Signs of subsidence?

Norman_Castle

I had a similar crack in a wall caused by adding a doorway next to an original doorway. The lintel for the new doorway was fitted under the end of the old lintel which allowed the old lintel to drop slightly. The brickwork above it rotated slightly leaving a crack starting close to the opposite corner of the old frame and ending about 3 feet above in the loft.
Because of the new extension I would suspect an area of poorly supported brickwork before subsidence.

aj9648

Thanks for the responses. The extension was done in 1985. Would a problem not have materialised in that time if it was serious?

Doozergirl

Looking at what Norman Castle says, is the door into the extension near to the crack? On the window side of the room?

aj9648

Doozergirl wrote: »

Looking at what Norman Castle says, is the door into the extension near to the crack? On the window side of the room?

The extension was built adjoining the garage. its a 2 storey extension. The only door upstairs is the bedroom door but this is relatively quite a long way away from where the crack is 3-4m I would say.

Gloomendoom

Based on experience, I'd be wary of involving the insurance company until you are absolutely certain that it is subsidence and/or you are sure you need to claim.

aj9648

Rang a few structural engineers - won't even come out to look and want to charge £500+ and do a survey!!

Norman_Castle

^ I would fill the crack and monitor it. If there is no more movement this would suggest it is an area of brickwork settling after the extension work.

A chartered surveyor visited my property and seemed very unclear about what caused a large subsidence crack (Vast Sycamore tree very close to the rear of property. The crack developed as the tree grew and stopped moving as the tree growth slowed). He also created extra work by considering every crack potentially subsidence although most proved to be from later alterations.

If there are damp patches near the red circled area I would suspect the roof, gully or gutters. Check it after rain.

Gloomendoom

aj9648 wrote: »

Rang a few structural engineers - won't even come out to look and want to charge £500+ and do a survey!!

When I had a similar issue, I called in a surveyor who specialised in subsidence. It cost me a couple of hundred from memory and I got a pretty detailed report out of it. However, that was fifteen years ago.

It was enough to convince my insurers that the house wasn't suffering from subsidence.

Doozergirl

The more I read about structural engineers, the more I appreciate ours.