Just the general Home question related the foundation. I am hoping to see your opinions and comments.
Location : North Texas
House year : 2018
Background : Bidding for this house. Only three years old, and already shows the crack on the bricks only on one side. Seeing the patio area puling away from the house.
Question: Will it be okay 5 – 10 years down the road?
Best Answer
Based on your region and when the house was built...
No one can tell. Even an engineer would have a hard time giving you a solid answer without extensive soil testing which could take months.
What I notice is that you have a question here full of pictures of cracks, yet you have not done your due diligence on the footings, piers, whatever they used for the foundation. How deep are they, what is the area norm, how does the concrete look, are there low points or puddling, can you see any visible settling, and so on. There are a lot of variables.
#1 Best case
If this house was "built really well", had more than adequate footings, and the ground was prepared right, it can definitely still settle. The settling time period is at about 1-7 years with the years 3-5 usually having the most visually apparent settling. This is right in that bubble.
The fact that they used brick really tells because it is unforgiving. The third pig used brick but he did a lot of foundation work outside of the story! But if this house was built right those cracks are nothing but cosmetic (although they may be a bit unrepairable).
#2 Worst Case
Now maybe the foundation wasn't poured deep enough, the ground wasn't prepared right or it was installed on bad ground. This may just be the beginning. You may have a corner sinking and these cracks will grow wider and wider and cause numerous other issues. That is for new owner to deal with!
If this house was 15 years old we would tell you "looks low risk and cosmetic" - doesn't mean no risk. It being 3 years old I can tell you this is medium to high risk. Like I said you can get an engineer out there, I doubt an engineer will sign off on this house having no long-term settling issues given its age.