Is this brick crack structural or just cosmetic?
Exterior masonry cracks in older homes leave new owners guessing whether settling is normal or a sign of foundation failure. Without a clear way to gauge the severity, homeowners are left anxious and unsure whether they need to pay for a structural engineer.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1hiring a structural engineer to evaluate the severity and scope of repairsDid this help you?
- 2patching the crackDid this help you?
- 3marking the ends of the crack with a pencil and dating it to monitor movementDid this help you?
- 4contacting a home inspector or foundation professionalDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“There are the step cracks and a diagonal crack in the foundation, I am a new home owner and not sure how much it is going to cost me to fix this.”source ↗
“Yeah I just wasn’t sure bc under the note to patch it he says contact a qualified professional”source ↗
“What should I do about it ?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 30Is a basement wall crack structural or just cosmetic?
- 4Is a new ceiling crack structural or just cosmetic?
- 2Are structural support beams supposed to be wobbly?
- 5Does this concrete crack need immediate repair?
- 8Are these wall cracks structural or cosmetic?
- 5What to do if your rental house has severe structural damage