Help understanding house foundation report.

So folks,
Here is the deal. We found a home we liked and during inspection was told to bring in a structural engineer to look at the foundation since the home was settling from the front.
The lean is about 4.5 inches between the front door and the backmost room of the house. There are other signs like cracks and uneven floor.
When we actually got the report, it said that no foundation work needs to be done since in order to level the house the actual foundation has to be broken hence no work can be done. I am confused.
Anyone out here that understands a report like this and break it down in simpler terms. I would greatly appreciate that. This is time sensitive.
Thanks

 

basically, to fix it you would have to tear down the house and replace the foundation you might be able to just lift the house, but we are talking big $$$. the big question is why is it sinking??

 

And once you buy it, the problem becomes yours.

 

So the reasons I was given were, the type of soil around the Dallas area has more clay in it and makes every home lean a bit over the years. Secondly, the previous owner did not water the soil/ grass around the house for a long time so it's very dry causing the house to lean more than it should.
So basically there is a problem but it cannot be solved until the house is taken down. And if we let it sit like this, we are not sure how much more it would lean and need repairs over the years. Is that correct?
Also, I will have a tough time selling this down the road.
Would you recommend going ahead with the purchase? The floors are all new, the walls are newly painted and the house cosmetically looks really nice. But I don't want to be stuck with it and later repent.

 

Your last sentence is all you need to know. If you buy it, future you will be pissed at present you. ( "What the hell was I thinking?")

Walk away.

 

Why would the inspector despite his observations and data still saying no foundation work needs to be done and the foundation is pass?
This is what I am confused with.

 

My reading is that a number of metrics in that table are bad but at this time is still overall in the range of “acceptable” especially if the lean does not progress - which the writer seems to believe that even watering will help prevent degradation.

And there’s nothing you can do to fix it short of redoing it all so no foundation work needs to (or can) be done.

That said, it’s a tough sliding scale between price, what you want, etc. I’d hate to have that hanging around in the back of my mind indefinitely though.

Can’t speak to whether it’s common for the Dallas area and seems like trouble unless it’s a flaming deal even if it’s technically okay today. (but even then…)

 

Walk

 

This might be an obvious comment;have you asked the inspector? It sounds rather risky to me.

 

I am speaking to him today afternoon. The inspection was only done yesterday evening.

 

As I see it, if a foundation is properly dug and set, there should be no expectations of shifting regardless of the soil type or wetness. That's the whole purpose of a foundation, to keep the house above it from moving. Have you investigated this claim by talking to residents, to see if they all expect (and have) this shifting? It seems to me that you want the house badly enough to possibly overlook this problem. As mentioned earlier, the regret will be much more intense than your current wants if you buy in error.

 

It's

It's definitely a nice deal. We are looking at some acreage and this house has it. We are also quite sure, in 5 to 10 years we would not lose money on it even if it's a slow appreciation. But a breaking foundation takes all that away.

 

We are going there today again and speaking to the neighbors is a great idea. Thanks for that .
My wife likes the house a lot so I wanted to see if I could make it work somehow. But we are exceedingly weary of it now, after these conversations.

 

And I just noticed it's a slab foundation. I don't like those.

 

New floors and freshly painted walls? Wonder if they had to patch up and hide damage from settling before listing the house?

 

They probably did. The engineer showed us an area on the wall that was patched up and told us that this had a crack at some point due to the lean and was filled and touched up.

 

If the foundation has moved in the past, it will continue to move in the future. The data from the report, and the repairs, both show that it has shifted in the past. I have been in a similar situation (although pier and beam) and ended up regretting the purchase. It's a crap shoot as to whether or not the market will allow an easy sale of a defective house in the future. I would recommend that you pass on this one, as hard as that is to do.

 

Thank you for your recommendation .
We are pretty much convinced that we should pass this.
The only way now we might go with this is, if we can get a massive credit for it and essentially pay for the price of the land.
And then 5 years down the line tear the house down and build a new one with all the savings we have now on the purchase price plus our own funds.

 

It needs to be the price of the land minus the cleanup to remove the structure. The demo of a house and haul it off is more expensive than you think.

 

If they’re intentionally hiding damage, ugh. I’d walk. Unless of course you’re just buying the land and taking the house down. Good luck!

 

Signed the termination letter. Walked away!

 

That was a wise decision. A house that’s only 26 years old and has settled 6” was built on unsuitable soil. Around here you never build on clay or fill. You either remove it or install piles that bear on suitable soil below it.

 

Man I trimmed a brand new house tge upper side bedroom was like a foot out of square in the cieling it made the windows look crooked like a fun house.

 

Then some the doors dont fit, boss is like "tear a jack out"?

 

Unfortunately the whole dallas, DFW area is essential clay. But that is immaterial if the foundation was put in properly in the first place. We were told a lean of about .5 inch over the years is normal and expected. 6 inches is practically a different floor.
What made us turn away was, that all we could do was add moisture to the soil around the foundation and keep it around 22%. If it got too wet, the clay would just disintegrate and the house would sink further. If it got too dry, the foundation would have nothing to hold on too and lean further like it's been doing for last 20 years.
A combination of poor foundation and owner neglect caused this.

 

How much is it? New houses now go for like $800,000.00, Even a townhown is $500,000.00?

 

They're building appartments 18 feet wide if you got $800,000.00!

 

That’s crazy. Instead of building houses with proper foundations they constantly water the soil around the home? Seems like a massive waste of water.

 

Smart move. To many people think they can make it work because they “love the house” and realize they have nightmare after they get it and wish they had not made a dumb purchase.

I know of a house that was like that and it ruined them financially trying to make it work and they never could and finally had to walk away trying to figure out how to repair their finances.

 

its not to abnormal in the southwest to have to water a foundation especially in drought conditions. It’s usually just the edge of the foundation where it will dry out. Normally if someone takes care of their landscape properly it will satisfy this need. Its the people that don’t ever water anything that end up having trouble.