“I just looked at a house with a cracked slab. My friend tells me not to buy it, but it’s a beautiful home and priced right. What do you think?”
Answer:
There are two kinds of cracked slabs.
First, there are those that are a problem and damage a home. Minor fixes can run in the low four figures, say to fill a crack to prevent moisture intrusion. Or it can run in the tens or hundreds of thousands to repair a significant and perhaps unstable and still moving structural problem.
Or, there are those that are basically a cosmetic crack, often occurring when the newly poured cement slab dries. I’ve heard that 99% of slabs have such cracks. If that’s the case, I wouldn’t sweat it.
To know which one you’re dealing with, have an engineer inspect the home. Such inspections start at $500 for a visual inspection.
