Do you know a structural engineer who could come take a look?

Thanks for the quick replies. No signs of water, basement is pretty well dry. And unfortunately I do not have a S.E. among my connections. I do have a builder connection who is going to take a look, just for an opinion.

Your builder friend should know a structural who'd be happy to take a look for a nice bottle of his/her favorite beverage.

One of my relatives had 2 cracks similar to this in their basement. It took some major work and expense to make their home structurally sound.

Definitely FIND a structural engineer.

That second image--is the actual crack, or a black line photoshopped onto the crack to show it--if it is the crack, it looks sizable. And, that looks like it would/could be a big problem. Small/narrow cracks are one thing, but that looks like you could put your pinky finger tip in (if not larger)?

Hey Kirk, definitely the actual crack; no photoshop. I couldnt get to it due to all the stuff in the way but tip of pinky is probably accurate.

I feel for the homeowner. I bet they bought it as a "new" house, and have no idea what a discount they'll need to sell at with foundation issues. A structural engineer should be consulted. If you have many houses to choose from, I'd pass on this one (I am in a very hot market where houses regularly go 100k over asking...so if this was discovered, I'd offer, and negotiate after inspection, if I thought it was the only house I could afford in the area).

All good points Kirk, they actually built it themselves so maybe some inexperience in earth prep/pouring/etc led to that.

Who knows what all else was done behind the walls. I would pass.

Is this house on a slope? I ask because we looked at a house that had two cracks like the one you're showing us, on opposite walls of the house - as in: directly across from each other, 60' apart. The 5-car garage (yessss! that's why we were looking at that house!!!!) had a crack in the floor running from the left wall to the right wall, basically in line with the crack in the basement wall. The house was built on a slope, and had literally broken in half. Our structural (I work in the AEC industry and have a friend who will come look at houses for me) told us to RUN. We did.

If you do bring in a structural engineer and he/she does determine it's a problem crack, in most states the home owner will either have to fix it or disclose it to potential buyers.

Is there something really unique about this house that you have to have this one and no other? If not, I'd move on.

If you do hire the structural engineer please come back and tell us what he says. The second photo looks really bad so now I'm curious what an expert says.

I definitely will. The property is unique for the area so we may look into it further. Appreciate the feedback from everyone.

This is simple. Get three bids from reputable, licensed concrete/foundation companies, big enough to have their own structural engineers on staff. It will give you a great idea of the scope of the work necessary and the costs involved. If you're still into it, lop the average of the costs directly off any offer price.

There's an area-city central- in my city that is built on a pretty major fault. It isn't unusual, when those properties sell, to see that the homeowner has already gotten 3 bids, shows them, so that the potential buyer can at least have an idea of what's involved. No XYZ Concrete, either- real, live foundation experts. Easy to verify independently, within the inspection period in a real estate offer.

I'd be careful about a "fix it and move on" strategy. That's what the realtors will tell you to do in order to keep the deal moving forward but if the basement was not properly excavated or if the concrete was not properly mixed, poured, and cured you could throw money at it today only to have another crack develop in a few years. Then its 100% your problem. If you want to buy the house because it is great in other ways you need to have expert opinions on what the cause is, not just how much it will cost to fix what's visible now. You don't want to buy someone else's problem.

Likely a footing problem, especially when you say it's a diy job. Half-inch plus vertical cracks are not minor. Expert opinion needed.

OTOH, consider what you're not seeing on homes with finished basements.

Update is I'll be looking at the property again with (2) well known GC's in my area who happen to be friends in the area. We'll see what they say. I'm also told the foundation has reinforced rebar, is 10" not 8", and is 5000 psi not 3000 psi. I know what rebar is but not sure what implications 10" vs. 8" and 5000 psi vs. 3000 psi would make.

Simply getting an opinion from a friend with more experience, no more, no less.

All respect to GC's, but they are builders, not engineers. And some of them can not even build, but are great project managers. The size of that crack is worthy of of an engineer's look.

My friend/GC said my foundation was ok. The owner of the foundation repair company told the structural engineer that she didn't know what was holding the house up. The structural engineer recommended complete replacement.

Seriously. Get a structural engineer. I know GCs who don't know their butt from a hole in the ground when it comes to technical stuff.

A structural engineer will have to inspect before purchase, for sure. But c'mon- it's not as though the average homeowner has one on speed dial. :) In my area, they aren't easy to find, and even if you find one on your own, they're hard to hire without either an architect's or a GC's referral. Typically, a SE doesn't really like direct report to a layperson. Even if you find one, that's a lot of money to get a report that may confuse a layperson. Finally, SEs typically have no idea what it costs to fix any of this stuff, as that's not "their end of the business".

So getting a residential GC or two out is a smart first step. They'll be able to make at least an educated "probability guess" or two, based on things they've seen before. Give Todd a ball park idea of "how bad is bad", so that he can decide whether or not he wants to pursue the house.

If the answer is "yes", again- he can get it under contract-his control- contingent on inspections. That's the time to pay for a structural engineer as well as a general inspection- and to talk with the GC about probable costs for it all.