NHBC 4 yr old house with crack in wall which split blockwork

golddustmedia

Hi,

I'm in the process of buying a house which was a newbuild 4 years ago, as such it has the remainder of the NHBC guarantee.

The house itself is on a steep sloping plot, so the main entrance is on the middle floor of a 3 story townhouse and the backgarden & kitchen are on the floor below street level at the back of the house.

Anyway, the concern is that I spotted in the garage a crack running floor to ceiling. The crack itself is only about 2mm wide and runs a slight zig zag AROUND the blockwork through the motar. However at one point the block itself has cracked right through implying it was under stress.

That is the only sign of any movement I can see in the property.

On the one hand I want to assume it's just the building settling after build, however the split block concerns me that it's more than just normal settling as it implies a lot of force.

My question; If as my mother puts it "the house is sliding down the hill" would any cost to rectify (i.e. underpinning) be covered by the NHBC guarantee and does it need to be noted to them before sale to me?

ILW

Get a full survey done and see what the engineer says.

lincroft1710

If "the house is sliding down the hill" I would personally be looking for another house!

Fire_Fox

The point of buying a relatively new house is that you don't want any major works; underpinning puts off a lot of buyers so the place may be difficult to sell. NHBC are a pain to deal with by all accounts, you will need a full structural survey as they will provide their own surveyor who may or may not agree with yours. I wouldn't touch this house personally.

RLH33

Run away fast:eek::eek:

If the house is only 4 years old and has a crack that bad it is never going to be good news - you really have to weigh up whether it is worth laying out more money for a structural engineer or walk away now. If the house needs underpinning then you will be looking at serious building work and I doubt whether it would be mortgageable. Plus you will have serious trouble selling it on later.

From what I have read about NHBC they are a nightmare to get any action out of.

DeadCat

Without seeing the crack or knowing the layout of the building it is hard to give a firm opinion on what has caused it. Where is the garage located in the house? Are there are more signs of cracking in the house, particularly when viewed from outside?

If this is a single crack which is roughly vertical it doesn't sound as though it is caused by subsidence. It is more likely to caused by drying shrinkage or thermal movement of that section of wall. If so this is not a serious defect and the crack width of 2mm does not indicate anything more serious either. The fact that the crack goes through the blockwork doesn't give me more cause for concern as blockwork is weak when shear forces are applied to it (as opposed to compressive strength for which they are designed for).

Cracks are normally monitored for 18 months to see whether they get bigger/smaller/open/close and then a decision taken on remedial work following the monitoring. As you're in the process of buying unfortunately you can't do this but you can ask the vendor how long the crack has been there and if it has changed in appearance over time.

david29dpo

And do you think the vendors will tell you the truth?

golddustmedia

DeadCat wrote: »

Without seeing the crack or knowing the layout of the building it is hard to give a firm opinion on what has caused it. Where is the garage located in the house? Are there are more signs of cracking in the house, particularly when viewed from outside?

If this is a single crack which is roughly vertical it doesn't sound as though it is caused by subsidence. It is more likely to caused by drying shrinkage or thermal movement of that section of wall. If so this is not a serious defect and the crack width of 2mm does not indicate anything more serious either. The fact that the crack goes through the blockwork doesn't give me more cause for concern as blockwork is weak when shear forces are applied to it (as opposed to compressive strength for which they are designed for).

Cracks are normally monitored for 18 months to see whether they get bigger/smaller/open/close and then a decision taken on remedial work following the monitoring. As you're in the process of buying unfortunately you can't do this but you can ask the vendor how long the crack has been there and if it has changed in appearance over time.

The house is semi detached and the garage is part of the house in the centre is a garage for each of the semi's. The crack is in the wall dividing the two properties.

There is no other cracking visible anywhere inside OR outside the property.

The vendor was not aware of the crack until I pointed it out.

I plan on asking the neighbour if I can see inside their garage to see if the crack appears on their side too.

Milliewilly

Please Please run away now. I had a similar problem on an older house and spent 4 years and a LOT of money suing the Surveyor. Eventually we settled out of Court but I was still £3K out of pocket for my legal costs and had to sell the house to cash buyers only as it became un mortgageable.

getmore4less

If the party wall is 2 story it will extend into the loft, check there as well.

I think I would pass on this place if concerned.

maninthestreet

Sounds like a settlement crack from your description.