Cracks

[mmojbafan]

Hello everyone..
Today I inspected a condo, in a big building with like 50/60 unites on like 8 floors,built in 99. The one that inspected was on the first floor right above the interior garage, obviously the inspection was only inside the unit and not the exterior and common areas.
Half of the floor was ceramic and the other half was laminated floor, and on the ceramic part..there was a crack from one side of the unit all the way to the end of the ceramic area, and there was no other signs of settelment (no cracks on walls or anyhting). out of curiousity I went to look at the foundation and exterior walls, I found like couple of hair line cracks but nothing major that could explain this effect. The agent had a freind who lived on one of the unit on 5th floor, and I went to look at his app and no cracks in there...
Ohh..by the way, ceramics were installed direct on the concrete
Any thoughs anyone..??

[James E. Braun, CMI]

That is a head itcher indeed.

[mmojbafan]

Well, I know it's a settellement, but how would I call that..? I mean should I call for a specialist?

[James E. Braun, CMI]

I carry a four feet level and a tape measure in my van. I lay the level across the crack and measure the difference from one end to the other, taking pictures at the same time. I just note it and go on. There is others ways of doing it such as a water level or a laser level too. In my area, it appears all structural engineers and most foundation contractors are too busy kissing Realtors' and building contractors' butts to call something out. I only refer a foundation out to a specialist when I feel it is going to fail down the road. Mainly because I love getting the phone call from the Realtor saying the specialist found nothing wrong. I love proving them types of guys wrong. I know how to have fun.

[Brian E. Kelly]

Concrete shrinks and cracks.... a slip sheet under the tile may have prevented the tile from cracking....

[Robert W. Jude]

recommend sealing the crack and move on

[mdonovan]

In high rise condos they use prefabricated concrete components for the floors with a thin (1 1/2") layer of concrete for a topping. These components can flex ever so sightly enough to cause the crack. I agree that a slip barrier might have prevented the crack.

[Bobby G. Michael]

I'm with you Robert.

[jwood2]

Is the crack relatively straight? If so I bet there is a cold joint below it or most likely a beam in the garage just below the crack. Although I do not use slip sheets per say, there are some great uncoupling membranes out there that should help this situation. But its a total retile job usually.