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earthquake?
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indy, IN
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[#1] Posted: 04/23/2012 - 7:44:07 PM		Reply with Quote
An old couple had me come and instal a handrail on their ramp that some moron installed without handrails. While I was there they asked me to take a look at some drywall cracks and doors they wanted to have fixed at the back of their house.

The house is a 1960's ranch on a crawl with a center cmu bearing wall foundation. It was EASY to see that the floor framing was sloped down towards the center wall at the back of the house but not at the front. Large (1/4") cracks ran diagonally from the doorways to the ceiling towards the center of the house. The doors either wouldn't close or if they did close, they wouldn't latch.

After thinking about what could be going on for several minutes, the man told me he thinks they may have had an earthquake before the defects occurred. His wife, of course, thinks he's nutty.

What do you all think about the possibility that the rear foundation wall has raised up during the earthquake? Is there any kind of fix for this?

I did enter the crawlspace (for free) and could not find any indication of failed framing or foundation issues.
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Victoria, British Columbia
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earthquake?
 [#2] Posted: 04/23/2012 - 8:46:48 PM		Reply with Quote
If you have a lot of clay soil in that area, I would suspect that before I'd call it heaving from an earthquake. Expansive soil causes a lot of problems in some areas.
Maybe the back of the house is on bedrock and the middle and front are on sand.

Maybe it was an earthquake.
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Collins, NY
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earthquake?
 [#3] Posted: 04/24/2012 - 06:27:40 AM		Reply with Quote
He thinks the earth moved and the missus doesn't. Sounds like marital bliss to me.
Tom

http://clearcreekhomeinspection.com/

Life is tough enough as it is, it's tougher when your stupid. Don't do stupid things.
Dr Joe Lstiburek
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Chicago, IL
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earthquake?
 [#4] Posted: 04/24/2012 - 06:51:57 AM		Reply with Quote
There have been a couple temblors from the New Madrid fault tremble through the midwest in the last 25 years, but that's about it.

None of them were enough to cause a foundation heave.
Kurt in Chicago

"If I smell it, it goes in the report".............Phillip Smith...2012
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indy, IN
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earthquake?
 [#5] Posted: 04/24/2012 - 6:43:02 PM		Reply with Quote
here in central Indiana we have mostly clay, not much sand and the bedrock is close to the surface about 50 miles south in Bloomington and Bedford Indiana.

Why would it take 50 years for this condition to show itself?

I specifically remember the tremor back in 86. We were poor newlyweds entertaining ourselves for free when that one hit ;)
   
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