[Zak-P]

Hi! Would love an opinion on this. House is from 1930 in CT.

Had a structural engineer come out a few months back to look at the place. He recommended, non-urgently, that we get these cracks patched. See the pics below. These are all on one exterior wall on the attached garage.

He recommended us 2 different people to call for foundation repair. Called them both. One said they don't want to work on it cause they are only taking structural stuff. Second just plain told me it's overkill to do a heavy duty repair and didn't want to come out.

Who do I call to at least patch over this thing? Even if it's just to make it look better I'd like to do it. Or is it not worth worrying about in a 92 year old house?

Crack #1. Visible from inside the house only. (Crawl space at back of garage)

Crack #2 visible from inside the garage only:

Crack #3 (worst one) visible from inside and out. It runs kinda behind the stairs here so there are a few pics to capture it all.

 

[Nealtw]

How new are the cracks, it does look like you have had some movement in the footing.
It may not be serious now but I would not what to hide it as it it could get worse to where you may want to go for a major repair.
Patching the outside to keep water out is about as far as I would go.

 

[Zak-P]

How new are the cracks, it does look like you have had some movement in the footing.

So we don't really know unfortunately. We bought the house only a year back and have pictures from a few years before that. So we know they're at least 3 years old but that doesn't help much

Patching the outside to keep water out is about as far as I would go.

Dumb question, who do I call to do this? Or can/should I DIY? I don't really know what to buy

 

[Nealtw]

So we don't really know unfortunately. We bought the house only a year back and have pictures from a few years before that. So we know they're at least 3 years old but that doesn't help much



Dumb question, who do I call to do this? Or can/should I DIY? I don't really know what to buy

Cracks like that usually have a few reasons for happening
Frost heaving, would get worse every year. Or on extremely long cold spells maybe not every year.
Water washing fill from under the footing. Stop the water stop the problem.
Settling where the footing wasn't large enough on questionable soil.
I suspect you have settling and if the garage was an addition and maybe not as deep as the house it could have been poor soil. That kind of settling happens soon after the build and can continue for a few years until it compacts the soil to where now it can support the weight.
If you have not seen any movement in 3 years, it might be safe to say it just needs a cosmetic fix .
Even when the have moved and sank inches, the normal fix it to wait till it stops moving and re level the house and just fix cracks.
A mason, (brick layer) could repoint and do repairs like that.
A am not an expert in this stuff and hope this helps.

 

[Zak-P]

Thanks Neal, appreciate it.

If anyone else has any advice on patching this (hiring someone or DIY) appreciate your opinions

 

[Nealtw]

How to Repair a Crack in a Concrete Foundation | This Old House - YouTube
Cracked Foundation Block Repair - YouTube

 

[ClarenceBauer]

Thanks Neal, appreciate it.

If anyone else has any advice on patching this (hiring someone or DIY) appreciate your opinions

First you could place crack monitors over the cracks to see if there is movement the monitor process may take a year, so it goes thru a complete cycle.
If no movement than it can be repaired using a crack filler
Example of crack fillers, Jhan M40 & M30 Micro Injection Grout.
After injection grout skim coat the finish.