Cracks on garage wall

[davidcookie]

We're purchasing a house which I noticed had a quite a large crack on the outside wall of the garage. When viewing the garage from inside you could see a hairline crack in the thermalite bricks too. Is this a big problem?

The house is only 2 years old so undertstand that there will be settlement but wondered what would cause such a crack to appear and if it's an easy problem to fix.

Any advices would be appreciated.

 

[djjsr]

The last 2 new homes that I've bought had 10 year structural warranties. If that one does, tell the current owner to contact the builder and get it fixed and document what is done (with photos). If he does a cosmetic repair and there's really a foundation/footer problem, it will come back.

 

[Chevy Guy]

Its hard to tell just from the description but you should definitely have the home inspector focus on this. As you said, settling is normal and usually not an issue but being that the house is only 2 years old, it may indicate that the building site may not have been prepared properly (this is very common w/ new construction) and any future settling could be an issue.

Settling after only 2 years that creates cracks in masonry doesn't sound right to me, but that doesn't mean it's an issue.

 

[logical]

What material is the outside? If by crack you mean the motar between bricks is cracked that may not be a huge issue, that's the mortar's job. Pics would really help.

 

[djjsr]

If by crack you mean the motar between bricks is cracked that may not be a huge issue, that's the mortar's job.

Wrong. The mortar's job is to bond the bricks together. If it's cracked, it's no longer bonding.