Please help! Concrete porch severely cracked and drywall

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JJ311

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Alright, so I noticed this crack a week ago. I do not own this home, but have lived here for many years. It was built over a 100 yrs ago, two apartment home and I live upstairs and I'm in Buffalo NY. I notified the homeowner but he is out of town but will have it checked out hopefully this weekend. As you can see it's more than a crack. I started Googling what could have caused this last week and I'm stressed beyond belief. I know nothing whatsoever about this stuff and after searching online, possible structural/foundation damage has lead to me seeing another possible issue. I've had drywall cracks in the upstairs apartment for years. I've certainly noticed them before but now after this crack in the porch, I'm wondering if this home if literally falling apart. It could be now that I'm staring at them 24/7, the cracks seems to be getting longer (in the drywall) and I'm noticing more. There are probably two dozen throughout my apartment, mostly straight lines but some are shaped like squares. They don't originate from door frames, windows or anywhere else I've read should cause REAL concern. All the windows and doors close properly as well in the home. I'm reading cold weather might make them more prominent. It now gets into the 30's where I live. None are more than the width of the tip of a pencil. The outside of the home shows no cracks in the walls and the basement doesn't have any cracks I can see. I'm wondering if the drywall cracks and the porch crack are related. I apologize for the structure of this post but I'm literally having a panic attack, especially after reading about sinkholes. I'm envisioning myself in the home being engulfed. So with all this to take in consideration: The home is old, bad weather, cracks have been in the porch and drywall for years (but maybe more prominent now) how would you answer these questions.....

1) Am I in immediate danger? (considering the porch)

2) What happened to the porch?

3) Are the drywall issues and porch possible linked?

4) Please tell me I'm not going to sink underground

Joking aside I am 100% terrified at the moment and any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated

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The first pic doesn't show it. Having issues uploading correct pic

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I can't get the other pics to upload. The second pic is the crack in question. The first one is the other side of the porch, it has a crack as well but nothing like the bad one and in tact. Obviously where the crack occurred, there is a gap in between the porch and home (where the crack is)
 
The gap between the bottom of the home and where the porch is cracked is probably 4 inches.
 
I wouldn't panic at this point, there are things wrong with the front porch yes but there are things that were not right when it was placed there. So problems showing up is not a surprize.
The cracks inside the house may not be related, your discription sounds like some one installed drywall and filled the cracks without using tape to join the sheets, again poor workmanship.
Last year, you had a bad winter for frost and if there was moisture under the porch deck it will lift up with freezing and may take some time to settle back down.
Wait and see what the pro inspection has to say about it.
 
Thank you for not telling me I'm going to die! I'm trying to laugh as to not have another panic attack. A lot of things in this home were poorly done in general so yea. Also, to say we had a tough winter last year is an understatement. It was soooooo cold along with record snowfall.
 
We see barns left to rot all the time and they take years to fall down even after they start to shift and lean so unless there is something really huge happening I thing you will be fine for some time.
 
Thank you so much! One more question if you can answer it. Assuming the porch and drywall cracks are not related, and the drywall was done poorly in general, is it "normal" for an old home to get new/longer drywall cracks, especially with the changing weather?
 
Houses react to moisture or lack of it and temp changes and some houses have moving sections that seem to change with seasons. All caused by things not right when they were built or changes made over time.
When you see concrete up against siding and maybe poor drywall finishing, it does make you wonder what else was done to the house when they divided it into a duplex.
Houses rarely have instand failures but if you continue to see changes, it is a good idea to keep an eye on them.
 
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