Good points, I withdraw my DIY comment and reiterate that this is structural damage that needs to be looked at by professionals.

This comment does not constitute professional advice and whatever else I have to say that clearly indicates this is not my professional opinion.

These cracks appear structural in nature.

They do need to be repaired and probably by someone who can rule out other factors. Mostly I’m concerned about the large aperture crack between the blocks at the top as a source of water infiltration and maybe even pests but that’s not my purview.

You probably don’t need a structural engineer but a foundation repair company should take a look at it.

If you DIY it I would document the cracks really well and check on them regularly. I don’t really recommend DIY due to the large aperture crack up top. Were I there in person I would look at the penetration of it (how deep does the crack go?) to determine more. If it penetrates deeply, again, I would recommend having someone look at it.

That being said are you on a hill of any kind? Did these cracks appear the same day as the earthquake or after? The larger one looks older. Do you have other cracks in the foundation? Sticky doors or windows? If you’re on a hill at all I would reach out to a geotechnical firm as these cracks, if they’re not directly earthquake related, could be indicators of slope instability.

Also are you in a floodplain? Old filled in estuary? There could have been significant settlement during the earthquake that may need to be addressed.

Homeowner’s insurance, in my experience, will not fix earthquake damage. If you live in an earthquake prone area I recommend you purchase a separate earthquake policy. Ours is about $40/month.

Edit to add: this probably isn’t time sensitive. I’m not advocating you run and stay in a hotel. But the crack with missing mortar isn’t a good thing and you should have it checked out.

Absolutely do NOT recommend. Also avoid Home advisor or whatever it is, the WORST contractors are from there.

No idea. I get ecstatic over mediocre contractors who barely gouge. We’ve genuinely just started DIYing almost everything because if it looks “okay, I guess” then at least it didn’t cost $8000 and I semi-learned a new skill.

Edit: our best contractor was from a random Google maps search for handy person. I picked a relatively new business with few reviews entirely because they were the only ones to call back. But they worked out great and I was happy with the work.

I think it is honestly trial and error.

Edit edit: the vibes you get from the in home estimate are helpful. If they don’t try to upsell you at all, hire them.

In fact, the aforementioned best contractor we ever hired told me not to contract them to do something because it was a really simple to DIY. They showed me the exact kit to buy and told me how to do it. Theoretically he could have screwed himself out of money but we decided to do a bigger job than originally planned because of that move.

I have to agree with the other commenters. It’s not perfect but professionals do the same thing. I paid 10x what you did and got the same result so you honestly win.

Also you can still fix it with joint compound but you’d have to retexture and paint.

They don’t clash or anything, I think the whole thing looks good.

Fiberglass insulation is not inflammable (which means the same thing as flammable), it is fire-resistant. But yeah if you’ve got the money mineral wool is really good.

Maytag MDB9959SKZ

Pricey but you can get it on sale for like 400 off. We bought ours because the one we wanted wasn’t in stock anywhere and we ended up taking the floor model at an additional discount.

That said we’re very happy with it. I’d honestly buy another with no hesitation if I needed to.

Quiet, efficient, and no maintenance issues after a couple years. Highly recommend.