Question on crack in concrete pad
 

I looked at a 15 year old villa today that had tile floors in the living room or the center of the pad. there was a 10' long hairline crack in the flooring leaving me to believe there is a crack underneath the tile. Is this serious? Could it develop?

I suggest that you contact Frank Deangelo and have an inspection done, he is very through. He normally has an ad on the site, but if you search, you will find his contact info. We and several neighbors have used him and were very pleased.

IMHO, I am guessing there is a small crack in the slab, and it is showing up in the tile. Your biggest problem is probably going to be how to match the existing tile. Home warranty should have the original tile, and with some luck you may be able to find some.

Hope this helps.

Two things the concrete delivery driver will guarantee: "it will harden" and "it will crack".
They use an isolation membrane under tile in all the new houses today. They did not do that 15 years ago...
If it was mine, or if I wanted it to be mine, I would plan on re tiling that area (I would want new color and style, not match 15 year old tile) and put a isolation membrane down so the crack does not come back thru the new tile.

I agree with your comments, my initial response was for the inspection to determine the extent of any possible damage, but I completely agree with your comments about new tile and an isolation membrane. You are correct about matching 15 year old tile, and I did not even think about the old grout...

IF this has happened where the drainage pipe runs through the house out to the street then it may be a dig up and repair job or it may be nothing terrible at all but until the tile comes up it's a guess at best as to which way it will go. If you need to dig it up and have to hire a plumber its going to cost a bit and it is a mess. Is this the reason they are selling the home? See what the inspector reveal's.

Concrete, properly placed and cured does not necessarily have to crack. With properly placed and cut control joints, and proper curing procedures, cracks can be avoided. I am speaking from personal experience, having been involved with concrete from Maine to Florida. My best "education" came from an engineer in Collier county who taught me about using a 3 day wet cure process where we let lawn sprinklers run on a new slab for 72 hours. Spent some money on water, but NO cracks.

I doubt the Villages developer has experience with concrete in Maine...
Possibly the developer does not water the slabs down for 3 days, because water is a resource that should not be wasted? It does not matter if the crack is in the "score", in a control joint, or just randomly = you will need to use isolation membrane beneath the tile.

With all of the houses available for purchase in The Villages, I would pass this one up. But, for any pre-owned house you buy, an inspection will almost always pay for itself. Even if the inspection reveals only minor defects that don't need to be fixed, the seller will usually reimburse you for the cost of the inspection just to clear the inspection contingency and proceed with the sale.

Thanks for everyones feedback!

This is not a surprising find....quite common. Mulligan is correct....but while I agree what he said IS the best practice, (i.e., relief cuts, slow curing, etc), this is not done typically in The Villages....thus the common finding of cracks in the grout, etc. That being said, when I do concrete work I always add relief cuts, wet down the slab for days, etc. A builder under time constraints, etc, sadly does not do this.

USUALLY, this is not a problem. If the crack is more open and wide, if it is larger in one area than another, if there is a difference in both sides, (i.e. differential cracking) then it may be a concern.

The fact is if you took up the tile or carpet, etc, you would most likely see shrinkage cracking all over your slab. Sometimes folks repair these but honestly, they are in many slab homes and they are not even known about or problematic.

If the seller filled these cracks as normal maintenance the potential buyer would not even know about it and it would not be an issue.

Basically, if they are hairline cracks, even on both sides, etc, it is usually construed as a cosmetic issue.

Frank