Bringing in a Structural Engineer

This past weekend we brought in a structural engineer to check out the cracks in the foundation of the house we have an offer on and help us assess the cost of any potential repairs to it.  We also brought back the original whole house inspector because Greg spoke with the owner of the house to see what he could find out about the foundation repair made in the past and he asked about attic access and he found out the attic access is in the master bedroom closet.  Unfortunately, the owners do not have the documentation about the repairs made in the past so we are flying blindly in that respect.  

On Saturday, when we arrived we met up with the whole house inspector and he checked out the attic.  He said it looks great, the only recommendation he has is to improve the insulation but that we should wait and see the heating bills before we update because it might only have a minimal impact on our heating costs.  

As he was leaving the structural engineer arrived.  We showed him our concerns and he went ahead and walked around and took some measurements while we talked about the rest of the house and he met back up with us to discuss what he saw.  He told us there is about an inch and half bow in the back wall of the foundation.  The house was built in the 1960s.  In the sixties houses were built without sill plates.  A sill plate binds the house to the foundation and this is missing in this case.  He said we will need to buy actual structural drawings for the repairs but said it would be i-beams every four feet along the side and back walls of the foundation.  He gave us this info because we are under a crunch to get someone out to do an estimate so we can go back to the sellers for assistance with the repair.  

Today we had a contractor come out and take a look at the foundation and explained the repairs that had been recommended and he wrote up an estimate for the repairs.  He said overall the issue looks pretty minor compared to the rest of the houses he'd seen that day.  That statement gave me a bit of piece of mind.  We are taking this along with an estimate for a furnace repair and the upgrade to fuse box back to the owners for seller assistance because of the total cost.  Hopefully we hear something soon.