Garage wall potential collapse

stuart45

Agree with Section62 on this. Looking at all the tie bars in that house, the ground is probably a heavy clay.

Dick_here

Rosa_Damascena said:

in_my_wellies said:

My neighbour found herself in an almost identical situation. She was about 75

As soon as she noticed she started digging. She just dug and dug until she created a gap all the way along, about the width of her body. Fortunately the weather was dry so new wet didn't add to the problem. It took her weeks! I helped with a few barrows when I could. 

Then she (we) hammered the breeze blocks back with a sledge hammer - Hoping the roof didn't give way. Looking back it was a but of a risk. Did it very gradually, each brick a little at a time until they were quite tidy. Of course the outside bricks didn't push back and there is no cavity space.

Then she found a long piece of angle iron and we fixed this across the breeze blocks. On the outside she filled the gap with three or four layers of pallets placed vertically and covered them with plastic. 

Now that is gumption!

OP, this is going to need declaring to your home insurance company at renewal if not before.

I've put in a subsidence based claim to at least get them involved, waiting for them to contact me back.

Dick_here

stuart45 said:

Agree with Section62 on this. Looking at all the tie bars in that house, the ground is probably a heavy clay.

Just to be clear, the background property isn't my one btw.

Dick_here

weeg said:

I make my living as a structural engineer, so I don't say this flippantly. You have a problem and you need to get proper advice on this. It doesn't look in danger of immediate collapse or anything, but you shouldn't ignore this. And it's still moving, given the visible repair.

It looks as though the garden level has been raised by about 1 metre (how many stair is it?) and the soil has just been piled against the garage wall without any additional structure. As a ballpark, masonry retaining walls are about 600mm wide for every 1m retained height. which doesn't include anything beyond a cavity.  Looks like you have a cavity wall, so for the inner leaf to bulge like that the outer has moved at least 60mm. 

Find a local structural engineer. This week. Dig a hole adjacent to the wall outside, so you/ they can get an idea of what might be there.

Good luck. Let us know how you get on?

Thanks for the info/advice.  There are a dozen steps so digging a hole isn't really practical unfortunately, and probably dangerous.  I'm waiting for the home insurance to contact me at this point to advise at least.

Section62

!!!!!!_here said:

I've put in a subsidence based claim to at least get them involved, waiting for them to contact me back.

Personally I probably wouldn't have referred to it as "subsidence", at least not initially.

I'd suggest the garage has been constructed by digging into sloping ground so the floor is around road level, and the problem is with the walls of the garage not being designed/constructed to act as retaining walls.

Over time the pressure from the clay(?) soil has simply pushed the wall in.

Subsidence/heave would normally be where changes in the supporting soil have caused the foundations to move.  Although that could be a possibility in your situation, I'd say it is more likely to just be a case of the structure not being fit for the purpose it was built for.

You may now benefit from getting an independent structural report (i.e. external to the insurance company) which confirms the failure is due to the structure being inadequate for the task, and not "subsidence".

Belenus

!!!!!!_here said:

Is that a vehicle under that tarpaulin or cover?

Is it valuable.

You might consider moving it before that wall or the roof collapses onto it.

theoretica

I am looking at the plants growing on the outside of the garage and wondering how much their roots contributed - the soil may not be doing the pushing all by itself.

I can see three options:

- demolish the garage and just build a supporting slope

- get some digging done and patch up what is there

- take the opportunity to build something that adds more value

Ectophile

!!!!!!_here said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

in_my_wellies said:

My neighbour found herself in an almost identical situation. She was about 75

As soon as she noticed she started digging. She just dug and dug until she created a gap all the way along, about the width of her body. Fortunately the weather was dry so new wet didn't add to the problem. It took her weeks! I helped with a few barrows when I could. 

Then she (we) hammered the breeze blocks back with a sledge hammer - Hoping the roof didn't give way. Looking back it was a but of a risk. Did it very gradually, each brick a little at a time until they were quite tidy. Of course the outside bricks didn't push back and there is no cavity space.

Then she found a long piece of angle iron and we fixed this across the breeze blocks. On the outside she filled the gap with three or four layers of pallets placed vertically and covered them with plastic. 

Now that is gumption!

OP, this is going to need declaring to your home insurance company at renewal if not before.

I've put in a subsidence based claim to at least get them involved, waiting for them to contact me back.

That's probably knocked a few thousand off the value of your house.

Dick_here

Section62 said:

!!!!!!_here said:

I've put in a subsidence based claim to at least get them involved, waiting for them to contact me back.

Personally I probably wouldn't have referred to it as "subsidence", at least not initially.

I'd suggest the garage has been constructed by digging into sloping ground so the floor is around road level, and the problem is with the walls of the garage not being designed/constructed to act as retaining walls.

Over time the pressure from the clay(?) soil has simply pushed the wall in.

Subsidence/heave would normally be where changes in the supporting soil have caused the foundations to move.  Although that could be a possibility in your situation, I'd say it is more likely to just be a case of the structure not being fit for the purpose it was built for.

You may now benefit from getting an independent structural report (i.e. external to the insurance company) which confirms the failure is due to the structure being inadequate for the task, and not "subsidence".

Point fully taken.  I'm no expert, so I thought mention of subsidence might get their attention rather more quickly, even if that turns out not to be the cause, as you say probably correctly.  Not that I've heard back from them yet.

Dick_here

Belenus said:

!!!!!!_here said:

Is that a vehicle under that tarpaulin or cover?

Is it valuable.

You might consider moving it before that wall or the roof collapses onto it.

Good spot, but no, it's an exercise bike actually.  That's another irony, getting a car into the garage is all but impossible due to the size/angle and always has been, yet the garage is now a problem grrr.