basement foundation troubles.. help please

[zumbergc]

I was in the process of getting ready to finish the basement. We have a large crawl space. We were going to drylock it, to make it"safer from water". We pulled down the pink insulation, and discovered the cement block wall has several sections of horizontal cracks - in the space where the normal morter between the blocks.

We are talking stairstepping, and then 8-10 blocks across where i have horizontal cracks...

I also have 2 vert cracks floor to ceiling in my reg basement walls, and 10-15 more cracks starting along my walls too. The worse vert crack was so much smaller when we first moved in about 8 years ago, and slowly extended down, and then getting wider.

fast forward, we have an mi home, we called mi, customer care came out, then they sent a structural eng out. They told me the crawl space which is over 60" tall, was never supported correctly. If the crawl is more than 48" there are suppose to be vertical supports in the walls.


So here is the question. What is the best way to fix this. The MI guy comes back this week with a worker bee from the basement doctor.

They are suppose to be putting vertical supports in the crawl and then in the regular part of the basement too.

When i spoke with my dad, and some others they were thinking the supports and such should be done on the outside of the house, and not inside?

Anyone point me to any websites describing this? I was looking around but couldn't find what i need.

Thanks,

 

[akcire]

I was in the process of getting ready to finish the basement. We have a large crawl space. We were going to drylock it, to make it"safer from water". We pulled down the pink insulation, and discovered the cement block wall has several sections of horizontal cracks - in the space where the normal morter between the blocks.

We are talking stairstepping, and then 8-10 blocks across where i have horizontal cracks...

I also have 2 vert cracks floor to ceiling in my reg basement walls, and 10-15 more cracks starting along my walls too. The worse vert crack was so much smaller when we first moved in about 8 years ago, and slowly extended down, and then getting wider.

fast forward, we have an mi home, we called mi, customer care came out, then they sent a structural eng out. They told me the crawl space which is over 60" tall, was never supported correctly. If the crawl is more than 48" there are suppose to be vertical supports in the walls.


So here is the question. What is the best way to fix this. The MI guy comes back this week with a worker bee from the basement doctor.

They are suppose to be putting vertical supports in the crawl and then in the regular part of the basement too.

When i spoke with my dad, and some others they were thinking the supports and such should be done on the outside of the house, and not inside?

Anyone point me to any websites describing this? I was looking around but couldn't find what i need.

Thanks,

I am having a little bit of a hard time following your story, so let me make some assumptions. I am guessing MI is the builder who put up the house and that the home is still under warranty? If that is the case, once they have "repaired" the foundation I would pay to have your own structural engineer access their work. You may also be able to get help from your towns building department.

If you cracks are growing as you have said one of two things is incorrect, either the cement used was improperly mixed (allowing for weaker sections), or more likely the weight load was not properly distributed. It seems very strange to me that you would have a regular height basement and a crawl space that is 5 foot in height---why didn't they make the entire basement area the same height? That is a big red flag. I have been in a lot of crawl spaces, they are normally much smaller. Also where you live--via the frost line has a lot to do with depth sinking/settling.

This is something you want to get fixed on someone elses dime if you can. I had to replace the foundation of a victorian house once and the cost of repair far exceeded the cost of the home. When it was done I sold it for a nice profit, but it was shocking to get that bill--house had to be lifted and moved while foundation was done.

Good thing you noticed before you finished. I often wonder how many homes with finished basements have crumbling foundations.

 

[nuttypretzel]

Vertical cracks and stair-step cracks are normally caused by foundation settlement. Horizontal cracks and bowing of the wall are from improper vertical reinforcing or improper drainage. You seem to have both problems. In the crawl space area, look at the foundation under the wall. You may need to dig down to find it. If the crack in the wall continues into the foundation, you probably have a foundation problem. Adding pilasters or vertical steel members to the face of the wall will not solve that problem. The solution for settlement depends on what type of soil you have. Also try putting a straight edge on the wall. If you find that the wall is bowed, then you need the vertical reinforcing. The standard solution is to put it on the inside face of the wall. Depending on your drainage and soil conditions, you may also need a sump pump.
I suggest that you hire your own engineer to check the house before you agree to any repairs.
My Aunt went through this on her home. She only had the vertical cracking and bowing issue. They used a combination of block pilaster and steel channels to reinforce the wall. The bottom of the steel and block needed to be anchored to the footing, so they had to cut out parts of the basement slab. They also had to add framing under the floor joists to support the top of the channels. Her basement is unfinished, so the damage was minimal.

 

[zumbergc]

akcire & nuttypretzel thanks for the info.

Yes, MI is the builder. I will definitely be asking more questions about the foundation when they are here on wed, about if the cracking goes down farther into the foundation.

It never made sense to us why they had such "tall" crawl space area, most seem to be much shorter. Since i only have to duck where the duct work is, its not to bad for me to walk in it, so for me its a plus. We do already have a large basement, I just didn't understand why they didn't dig the extra couple feet to get a full basement.