Underpinning In Question

happyhero

itsakidsworld wrote:

Happyhero,

Sorry if it was confusing. The strip size is correct and is 8 inches or 200mm as you say. They have to cover a bigger span to give an accurate reading. You could reduce to 150mm but the wider the strip the better the chance of getting the correct information.

Don;t use masking tape as this is to thin. Cut a strip from a bit of A4 paper and then stick drawing pins in the ends. You don't seal the paper on the crack. It is abit like an elastic band effect if you understand.

I still think you have nothing to worry about as 1mm really is nothing. Some new houses can have cracks upto one inch (25mm) after they have settled!!!! Not anything we have built I must add!!;)

Ok cheers for that. A thought I had, maybe you can put me right. If a place has been underpinned, obviously there was a problem. Surely the underpinning is made structerally able to do the job and then some, so would it not follow that once a house's foundations have shown a weakness and is then underpinned which I assume gives a better foundation than what was/is there, then it would be very unusual for there to be any further movement albeit a minor amout if for example any major work went on such as a loft conversion.

Simplified once underpinned would your house not be steady as a rock for as long as the house stands. I just thought once underpinned due to its strengthening abilities beyond what the foundations can do, you can forget about further problems. I'd like to believe that obviously as it will save me a lot of hassle.

Sorry I am waffling on a bit, but hopefully you see what I am getting at.

courtjester

It depends on the quality of the underpinning and whether this was designed in a way sufficient to deal with the cause of the problem. These are not simple matters and underpinning is built according to a specification required by its intended purpose - it is not just a case of digging a hole under the foundations and filling it with concrete.

Technology has moved on a lot in the last 20 years - in the early days when subsidence cover first started being added to home insurance policies, a lot of homes were underpinned unnecessarily beacuse the causes were not properly understood or dealt with (by the insurers of the time) and a lot of strengthening schemes were not correctly designed and it could be that even though your property has been under-pinnned, this might be inappropriate to what was needed for long term stability.

A previous respondent referred to "make sure they underpin the whole house..." - this makes a presumption on cause of the problem. Most underpinning schemes when entered into, only deal with parts of the building affected by the problem - to underpin parts of the foundation that don't require it, can make things worse due to other (potentially unforeseen) factors.

I would forget putting tape or paper over the crack to 'monitor' the movement - what will this tell you? If you don't know the direction of the movement, or the precise rate of the movement or whether it changes direction after a period, what will you learn?

In short, leave it to the professionals - my advice is tell your insurance company IMMEDIATELY and then let them advise you through their consulting engineers /specialist loss adjusters. Only by proper expert evaluation and specialist monitoring with accurate measuring devices will any useful information be gleaned to permit the cause of the problem (if in fact there is *any* problem) to be established and an appropriate remedy decided.

Also, make a detailed record with dates of the movement - what was the approximate date that you first noticed something amiss around this window - keep a dated record of all changes you have noticed.

Note all standard household buildings policies cover 'subsidence' unless this has been specifically excluded. All policies also have an 'excess' on subsidence cover which normally starts at £1,000 so you will have to accept that part or all of the investigation costs will be payable by you (until the excess is exceeded).

If you do not notify your insurers as soon as you have become aware of the possibility of a subsidence claim and allow them the opportunity to carry out early investigations, this could prejudice any later claim you make following the period of your own 'investigations' with bits of paper. You have nothing to gain by delaying notification and they may well be able to put your mind at rest if it turns out that the building is not subsiding at all....:j