Could the cold spell have done this?

aliasojo

An area of my front garden is slabbed. One of the slabs near the gate seemed to rise to the point where the gate will no longer open properly. We thought nothing of it at the time but the next day, several more of the surrounding slabs have also risen. The place has been covered in snow for ages now and there's no way we can clear it enough to see what's going on yet.

Could this just be down to the ground freezing?

My worry is that we have a drain close to this area. I'm concerned it may have cracked and the water has seeped into the earth, frozen and expanded and caused the movement in the slabs.

I'm assuming the only way to be sure is to dig up the earth round the drain to actually inspect it? If so, that wont be happening any time soon. :rolleyes:

Anyone had an similar issues in this weather?

Primrose

My guess is that it is possible. If snow has partially thawed and refrozed, ice expands and it could be forcing the soil upwards. The only comfort I can offer you is that we've had a lot of snow here. The ground is still frozen yet I managed to dig some leeks and celeriac up from our vegetable patch today and found that actually the soil wasn't frozen about five inches below the surface, so perhaps it is just the upper level of soil which is frozen and once the thaw sets in and the ice melts, the levels may relax back to normal again. I don't know whether you have noticed but on walking around our snow covered locality before Christmas, we found that although the pavements were covered with snow, all the snow on the manhole coveres had melted so maybe there's some heat /gas down in the drains and sewers which has been causing the snow to melt. If this is the case, your subsoil may be slightly warmer than nearer the surface.

The freezing weather seems to be causing all kinds of problems. Our side garage door (plastic PVC with metal trim) also seems to be jamming in freezing temperatures, even though I thought metal only expanded when it's hot. When the temperature rises, the door seems to free itself again.

And the small potholes in our road are now much deeper, wider and more jagged since the pre-Christmas snow and ice melted. I think the Highways Departments around the country are going to have a major maintenance programme on their hands once winter is over - and not enough money to pay for adequate repairs.

ormus

certainly the freezing temps can cause slabs to lift. and to drop. ive got one thats just done that very thing.
ps. my MIL garden brick wall collapsed a few days ago!

its very unlikely the drains will be affected though. they are usually buried deep enough to escape any damage.

aliasojo

Thanks, I appreciate the replies. My concern has eased now. I haven't experienced slab movement before so was surprised and thought there would have to be a nasty cause but clearly not necessarily so judging by your comments.

:beer: