Foundations

Cracks are common. Change is the signal.

Hairline cracks in a foundation or slab are common as a building settles, and most never become a problem. What matters to the board is whether a crack changes over time: does it grow, spread, or connect to new cracks? Do doors or windows nearby start sticking? Is there visible bulging in a wall or floor? Any one of those changes is the cue to bring in a structural or geotechnical engineer. Deciding whether a specific crack is cosmetic or a warning sign is a professional judgment call, not something to settle by eye at a board meeting.

Why the foundation might not be in your reserve study

A reserve study only lists a component if it clears four tests set by CAI's National Reserve Study Standards: the association is financially responsible for it, it has a limited useful life, that remaining life is predictable, and its cost clears the association's own minimum threshold. A foundation often has no predictable end of life the way a roof or a water heater does, so it can legitimately be missing from the reserve study. That absence does not mean the foundation is nobody's job, it means the reserve study is a funding tool, not the association's full maintenance list. Whether the association or the individual owner is responsible for maintaining the foundation itself depends on your CC&Rs and bylaws, check them before assuming.

Waiting costs more than the repair

APPA links deferred maintenance directly to consequences beyond the repair bill, including safety liability and moisture reaching a building's envelope.

"Possible fiscal instability," "loss of facility use," and "hampering program activities."

Source: Deferred Capital Renewal and Deferred Maintenance, APPA

For a foundation, that liability often starts with water finding its way in through a crack nobody tracked. If the board decides to watch a crack rather than call an engineer, keep a dated maintenance log entry, so "we're watching it" has evidence behind it if the crack starts to move.