I purchased my first home about 7 months ago. It was built in 1991. At time of inspection the inspector pointed out some minor cracking in walls around doorways in master bath on second floor. He was confident these were settlement cracks and said I should just cut away old sheetrock and replace.
In December we noticed cracks had become wider and the bathroom door would no longer close completely. The cracks are approximately 45 degree angles starting at corners of door and extending up walls. This has me concerned I might have some foundation issues. The backyard has a slight negative slope and I do have minor moisture in crawl space.
Monday I had an associate from a structure and foundation repair company come out to inspect. The house does not have any cracking downstairs, the cracks are only upstairs around doorway in bathroom. He checked crawlspace and told me I have 4 twisting joists on the side of house where cracks are occurring.
So, my question is is it possible for those twisting joists to cause the cracks? This guy was not an engineer, but he contacted someone to come out and take a look. He has told me this person is an expert and can tell me. The other guy has not made it out yet. I am not an engineer and have little knowledge of structures, but I'm having difficulty understanding how twisted joists in the crawlspace could cause cracks in second floor and not cause any harm to first floor rooms on that side of house. Any information on this would be helpful. The first guy also said the crawlspace walls appear in good shape and I shouldn't worry about anything serious going on, but something about cracks expanding in only 6 months in a house this old doesn't sit well with me.
If anyone has any thoughts or insights into this I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks