Foundation movement question

kelly001

What does it mean if a foundation on a 200+ year old antique house is noted as inward or outward movement of foundation with some settling/sagging/deflection.

Is this to be expected with such an old house or is this most likely the tell-tale signs of major problems?

Tscarborough

Is the movement recent or did it hapen a hundred years ago? NMI.

kelly001

The seller's for a home we are considering had a consultant do a "home inspection" to assess their property. They have provided us with a copy of the results. The consultant noted those findings but did not ellaborate on paper.

We would obviously have a structural engineer look at the property if we put a bid and it is accepted however if this is a big problem, we would like to save ourselves the cost of hiring a structural engineer and home inspector. The overall condition for the structure/basement was assessed as marginal. (3 ratings were on the form appears fonctional, marginal and defective)

Tscarborough

Not to be rude, but there is nothing anyone on an internet BBS can contribute that would help you to assess this property in a significant way. You will need to have a structural engineer at a minimum, and probably an architect as well as consulting contractors to provide you with enough information to buy the home.

inspects

You should have a contractor look at the problem. An engineer is going to tell you "how" to fix it just like a "contractor" would.

A home inspector will tell you to have "three contractors" look at the problem and come up with a repair with quotes.

I would find three licensed contractors in the foundation business and have them all give you repair options with prices.

kelly001

Thanks for all the answers. Hopefully we can find a couple contractors to give us estimates in MA's hot market. Seems like they are impossible to get a hand on for such ellusive jobs.