Cracks External Brick Wall

Cracks Load Bearing Wall - Apartment Complex

Hello,

I'm quite interested in purchasing a unit but i'm worried about possible structural issues. I'm not sure if im just being paranoid or if i should get a structural engineer to check it out. The unit block is approx 30 years old, 6 stories high, with brick walls/columns and concrete slab floors. The building looks as solid as a rock, I inspected all exterior walls of the apartment there were no cracks to be found except for one location.

Please refer to attached photograph. The photo shows the joint where the first floor slab sits on the external brick wall/column. The top left corner is the balcony and the bottom left corner is the edge of the car port. This looks like a pretty inefficient joint to me, as the load of the slab is transferred eccentrically (not in the centre) to the exterior wall. It would be much better if the slab extended all the way out. I looked at a few other similar buildings in the area and they had the slab extending all the way to exterior. As you can see there is a long vertical crack running down the brick wall.

Anyone had any experience with a similar joint?
 

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Hello,

I'm quite interested in purchasing a unit but i'm worried about possible structural issues. I'm not sure if im just being paranoid or if i should get a structural engineer to check it out. The unit block is approx 30 years old, 6 stories high, with brick walls/columns and concrete slab floors. The building looks as solid as a rock, I inspected all exterior walls of the apartment there were no cracks to be found except for one location.

Please refer to attached photograph. The photo shows the joint where the first floor slab sits on the external brick wall/column. The top left corner is the balcony and the bottom left corner is the edge of the car port. This looks like a pretty inefficient joint to me, as the load of the slab is transferred eccentrically (not in the centre) to the exterior wall. It would be much better if the slab extended all the way out. I looked at a few other similar buildings in the area and they had the slab extending all the way to exterior. As you can see there is a long vertical crack running down the brick wall.

Anyone had any experience with a similar joint?
Hi - a cheaper 1st option maybe to get a strata report and see if the building has had any issues in the past.
 
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