Foundation slope/crack problem

[miamicuse]

Have a house under contract in Miami, went to the inspection today and the inspector found a structural problem.

The north side of the house is where the family room and master bedroom is. There the floor slopes to the exterior wall at a grade of around 0.5" per foot. The owner who originally built the house told us he never noticed the slope being in it for so long. The master bedroom and the family room has wall to wall carpet so we cannot lift it up to see if there is a crack in the foundation. The foundation is a monolithic concrete slab.

Outside the family room and master bedroom is a pool, which has two hair-line cracks where it is closest to the family room.

The inspector suspects that the soil is settling there (or has settled). House was built in 1964 so it's been there a while. At first when I saw the sloped family room I thought the house was remodeled and the family room used to be a screened florida room or patio but this is not the case.

The inspector suggested that I find a structural engineer to check into this. It could be a sink hole below there is causing the pitch and the pool cracks. It could be caused by soil settlement, tree root (there are some large trees) or could be water/sewer line leaks underground.

The problem is between the family room exterior wall and the pool is a wood deck. Therefore there is no access to the ground to see what is going on. The family room and master bedroom pitches down, then the sliding glass door, then the wood deck, then the pool, unless we tear off the deck, there is no way to tell what is going on.

Any ideas or recommendations what I can do to figure out how serious the problem is and if there is any remedy?

Thanks,

MC

[John Grabowski]

It sounds like an expensive repair. Can you get out of the contract? If not have your lawyer negotiate the price down to cover the repairs.

[m Ransley]

So in 12 feet it sinks 6 inches!

Get out of the deal

[Li]

Run, don't walk from the deal. Very expensive repair especially when you add in the pool. With that kind of slope, I'm surprised that there are no drywall cracks and trims that have not been disturbed as well.

[m Ransley]

An interesting point by Li , are there signs of wall repairs, caulk on trim and new paint, windows that are old and dont open. With that amount of slope interior damage would be extensive, unless hidden.

[miamicuse]

I did not see any interior cracks. The only problem I see inside (other than the sloped floor) is that the master bedroom door (which runs perpendicular to the family room sliding glass door, so the plane of the door is along the sloped floor) does not close well. It is a pocket door and when I closed it, the top of the door reaches the jamb before the bottom of the door, indicating the door opening is no longer a perfect rectangle. It is a pocket door and the owner says they never noticed it because they always have the door opened (it was built in the 1960s and all the interior doors are pocket doors).

Good point I will have to check some of the windows that are in the same plane as the sloped floor to see what I can see. I hope it was originally designed to slope a little (which I highly doubt).

MC

[m Ransley]

He is lying if he said he never noticed it.