Help! Difference between settlement and subsidence?

tillboy

Hi, can anyone help?

Basically my wife and I bought a brand new house which we moved into in June 2003. In January 2004 we discovered movement in the house and reported it to the developers.

Structutal engineers report found that the house had "settled" by 120mm more on one side of the house than the other. The developer moved us into alternative accomodation and corrected the problem.

We are now looking to move so i requested written details of the works from the builders who state "The damage was caused by differential settlement between the garage and house caused by a soft spot below the corner of the foundations" further "remedial action taken was to treat the soft spot by injecting grout into the soft areas of soils, a process known as grout compaction"

Now is it a question of semantics or is this totally different to subsidence, the house has not been underpinned and as the house is build on a raft none of the walls have been damaged.

I've had no problems getting insurance when asked about subsidence i've stated no as the developer has clearly not stated subsidence in his statements (am I just burying my head in the sand)

Just wondered really how i should broach this with any potential buyers going forward and whether my insurance is null because settlement and subsidence are more or less the same thing?

I'll stop rambling on now :cool:

tigerminxy

When I bought my first house the survey came back saying there was evidence of 'settlement' but that this was nothing to worry about since it was a natural process related to the age of the house. So if a surveyor is happy to note a difference, I would imagine that there is a difference between settlement and subsidence.

clutton_2

as i understand it - settlement is what new properties do - they settle down, minor cracks appear as plasters dry out, brick/block work settle.

Subsidence is caused usually when a building subsides due to external influence such as old mineshaft, underground water course, tree roots removed etc etc

weeg

The above posters are right - settlement is different from subsidence, and is much more easily fixed. You can stop worrying.

lokiman

Yes, settlement is a natural and expected process, to a greater or lesser extent, in new builds and shouldn't be a problem in the long term. Subsidence is far more worrying and more difficult to understand in a given case. Doesn't sound as though you have much to worry about.

hearts

Settlement = moves a bit then stops

Subsidence = moves a bit......and keeps moving ;-)