Crack on share neighbour's wall

cherry76

I bought a two beds period house 18 months ago over 100 yrs old. The surveyor reported a massive crack on the wall belonging to the neighbour as she has a large conversatory built and said it was her responsibility & could not ionvestigate further. I did not take much notice as the wall does not form part of the main house, it is used as a lean on, sort of open verandah with plastic roof on. Neighbour also has some cracks on her wall but opposite to the shared wall but not as bad as mine. She had it repaired recently and it has reappeared again. She has a large willow tree in her garden and a pond nearby with no fishes (strange). I mention this to her and she said the tree is pruned regularly. Indeed it was pruned 18 months ago and now it is massive. The willow tree is next to my boundary and over hangs on my side, I told her may be this is causing the problem and she said she will get her insurance to check it. She doeos not seem concerned. Should I be concerned about this and is it subsidence? We live in Greater London and lower part a hill. I did mention this casually to my builder when he was doing some work on my property last year, but he told me I need to cut the crack and then repair otherwise it will come back if I just fill the crack. It did not cross my mind asking about SUBSIDENCe at that time. Nobody seems concerned as it is neighbour's wall, now I am starting to worry in case it is subsidence caused by the willow tree. Pl can somebody check this pic and let me know what they think? Guess it is too late to worry about it now. Thanks

http://s819.photobucket.com/albums/zz120/manic48/wall/?action=view&current=Cracks1Small.jpg

cherry76

Two photos just to give you an idea of what I am talking about!! The cracks are on the right hand side of the wall.

http://s819.photobucket.com/albums/zz120/manic48/verandah/?action=view&current=verandah1Small.jpg

iamcornholio

Why are you concerned about the neighbours wall?

The time to be concerned is when/if there is damage to your property

There are other possible reasons for the cracked wall, and the most likely is differential movement of that lean-to wall which seems to be a later addition to the main house. The willow may be affecting ground conditions which the lightweight addition wall can't resist (but the main house can), but that does not mean that it is causing the specific condition of subsidence

themull1

pruning a tree makes no difference to the spread of the roots.

cherry76

themull1 wrote: »

pruning a tree makes no difference to the spread of the roots.

I mentioned pruning a tree, that's what the surveyor told me the tree should be pruned regularly and should keep an eye on it.

cherry76

iamcornholio wrote: »

Why are you concerned about the neighbours wall?

The time to be concerned is when/if there is damage to your property

There are other possible reasons for the cracked wall, and the most likely is differential movement of that lean-to wall which seems to be a later addition to the main house. The willow may be affecting ground conditions which the lightweight addition wall can't resist (but the main house can), but that does not mean that it is causing the specific condition of subsidence

Thanks, I was concerned in case it might be subsidence and it looks unsightly. And I am sharing her wall. Being a newbie to all this, I am learning all the time. Your post makes sense. Thanks again.

Begize

We had a problem with tree roots and subsidence. The basic rule of thumb for a decidious tree (i.e., one with leaves rather than a connifer type) is it should be at least one and half times the height of the tree away from the house, some people say two times.

If the tree is closer than this I would seriously consider having it removed or trimmed to the right size but bear in mind that once roots have spread under your foundations, they will probably stay.

That said, as others have pointed out, it sounds like the problem is with the neighbours extension so unless you start seeing the tell tale cracks appearing around doors and windows at the back of your house, I wouldn't worry overly about it.

If you do have a problem, you contact your insurance company and if required, they will speak to your neighbour and their company. In our case, we had three neighbours with trees in their gardens which needed removing to stop the damage to our house. Our company got surveyors involved, did measurements, dug pits, got a report together showing the evidence then wrote to the neighbours and told them to either get the work done themselves or put them in contact with their own insurance companies to sort it out between them.

It's unusual for insurance companies to apportion blame like they do for car accidents unless your neighbour has been negligent (i.e. not got an obvious problem resolved and caused damage to your property) or is a organisation such as a school, office etc where they would be expected to be more aware of the situation.

With us, living in semi, when our house moved, the neighbours did too, Once our insurance company had completed the tree removal and remedial works to our property, his did the work to his house and each paid for their own bits as far as I know.

iamcornholio

themull1 wrote: »

pruning a tree makes no difference to the spread of the roots.

But it does reduce the water intake from the ground.

Most of the structural problems caused by roots is not the root itself, but the drying of the ground (and shrinkage) caused by the tree taking all the water out