HELP! Possibly bad foundation!

[amandahugnkis]

I am hoping some of you may have enough experience with foundations to add some input on this foundation.

We have an offer in on a house and I think the inspector missed something we noticed today. Unfortunately, there is no time to have a foundation inspector out but we can still back out of contract.

Please take a look at these pictures and let me know what you think. Should I be concerned? It is a slab foundation-no crawl space and probably not post and tension. Here are the pictures from all sides of the house.

http://www.teapotdesigns.com/gina/foundation.htm

Thanks all!

[Rich]

It looks like they didn't vibrate the footings while they were being poured. Is what happens is the fines (cement, sand, water) do not fill in the spaces between the stones. This is a weaker concrete - but it doesn't mean it will fail. The biggest question is - is it only at the surface? If it's just at surface you will probably be just fine. To make it look better you could get some Tamspatch and smooth it out. Probably not a bad idea anyway.

[mjpliv]

Rich hit the nail on the head!

I would doubt the structural integrity of the foundation has been compromised, these areas should be exposed (below grade), cleaned (looks like the were painted) to bare concrete and filled.

If you are in an area prone to freezing you may find that areas that have exposed aggregates like those in the pictures may start shedding the exposed materials if water gets behind them.

You should add this as a rider to your purchase that the work be done prior to closing or the price reduced to cover the expense later. If you get a quote to have the work done, perhaps the present owner will consider a "cash back" deal to get it done.