Vertical crack in foundation...help!?

Question

Wife's sister's house......its a poured foundation-foundation cracked 3/8 inch wide, wall doesnt appear to be flush anymore. crack goes all the way thru wall from outside to the garage...I cant tell if its an active crack but my guess would be yes given the fact that its so large. wall ends about 3 feet above grade and is cracked from top to botton...However it doesnt affect a basement wall as the basement ends at the garage so no way to tell if crack extends all the way to the footings.

I expressed concern over the crack yet sister in law wasnt worried because they had a contractor friend of theirs look at it and he wasnt worried. I am a beginning home inspector so Im not positive that its a problem. I am alomost positive that its eventually going to be a major problem given the fact that the crack goes completely thru the wall and is just as wide inside garage as outside. Any ideas please

Answer 1

Well the house has settled, and more than likely that is the end of it. I would try filling the crack, and see if it might hold. The house is built, so it's not like you are going to go under it to fix the house, especially on a poured foundation.

Answer 2

That's a tough one to answer.  The key (as you stated) is whether it is an active crack or not.  Since you know the width of the crack you can check it later to see if it has widened.  I would fill it with hydrostatic concrete which expands as it dries (normal conrete shrinks).  If the crack reappears then there is a problem.  I suppose the telltale sign that the crack is a problem is if the wall above the footing also has cracks in the drywall.