What to do if worried about subsidence?

Treacle44

We moved two months ago and we've had some niggling worries since then about cracks, uneven floors etc in the house.

Background is we initially had a home buyers report survey that pointed out the cracks, said brickwork needed repointed at back of the garage (just posted a seperate thread about this) but no mention of subsidence. The my husband got offered a staff mortgage with another bank so we just had a valuation survey done for the mortgage as we'd already paid out for a home buyers previously.

Since we moved in, we noticed three rooms have uneven floors (the floor is raised in the middle and essentially means the laminate flooring doesn't lay quite flat when you walk on it and the other room has a raised area with a proud floorboard, so hopefully these are just joist problems.

There's cracks in several rooms, where the new garage was extended out there was a wide diagonal crack about a foot long, our plasterer didn't think it was a problem and just meshed and plastered over it. There's also a thick crack (probably 5mm wide) and runs right along the ceiling in our bedroom, inside the fitted wardrobes. Other cracks are just plaster cracks.

We've also noticed that a couple of interior doors don't shut and having recently had new upvc front, back and french doors, we have to have the fitters back 3 times as the doors keep grinding.

I'm really worried, what should we do?

Thanks for any advice you can give.

ormus

cracks in plaster etc are quite usual. as are uneven floors and door frames.
the only cracks to be scared off are the ones in the actual brickwork. then you can worry.

Treacle44

There are no external cracks that we can see. Thanks for replying.

Steve_Groves

Get in contact with whoever organised your home buyers report and say that you are concerned that the cracks are more significant than described in the report. I am sure that the company who did the report will then arrange for someone to come out and review them.

We had the same situation and feelings many years ago when we got our current house. Got the keys and wandered round the empty house and saw so many large cracks. Within a couple of days the original surveyer came back round, assessed the cause of the cracks and announced that they were caused by some walls being part built in brick and part cement block. The two materials expand and contract at different rates so had opened up cracks.

I tidied up the cracks with filler and they have never returned but if I had ignored them then I would still feel a little doubtful about whether we did or didn't have subsidence. Get them back and get an answer :-)


HTH

Gloomendoom

Make absolutely certain that your house is actually suffering from subsidence before you contact your insurers.

Some years ago, and against my better judgement, my then wife contacted our insurance company about some cracks that had appeared in the walls, saying that she was worried about subsidence. The next thing we were sent an empty ring binder with 'Subsidence Claim' written on the front. Then a firm of surveyors were appointed to investigate the problem and recommend a solution.

They found that the cracks were insignificant and due to seasonal movement ( 300 year old house with foundationless solid stone walls built on clay rich soil). The recommended remedial action was redecorating!

Never-the-less, the costs for the 'subsidence' claim were recorded on the policy details. The word 'subsidence' made it impossible to move away from that insurance provider... nobody else would touch us. The premium nearly tripled, presumably because they knew they had me over a barrel.

It took me seven years to sort it out.

iamcornholio

If this is a traditionally constructed property, then subsidence would show as cracks to both sides of external walls, and these would be typically diagonal.

The issues with the doors and timber floors are not typical of subsidence, and nor are the other plaster cracks as discribed

andrew-b

Doesn't sound like anything to worry about. Though i would keep an eye on them and check for further movement. Draw a couple of pencil lines across the cracks and if any further movement occurs you are likely to notice a seperation in the pencil line. Do you know what type of soil your house is built on as that may be relevant - especially if it's clay.
The cracks between garage extension and house sound like a fault in that the builder hasn't correctly tied the new masonry to the existing.

As for the uPVC doors did the fitter "hang" off them when he fitted them? The fitter of our front door didn't do so and we had to have the company back a couple of times..after the maintenance guy put his hands over the top of the door and hung from it it's not dropped since.

As others have said don't even speak to your insurer on this as they'll be out with the "s" word in a shot!