Help! Cracks in front of the house!

metalgal

I live in a semi detached pebble dashed flat roofed house. On the exposed side at the corner of the house was massive cracks and stuff is coming off the house. Im terrified of it falling off and hitting someone. Also now there is a giant crack running 2/3s of the height of the house on the edge of the corner and its approximately 2-3mm wide. Im not sure how long the cracks at the top corner have been there just noticed them before christmas but the big long one has came up in the past few days as they were not there when we noticed the first ones.

basically what could be causing this? is it the plaster or something coming off? Also can i claim off the buildings insurance for this. We are with more than.

thank you for your help. Im freaking out and have no idea what is causing it or even what is wrong.

natlol

Hi, sorry to hear about the cracks in your house. The important thing is not to panic yet. It could be something as simple as water has got behind the render and frozen causing it to blow and show the cracks.

My advice to you would be to try and find a good builder who can have a look and give their opinion BEFORE you involve the insurance company. At least then you will know what you are dealing with and if it is subsidence or not.

Only as a last resort would I suggest you submit a subsidence claim because of the difficulties it could cause you later with selling and possibly obtaining reasonably priced insurance.

Good luck and I hope it is something simple.

Nathan

PasturesNew

How cold/icy has it been there? Maybe wet got behind the render, froze, expanded and caused the crack, so there's a chance it might just be the pebbledash and not the underlying structure. Long shot, but I thought I'd chuck that straw out there to be grabbed.

diable

Its most probably the pebble dash coming oft the wall due to the cold weather, do you suffer from damp in the house at all as a lie base render is better then the !!!!!! they normally sick on a front or side of a house.

aboard_epsilon

Ive seen this happen to a neighbours house ..was caused by the overflow pipe ..over a weekend when they were away, the ballcock valves washer failed ...so dripping water all over the pebble dash ..from a pipe that was too horizontal or pointing a bit up-wards ..the whole lot froze and and area about 10 foot wide and the height of the house just fell off right down to the brick.

so look for gutter leaks or overflow pipe problems .

all the best.markj

Doozergirl

PasturesNew wrote: »

How cold/icy has it been there? Maybe wet got behind the render, froze, expanded and caused the crack, so there's a chance it might just be the pebbledash and not the underlying structure. Long shot, but I thought I'd chuck that straw out there to be grabbed.

If it's new cracking then this is the first thing I'd think of. It's just like potholes appearing in the road. Just like you said, if there's a weakness then the water will get in, freeze, expand and cause damage

kitchencrazy

natlol wrote: »

My advice to you would be to try and find a good builder who can have a look and give their opinion BEFORE you involve the insurance company. At least then you will know what you are dealing with and if it is subsidence or not.

Only as a last resort would I suggest you submit a subsidence claim because of the difficulties it could cause you later with selling and possibly obtaining reasonably priced insurance.

I'm pretty sure that regardless of the insurance company being involved you would need to detail any occurances of subsidence to any new insurance company or potential buyer. If you didn't and the problem came back then I would have thought there is a good chance of an insurance company refusing to pay out or if you had sold the property then the new owners would be able to take legal action against you for failing to inform them.

Barneysmom

Hi Op, first of all if you're worrying the house is about to fall down, don't.
It won't. You'd need a bulldozer for that.

It's probably frost has found a weak spot and has forced the rendering out.
So you need to find someone you can trust to check it for you and see if you can afford to pay or if you can claim on your buildings insurance.

Your local council should have a list of verified people on their handyman list, so give them a call.
all the best

Doozergirl

kitchencrazy wrote: »

I'm pretty sure that regardless of the insurance company being involved you would need to detail any occurances of subsidence to any new insurance company or potential buyer. If you didn't and the problem came back then I would have thought there is a good chance of an insurance company refusing to pay out or if you had sold the property then the new owners would be able to take legal action against you for failing to inform them.

But if it is something as small as frost affecting the render, it wouldn't be great to contact the insurers as a) they wouldn't be doing anything about it because it's a maintenance issue b) they will see you as a potential claimer and put your premium up regardless.

Far better to investigate with someone first and then follow up with an insurer if it is a genuine issue.

poe.tuesday

Personally I would just get your insurance company to come and assess the issue, I had the same issue with my place and we has substances which I had to pay the first £1000 but it was well worth it give them amount of work that had to be done to the house - you can have the insurance person out to assess the damage and if it's minor then you don't have to make a claim through them if it's going to be cheaper than just getting a builder out