Hi all,
New to the forum
I have recently took a drive to regional VIC to have a look at some properties, but have noticed quite a few of them have cracks on the walls etc.
The RE agents mentioned that the area has very reactive soil hence when the land moves the walls crack, which is why the properties are built on high foundation so they can keep jacking it up as land compresses.
I will obviously do building inspection and find structural engineer if need be, but was just wanting to see if anyone has come across this before and if the RE agents are just spinning bulldust?
Some of the properties have quite serious cracks, so should I even waste my time and money with them doing building inspections?
thanks in advance
It's a common phenomenon. There are a variety of causes and its difficult to prevent. The nature of hot/dry then cool/wet conditions. Timbers expand and contract as do soils. During the drought years a fairly young (about 5 – 8yrs old) detached town house we rented on the north shore of Sydney developed some quite significant cracking (double brick on concrete base) due to shrinkage in the clay type soils.
If a building cracks due to expansion contraction that's often due to poor expansion joint location and design. If a building cracks because it's sinking then that's due to incredibly poor engineering and design. There's no good reason for modern houses to sink.
thanks for the reply
The houses I've looked at are quite old, maybe from the 60s / 70s, and from what I've read cracks are inevitable with older properties, but I guess I just wanted to make sure I'm not going to have major issues down the track.
Would people generally avoid properties with larger cracks all together, or does it really depend on the building inspection?
or on the contrary, have people bought houses with cracks and it hasn't caused any significant issues?
My last purchase had a crack so big i could fit my hand in. I'll be knocking the place down in a few years so didn't worry me.
jmsrachel wrote:My last purchase had a crack so big i could fit my hand in. I'll be knocking the place down in a few years so didn't worry me.Are you sure it was a crack?
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