When cracks climb diagonally along the mortar joints of a brick or block wall, the masonry may be showing you that one part of the foundation has shifted. Here is what causes it across the Carolinas and how we evaluate it.
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A stair step crack runs diagonally up a brick or concrete block wall along the mortar joints, stepping over and up from one block to the next like a staircase. It shows up most often on exterior brick veneer, block foundation walls, and brick chimneys, and it concentrates near corners and around windows and doors, where stress collects when a wall is pulled out of square.
These cracks are usually a symptom of movement below the wall. Mortar is the weakest path through masonry, so when the foundation beneath the wall settles unevenly, the wall tends to split along the joints in that diagonal line. A hairline step that has stayed the same for years is a different situation from a wider crack with bricks that no longer line up.
The width of the crack and whether its sides have shifted out of plane show how much movement has occurred. Because the cause sits in the soil and footing below the wall, our free inspection examines the foundation and measures how the structure has moved.
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Across the Piedmont, including Charlotte, Huntersville, Matthews, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and the Triangle, the soil is mostly clay. It swells in wet seasons, then contracts as it dries out through summer, and over years that cycle can settle one part of a foundation more than another. When one section drops relative to the rest, the masonry wall above can be pulled out of square and crack along the mortar joints in a stair step pattern.
Cracks that step along the mortar joints are a common sign of differential settlement, meaning different parts of the home settle by different amounts. When soil under one corner or length of footing compresses, or was never fully compacted, that part of the foundation can sink while the rest stays put, and the masonry cracks diagonally. They often appear at corners and widen toward the top or bottom, depending on which way the wall rotates.
On a block foundation or basement wall, saturated soil outside the wall pushes inward. When that sideways pressure builds, a block wall can crack in a pattern that steps along the mortar joints and, in more advanced cases, begin to bow or lean inward. This is distinct from settlement, which pulls a wall down, and it points to water and soil load against the wall. Telling the two apart is part of the inspection.
Around Asheville and the mountains, many homes sit on slopes and hillside lots. Heavy mountain rainfall and runoff move down the grade and concentrate water and soil pressure against the uphill side of a foundation, while the downhill side may lose support to erosion. Uneven loading like this can settle or push part of the foundation and show up as stair step cracking in the brick or block above.
In the Sandhills around Fayetteville and Pinehurst, and in coastal markets like Wilmington, Leland, and Brunswick County, sandy soils drain and shift differently than Piedmont clay. As fines wash out from beneath a footing, from a downspout draining against the wall, a high water table, or saturated ground, the foundation can settle into the void, and the masonry above cracks in a stair step pattern.
In the SC Upstate around Greenville and the Midlands around Columbia, foothill and Piedmont clay carries a heavy moisture load through hot, humid summers. The same swell and shrink behavior that drives Piedmont settlement is at work here, cycling pressure on footings and settling foundations unevenly over time, which the brick and block walls reveal as stair step cracking.
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Articles from our team that go deeper on this topic.
Foundation Crack Repair
Foundation cracks range from thin vertical hairline cracks to horizontal and stair step cracks.
Foundation Crack Repair
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If your home is showing stair step cracks, an inspector can find the cause. HydroHelp911 handles foundation repair and related structural and moisture work across North and South Carolina.
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For example, helical and push piers carry a lifetime warranty that no additional settlement will occur in the area of installed piers, once the final invoice is paid in full. Read the warranty terms.
Ask your inspector about financing when you get your written estimate. See financing options.
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No. The pattern often points to foundation movement, so it is worth having inspected. A narrow hairline step that has stayed the same for years is a different situation from a wider crack with bricks that have shifted out of line, which can suggest active movement. Because you cannot tell from the surface alone how much the foundation has moved or whether it is still moving, an inspection that measures the structure is the reliable way to know what the crack means.
How a repair moves from a free inspection to finished work once the cause is found.
An inspector looks at the areas showing stair step cracks, explains what they find in plain language, and answers your questions at no cost.
The repair is matched to the cause the inspector found, with the scope and price in a written estimate.
A HydroHelp911 crew carries out the repair plan you approved.
A free guide for homes in North and South Carolina: what can move a foundation here, the signs worth writing down, and how foundation repairs work, in plain language.
Homeowners across North Carolina and South Carolina describe their inspections and repairs in their own words.
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