluctant to call him again so soon

Theres also a 1mm horizontal crack at the top of the window that’s been there 4 years at least, though when looking at it today it could be a bit longer than it was. window opens fine, there’s no cracks showing outside

Sorry to be one of those people, but my neighbour sent me this photo today, of the back of our house that only has a very narrow alleyway access (weird layout newish build estate). These cracks have appeared over the last few days, it’s a south facing wall that’s been baked in the recent heatwaves. My research this evening is pointing to structural engineer assessment but not to initially contact insurance? House is 10 years old at Christmas, so currently just within the NHBC warranty, though we are the 2nd owner. It’s a Linden homes property. EDIT: due to the way the bathroom is constructed internally, we can’t see the external wall to confirm if it’s cracked on the side also - it’s behind a built out wall that’s tiled

Got this home inspection done on a house I plan on buying and there is a crack in the foundation how bad is this?

I am trying to hire a structural engineer to evaluate a hairline horizontal crack that branches off from a vertical crack in the b asement of the h ome i am interested in purchasing.

One structural engineer charges $700, including a written report, but said that the evaluation would focus on whether the structure is structurally sound at this time. He said he would not determine the cause of the crack or won’t be able to say whether it will remain structurally sound in the future.

Another structural engineer charges $1,100, including a written report, and said he would investigate the cause of the crack. However, he is requesting the blueprints, which are not available from the current o wner.

Is it normal for a structural engineer to evaluate whether a structure is structurally sound without determining the underlying cause of a crack? My concern is that if the cause is not identified, the root problem may not be addressed, and there is no way to know whether the condition could worsen in the future.

For additional context, the crack is located at a corner, and the wall with the crack is behind and below the g arage floor. I am particularly concerned about understanding how the g arage is supported and whether the g arage loads could be relevant to the cracking. The house was built in 2006.

I wonder if I just give up on this h ome.

Hello, we are really close to exchanging on a house. We had a level 3 survey done and it said these cracks (pics attached) are due to the bay window replacement.

I’m nervous because they are large and some houses on the road have had underpinning.

The cracks are localised to the bay window however, and the surveyor says he sees it a lot with a 1930s bay replacement.

A structural engineer would take 6 months. Do I believe the surveyors findings or do I proceed with caution and pull out? Thank you for your opinions

I’m repairing a wall after a leak and found visible damage to one of the studs. I’m considering cutting out and replacing the damaged section, but I’m unsure whether it’s load-bearing. Has anyone dealt with something similar or advise what would be the simplest way to fix this? Do I need to call structural engineer?
Any advice would be appreciated.

I think I made a huge mistake when replacing my irrigation lines and valves. As you see in the pictures this is where the original setup was and I replaced everything here in the exact location the old valves used to be. A 1:1 swap of existing to new. The problem here is the house is a raised concrete foundation that is a 6” wide foundation wall on top of a 12” wide footer and the footer is 6” below grade.

To access the irrigation and the water line I had to dig out what was there which was right up against the foundation and the original lines were 6” below the footer and parallel to the foundation.

I originally dug this corner out 18 months ago and as of today when I crawled under the house there is no cracking in the foundation anywhere, no shifting, and no noticeable changes in the house during this time (no drywall cracking or difficult to close windows or doors)

The total span dug out parallel is 5’ long and 10-12” deep. The one small hole you see under the footer was from a rotted out tree root that got removed.

Is it possible to backfill with clean fill dirt and tamp down in small layers since no changes have happened to the house in the past 18 months?

I noticed this cracking/flaking on the exposed foundation at one corner.
What I’ve observed:
Gray outer material is cracked and separating.
Small steel pin only enters a short distance before hitting very hard material.
No obvious stair-step cracking in the brick above it.
Interior wall/ceiling corner looks clean.
Baseboards at the corresponding interior corner look normal.
No obvious door/window sticking.
Sprinklers were unfortunately broken for about one month while we were out of the country, so the surrounding soil became very dry.
Downspout/drainage is also being checked.
Builder is American Legend Homes and I’m checking whether the home still has structural/foundation warranty coverage, so I haven’t patched or chipped anything away yet.
Does this look more like superficial parging failure or actual structural concrete cracking?
Would you first:
Have the builder inspect it,
Get an independent structural engineer/elevation survey, or
Remove the loose parging and inspect underneath?
Especially interested in feedback from DFW/North Texas homeowners, engineers, and inspectors.

When we moved in there was a step crack in our bedroom. It wasn't particularly wide, definitely couldn't get a coin in there, so we had a plasterer tape it and skim the wall. A year later and its coming back, exactly the same place, running from the window to the ceiling. It's only hairline at the moment. There is no crack on the outside wall but the mortar looks like it needs repointing in a few places. Is this a structural issue?

Or does my ignorance make this look worse than it might be?

These images are from the inspection report I received for a house that I'm under contract to buy. To me the house is worth seeing what all my options are and not immediately walking away from, but I don't know at what point I should stop trying to make it work.

What are your thoughts on all of this? What are the structural implications? Does this require a complete overhaul? Can the roof/structure be okay if areas are spot-treated?

(Thanks in advance, and please kindly direct me elsewhere if these questions can be better answered elsewhere.)

Hi Reddit,
I’m new here so far I like what I see. I do have one question though if anybody happens to be familiar with the signs and symptoms of plausible sinkholes. I moved into a house recently and the landlord, although extremely polite and nice seems a bit sketchy, not in a maniacal way, but in a hiring people under the table to do house renovations.

For example, I have a ceiling fan that appears to have an extension cord bridging it to a ceiling installed light.

I’m about to post some pictures and if anybody has any experience or knowledge about this, it’s an old house so I’m not completely sure if it is not just age however I have a “sinking feeling” 😏 unfortunately my parents never trust me so I am apprehensive about going to the landlord on the off chance that I am incorrect and they just get pissed at me again so please if anyone can help. I’m gonna upload the pictures following this next period.

I’m not topographer, however I did look online It appears that I do not know how to read topography Maps however it showed what looked like a line across the entire neighborhood in between all of the houses. I don’t know if that helps. Thank you for your time. I really appreciate it.

The wall is between first and second floor (one side and the other), part of it shared with my neighboor. Should I call my insurance and ask how to proceed?

[effacé]

Is it normal to see this type of splitting on the caulking of a cover for a LV beam after 5 years of the beam install? 2 storey house.

For context, this is a 70's BC box house that my parents bought after a 3rd party inspection gave it the all clear. Within a month, the newly renovated drywall was starting to crack diagonally in the room on the rear corner of the house. The first image was taken on June 25. the second was August 4th. third photo is that same doorframe showing the serious racking. 4th is a bathroom on the front side of the house, where the door no longer latches.

Around mid July they had an engineer who came in and said "Well, if its not moving, its only an inch of settlement and its probably fine. but monitor it."

Since then that crack has doubled in size, and my parents refuse to get back in contact with the engineer to see if this still within acceptable bounds. i personally dont think it is, as the frame of the door has started to move and the drywall crack is 3/16" wide and appears to be growing by the day. They're saying that because its a BC box, its likely not structural, but I'm looking at that and getting seriously worried, especially as other doors in the building stop latching from movement.

EDIT: BC boxes are post and beam houses usually built on a basement foundation with lally columns supporting a main beam for the main floor. They don't really have any interior load bearing walls on the main floor because of this.