Subsidence of detached garage

AliRC

I would be grateful for any advice or experiences that others have had regarding subsidence of a detached garage.

My partner and I have viewed a house we very much like. The only fly in the ointment is the fact that the rear wall of the detached garage has been underpinned (in 2003) due to subsidence. A structural engineer's report on the garage in November last year showed that a further £1,000 worth of work is recommended.

My questions are, how will this affect the insurance on the house, will it be difficult to extend our mortgage for the new property, and will it be impossible to sell in the future, if the garage was demolished would it still be problematic for insurance/mortgage/selling?

It has been on the market quite a while because, so far, others have been put off by the word "subsidence".

Any advice or experiences would be most appreciated.

Best wishes, Alison

PS: the front of the garage is approximately 6 feet away from the house.

00ec25

I would not immediately be concerned about the house because I would want to know more about the garage to decide if its subsidence is becuase of the way the garage itself has been constructed (and therefore less likely that the same cause will affect the house) or if the subsidence is because something is affecting the ground itself which, coincidentally, started at the garage and is spreading towards the house.

Our neighbours lost their detached garage because it had been badly built - it had to be demolished, a large hole dug out and proper foundations put in. Then again the garages here are doubles with tiled pitched roofs and it cost them >£15K, incidentally their house has been standing since the 17th century!

so, questions:

- what are the garage foundations - a concrete slab "raft foundations" (how thick, 100mm, 150mm? ++) or "proper" "strip foundations" (ie trench), what size - should be at least 300mm wide and 1.2metre deep to be "safe")

- what is the garage itself: concrete walls and a flat roof (light and "cheap") or brick walls and a pitched/tiled roof (heavy and expensive)

AliRC

Thank you for your reply.

The report says that the foundation is concrete slab but doesn't state how thick. It is single brick built with a profiled corrugateed asbestos sheeting roof.

Looking at the accompanying drawing, it looks like there is a 5 brick course below ground level, then concrete block (approx 215 mm), then original concrete flooring (approx 18 cm), then new underpinning. Sorry this is vague but it's difficult to read the drawing due to the poor photocopying.

My main concern really, is not subsidence of the house, as that would show up on the home buyers' report, but more the issue of insurance, mortgage, selling on, etc.

Best wishes, Alison