We had a new house built and took possession June1, 06. At our walk thru with the builder we noted a 4 foot verticle hairline crack starting below a basement window. The builder told us these hairline cracks are to be expected and over time we may notice more approx every
10 ft. He smeared some cement over the crack to cover it up. This past week we noted one wall has about 5 of these cracks about every 5 ft. Mostly verticle, some may run horizontal for 1/2 or 1 block wide then continue verticle again. Another wall, one crack is verticle for 3 blocks then horizontal for about 4 ft, then down verticle again. We also noted the "fake" stone on a mid section of the exterior front of the house has a verticle crack about 5 inches in from the corner and runs about 3 ft up the house breaking thru the fake stone. After some difficulty we located a residential structural engineer who will come look at our cracks this Monday. I called our city inspector looking for the name of a residential structural engineer, he knew none but stated to me 2-3 times he would only come to our house and look at the situation if the builder was in attendance. We are not planning to contact the builder till we have the professional opinion of a structural engineer these cracks are to be concerned about. Understand, we did not sign the final papers with the builder on a good note, we had MANY quality issues with him. If the engineer finds these cracks to be of concern, how do we proceed? Contact the builder first, or be prepared for some rough times and contact a lawyer first? Also, as best I can tell, these cracks are in the same place I can see hairline cracking on the outside foundation. Should we expect we are going to get leaking thru these breaks? Do you think we are over reacting to something that should be expected? Thanx in advance for all opinions.betty