A shifty house with foundation cracks

Hi, My house was 3 years old when we bought it in 2003 March. Its about 7 years old now. We recently detected the kitchen tiles broke up in a pattern on either side of it. We have flower beds outside our house, on one side of the kitchen, constructed with brick wall. we found that the brick wall broke vertically. On the other side of the kitchen, the tiles broke in the same  pattern (this is towards the garage.) All these cracks are pencil line thick and the cracks lead one into another. we paid a civil engineer to assess the damage. He concluded by saying that its a minor damage happened due to shifting of the house which inturn is caused because of the expansion and contraction of the black cotton soil below. We had been watering the foundation 2 times a week since we bought the house and used sprinklers regularly. The civil engineer told us that our house is in a very good condition and these cracks are very common. Now we are planning to sell the house and are worried that these cracks might be an obstruction to sell it. Is this a serious problem? Should we consult the builders to repair the foundation or can we replace the broken tiles and sell the house, if it is not a big deal? Please suggest.

vas

Vas,

Yours is a difficult question to answer without looking at the problem.  You write about kitchen tiles and the brick on the outside of the house displaying cracks, I think.  I would lean towards agreeing with the engineer you hired.  Hopefully you hired a well respected engineer to do the inspection.  The engineer should provide you with a letter stating his/her observations and his/her conclusions.  If this letter agrees with his verbal comments, then you could have that letter available in the event a potential buyer has some concerns about the cracks.  It is not uncommon for a house to have a little movement which will result in some minor cracking.  Pencil line size cracks are acceptable and should be expected as part of the typical movement of a new house.  I hope your house sells quickly.  Jake