reasons for recent structural movement

crackingup

hi all,

i am a first time buyer and i have put an offer in on a mid victorian terraced house which has a cellar and no building or structual work done since it was built and it is in need of a full upgrade.

i am aware of how much work needs to be done but there is a worrying crack and quite alot of movement which could be quite recent.

the movement only appears to be on the first floor and as far as i can see the floors in the bedrooms and landing are uneven, the top of the door frame is sloping and there is also an arch that is cracked in the middle and one side has dropped.

the house is in a mining area but it is not on a busy road and there are no trees, rivers or lakes near by.

the ground floor appears to be level and there are no cracks on the exterior walls. according to the neighbours only 2 houses in the street have had any movement and they are in the middle of the row of terraces.

Q1, has anybody come across this before and how was it resolved??

Q2, could this be caused by the roof as i can't see any external cracks or movement on the ground floor??

Q3, which survey would find out the reasons for the movement, the homebuyers or the full structural?? (i am aware of everything else that needs doing i just want the roof, the foundations and the crack checking)

any help would be appreciated.

thanks

poppysarah

underground streams? We have some in this area. They caused a house to need work for subsidence a year ago.

You should get a structural engineer in to give you advice. Ring round a few and explain your circs and they'll tell you how much they'll want for telling you how much roughly it'll cost to fix it.

You could ask the neighbours if they have any problems or if they indeed know that their neighbouring house may be unsound.

Has it previously been owned by a keen diy'er who's done a dodgy loft job?

clutton_2

maybe the first floor joists are no longer butted thru into the walls - my own home (early victorian) had joists which had been eaten away by death watch beetle, and which needed replacing - can you take up a floor board or two adjoining the walls where you can see nails in the boards ?

crackingup

thanks for your replies,

i have spoken to a structural engineer and has said that it could be the cellar causing the cracks as the rear of the house and the front are on different levels, one half could be on softer ground causing it to sink and the other half is on firmer ground and isn't moving.

he also said that sometimes they used to build brick walls on the first floor without supporting walls underneath and after time the floor sags causing the cracks.:T

poppysarah

So although he had ideas he's not specified what the exact problem is.

Poppy9

I used to own a Victorian terrace house which had movement. You could see it above windows in front upstairs bedroom and in some upstair's door frames. Survey told us it was just settlement. We had no problem selling it. We did nearly buy another Victorian terrace before this one but survey showed up subsidence. We didn't buy as it wasn't going to be our long term home and houses with subsidence, even if remedied are harder to sell.

A friend's house has major cracks in it. Her OH is geologist and had surveyor to put some things on it to measure new movement but there hasn't been in the last 2 years.