What's going on with my house?

In the last year, I have noticed more and more cracks in my drywall. Not hairline cracks, but big cracks. The support beams in the basement have huge cracks around them. I am attaching pictures. Where the wall meets the ceiling coming up the basement stairs has a major crack. The brick work outside of the house is cracking. And now, my garage door is actually bending at the top when I open and close it, and it has "shifted" over 1/2" in one direction. What's going on? I don't even know where to start. Is this normal? Do I need someone to look at my foundation? It has been hotter and drier than normal in Colorado.

 

Welcome to the forums

Sounds like your foundation is shifting. I would think you should have someone come out and take a look and maybe give your insurance company a call to advise them and see what they think you should do.

 

How old is the house?

settling cracks to a point are expected with newer construction until everything settles.
What you describes sounds excessive, but from your pictures, that looks reasonable.

My parent's house (built on clay) took about 10yrs to settle down. They had plenty of cracks similar to what you have in the photos.

 

The house was built in 1976.

 

I agree with Mitch, you've got some foundation issues, any new construction settling would have been gone yrs ago. Has there been any major construction in your area [new roads, large buildings] Is your locale subject to sink holes or earthquakes? Something has caused your foundation to shift.

 

Where abouts are you located?

I had a couple minor cracks (not like yours) appear in my old house when one of the local mine sites had a couple rock burst incidents. This was a 1950's home in a heavily mined city (Sudbury Ontario).

 

They said they were from Colorado.

 

I want to see more pictures and from further away so I can see the full extent of the cracking. Include those basement beams you mentioned. Also, is there another living space above the crack you show or just attic? Have you been experiencing any strong winds lately?

 

Where in Colorado? What kind of soil do you have?
Show us some pictures of some of the exterior changes you mentioned and the garage door, too.

Are you on the plains or in the hills? Are any of your neighbors having similar problems?

 

I think we have clay soil in the front range of Colorado. We have had a lot of wind this year, and it's been dry.

There is living space above where the damage seems to be centralized. But most of it is not a heavily used living space (formal living room), pantry and stairs.

The cracks I was talking about are not in the attic, they are in the basement above two beams that I think are part of what used to be a support wall, but is now cut out between two rooms.

I will take photos of the garage door and external brick damage.

 

Yep; colorodo soil shifting - Google Search

Floating walls and slabs required; Colorado building code requirements for basement walls - Google Search

Gary