1)
I live in a townhouse and share a masorny garage wall with my neighbor. I found a staircase crack on masorny bricks.

The house is 35 years old.

I can see the crack from the ceiling and it goes down to the bottom and I also find a small crack in the base (foundation? bricks are build up on this thick concrete base).

I called the management office and the handy man (who is very kind and skillful) said the crack was just cosmetic. He also said there's no danger so all we need to do is to fill the cracks.

But I don't know when this crack appeared and I don't know if this crack is getting bigger or it already settled. Does anyone have the same situation?

2)
I also found a vertical gap in the basement under the garage floor. The gap is located where the garage floor wall and the other side of the wall meets.

It look like a old old old gap and it was covered by a form mat for a long time. I can see that the wall where the form mat was put was not painted.

Is it something I need to be alarmed with? or is it also cosmetic?

Kstar4u

Unless you can see (or have reason to suspect) deterioration of the bricks themselves... it's quite possible that the cracks in the grout are not critical. Have you noticed any "settling" or "sagging" in the structure(s) adjacent to the wall?

To be safe... you can always consult a civil engineer who can verify the integrity of your home.

cu506

Settling and sagging? I don't know what I should look for.

But there isn't any crack or damage anywhere but the masorny bricks in the garage, and other parts in the basement is covered with drywall so I couldn't look at other walls except the laundry room where the walls are bare and the corner has a vertical crack.

We are going to fill the cracks soon, and if the filling falls down or another crack is found, we will contact a civil engineer.

Thank you for your advise.

Squiffy

My mums house had the same problem in her garage wall, thpough it was the wall connecting the garage to her house. Anyway, it went from the top to them bottom of the wall, some staright some diagonal. We had out a builder who filled the cracks and said it was just settlement (the house is about 14 years old) and it has ben fine since, no sign of it coming back at all.

cu506

Good to hear. good to hear.

I thought all cracks are dangerous (especially when it's a staircase type). My handy man told me not to worry, but you know.... ^^

Squiffy

I know lol, I htought the same. Mums was staircased and she was panicking but all has been fine, it was never a problem. IN fact we have had out three structural surveyors since (we are selling the house) and we showed them the wall and explained and they have all confirmed it is not a problem!