Whereas I've probably been accused of being an optimist more times than not, finding the bright side in this instance meant we had to give undesirable news to the owner of this 1917 Craftsman era foundation.

In the photo, one of our inspectors has captured a corner crack, this being a key corner of the house and the photo shows there is cracking present where the two walls intersect at a 90 degree angle.  Due to the fact that a home of this vintage would not traditionally have any reinforcing steel inherent in its foundation design, it becomes that much more important that such cracks be corrected.

Further, and as countless past messages we've sent out over the years have re-iterated, the cause of the cracking in the first place also needs to be addressed; if the word "water" has already popped into your head, then I know you've been paying attention to our repeated messages to be sure to understand and control the drainage around the perimeter of your home.  

Once again, the crack in this photo turns out not to be from past earthquakes, nor is it from the nearly 100 year age of the concrete; no, this crack was caused by poor perimeter drainage repeatedly over-saturating the adjacent soil year after year, until Mother Nature finally had her way and the concrete yielded to her continual requests to give in.  Without the annual drainage issue, this foundation would not have cracked, and would not now need to be corrected.

If you've not already done so, find yourself a drainage specialist and/or rain gutter company, and have them take care of the issues that your house would beg you to do if it could talk!