Foundation Cracks: When Should You Call an Engineer?

Arizona soils move with moisture. Some cracking in a slab, stucco or interior finish is expected over the life of a building. The useful question is not whether a crack exists, but whether it indicates active movement that affects structural performance.

What engineers look at

• Width: hairline shrinkage cracking behaves differently from cracks you can fit a coin into.
• Direction: diagonal cracks from openings often follow stress patterns; vertical cracks often follow shrinkage or settlement lines.
• Location: cracks that repeat on both sides of a wall are more significant than a single surface mark.
• Change over time: a crack that has grown since you last measured it is a different finding than one that has been stable for years.
• Accompanying symptoms: sloping floors, doors that no longer latch, gaps at trim.

When to call immediately

Call when a crack is widening visibly, when doors or windows have stopped operating, when you can see daylight or feel air through a wall, or when a lender, buyer or carrier has asked for an engineer's opinion. Those are situations where documentation matters as much as the repair.

What the evaluation produces

An evaluation documents what is visible, measures and photographs the conditions, and gives a written opinion: cosmetic, active but currently stable, or a structural concern requiring repair. Where repair is recommended, the recommendation describes the type of repair rather than a single contractor's proposed scope.

That written opinion is usually what allows a homeowner, a buyer or an insurer to make a decision instead of collecting more opinions.