I am about to buy a Nudura ICF house finished in early 2005. ---------- I had a home inspector come in to inspect the house. - It's winter and there's lots of snow on the ground here, so he wasn't able to inspect much of the exterior. - But he did point out 3 things that concern me: ------------- 1) There's a thin crack along half the lengh of the garage floor. - Inspector said it was "normal" to have that, but I'd like a second opinion 2) There's a small crack beside an exterior window near the ground (below the first floor grade) - Inspector told me it was nothing, just "cosmetic", but again, what does this mean? Could the foundation be cracking??? 3) The inspector said there was a "negative" grade around the house. - Does this mean I will get flooding, and damage the foundation? - How much does it cost to get the grading "re-done" properly. - He said 1/4 inch for every foot, for at least 4-6 feet around the house would be fine. I think the home inspector may have "down played" some of these observations because he is affiliated with the real estate agent (she recommended him to me). Other than those 3 "notes" in a binder he gave me, everything else was ok, and he said "no structural defects noted" and he said "above average construction"... Does the house seem OK or are these 3 issues big deals that will cost me an arm and a leg to fix...the biggest concern is obviously the crack in the side of the house near one of the windows. - It looks like some type of stucco, but still...why would that crack if the foundation is fine? Can someone shed some light on this? Also, another less important question: .. How do I install curtain poles laugh...since it's foam behind the drywall, and there's no markings for me to know where the webs are.....??

Let it be known that things that are guarranteed are taxes and concrete will crack. Negative grade is bad. get that fixed. Cracking at window is probably surface coating only and stress around door and window openings is common. Seee if you can find out what the coating is. In FL we are all stucco mostly.Colder climes not so much. You could use an elastomeric sealant and acrylic paint to treat the crack. This will allow the expansion and contraction to seal the crack. GR

Would have to guess all is fine! I have a synthetic stucco on a stick frame house that has that same crack close to grade. I think it was caused from some sort of water mitigation/frost issue like yours probably was. The crack could have been caused from the negative grade which needs to be fixed at current owner expense. The crack in the garage floor is common, sounds like someone neglected to saw cut but that's not always a guarantee. As far as the curtains go, if you look close at the base trim you can usually locate some obvious nail hole in a length of trim and plum up with a level and measure in 8" increments from there. This is no guarantee to the stud locations but curtains are not heavy anyways and many standard an-cor methods would work.