Calcium silicate bricks

rockall81

Hello,

The house i am planning to buy has calcium silicate bricks, house is more than 25 years old. Survey came back and said as below

"Cracking is apparent through the brickwork in places, and some repointing repairs have
been carried out, probably where cracking previously existed. This is a common feature in
houses such as this which are built with calcium silicate bricks, as this type of brickwork
suffers considerable shrinkage. These cracks are indeed believed to result from shrinkage
in this case and we found no evidence of subsidence. No remedial action is recommended."

Lender approved the mortgage without any issues, Just thought of asking are there any cause for concern?

As always thanks for the help in advance

Better_Days

Our house is built with calcium silicate bricks. Started a short thread about it last year https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4748479

Had a chat with the surveyor and he said that some repointing may be needed in the future, but not a big jobs - hundreds of pounds rather than thousands.

The only thing I did find was that even though there is not subsidance, as soon as you mention cracking the run of the mill insurers follow their flow charts when you ring up and wont insure because they don't deal with anything out of the ordinary. I used a broker, read out what my surveyor said, and had no problems at all. In fact saved over £100 on my renewal quote (which was with John Lewis).

If calcium silicate bricks have been used to build Battersea Power Station and the RIBA building then I don't think there is much to worry about! Personally I do think the grey isn't as nice as red brick, but with a few hanging baskets and white facias and window frames it looks fine.

Furts

Better_Days wrote: »

Our house is built with calcium silicate bricks.
If calcium silicate bricks have been used to build Battersea Power Station and the RIBA building then I don't think there is much to worry about!

It is possible this is the case - I have not been and checked! The relevent point is these buildings were designed by professionals and built with supervised labour and the assistance of Clerks Of Works. This is in direct contrast to private house building by speculative builders. Here it has been the cheapest materials, no supervision and no Clerks of Works. The requirements for movement joints at 7.5-9 metres maximum are ignored, and the calcium silicate bricks produce cracked walls.

However, this situation can also occur with houses built with concrete bricks. For example, Alfred McAlpine Homes were building estates in South Wales in the 1990s with these bricks. IIRR there were no movement joints built into these houses. (I recall the brick company, at least I can remember the packaging, but have not searched if they still exist.)