Wall Cracks: should I call the insurance company or arrange my own inspection

Ian2012_2

My house is a four bedroom semi which was built in 1950s. When I bought the house about 8 years ago, I had a full survey done and no major issues were found.
Since around Sept last year, I started noticing cracks appearing in the internal walls. Now, almost every room has a couple of them (around 15 of them in total), most of them vertical or horizontal, though a couple of the cracks on top of the two internal doors are diagonal and short. Some of the vertical cracks are quite long (100cm plus) and all the cracks are very thin (cannot insert a sheet of printing paper into them). The cracks themselves do not seem to be growing, but the new ones keep showing up so I am quite alarmed and not sure if the house has subsidence. My next door neighbour's conservatory at their back garden had subsidence (caused by a big apple tree in the garden) about 8 years ago, but the main building itself (which forms the other half of the building) was assessed as not affected by the subsidence. 

I am considering the following options:
1) Call the insurance company to make a claim;
2) Pay for a structure engineer or a surveyor myself to inspect the property to find out what the causes are and only go to the insurer if it is confirmed as subsidence. The price is about £700-£1000.

For option 1, I don't know what the insurer will do. I guess they will send a surveyor to inspect the property. What I am not sure is that if it turned out that the cracks are not caused by subsidence, will the insurer still register that my property has made a subsidence related claim which will raise my future premium and also makes it extremely hard to move to another insurer?

For option 2, if the structure engineer finds an issue and I have to make the claim, will the insurer still send its own surveyor or engineer to check the property rather than accept my engineer's conclusion? If it's the latter case, I would have wasted the money to do my own investigation and gained nothing.

I will be very grateful if you can provide some advice on which is the better option.

dunstonh

Since around Sept last year, I started noticing cracks appearing in the internal walls. 

2022 was a drought year and September was the peak of stretching.    Plenty of people who have not experienced cracking before did so.  Some of us get cracking most hot years and its just worse in drought years. 

The cracks themselves do not seem to be growing, but the new ones keep showing up so I am quite alarmed and not sure if the house has subsidence

The odds are that is more likely movement than subsidence.  Is there any cracking on the external walls in the same places?  if not, then its likely stretching movement. 

I am considering the following options:
1) Call the insurance company to make a claim;
2) Pay for a structure engineer or a surveyor myself to inspect the property to find out what the causes are and only go to the insurer if it is confirmed as subsidence. The price is about £700-£1000.

We never involve the insurance company.  We were told by our structural engineer that the cracking was cosmetic only and likely to be worse in drought years and it should be handled by routine maintenance and decoration.

In your case, you havent employed a structural engineer yet.   So, you need to decide whether to do that yourself and see what grading it is given or go to the insurer and suffer increased premiums forever more.

If the structural engineer says its worse than cosmetic movement then you can still go to the insurer.   If it is just routine maintenance and decoration then you may decide it is cheaper to get someone in locally to patch it.

Grumpy_chap

Ian2012_2 said:

My house is a four bedroom semi which was built in 1950s. When I bought the house about 8 years ago, I had a full survey done and no major issues were found.
Since around Sept last year, I started noticing cracks appearing in the internal walls. Now, almost every room has a couple of them (around 15 of them in total), most of them vertical or horizontal, though a couple of the cracks on top of the two internal doors are diagonal and short. Some of the vertical cracks are quite long (100cm plus) and all the cracks are very thin (cannot insert a sheet of printing paper into them). The cracks themselves do not seem to be growing, but the new ones keep showing up so I am quite alarmed and not sure if the house has subsidence. My next door neighbour's conservatory at their back garden had subsidence (caused by a big apple tree in the garden) about 8 years ago, but the main building itself (which forms the other half of the building) was assessed as not affected by the subsidence. 

I am considering the following options:
1) Call the insurance company to make a claim;
2) Pay for a structure engineer or a surveyor myself to inspect the property to find out what the causes are and only go to the insurer if it is confirmed as subsidence. The price is about £700-£1000.

For option 1, I don't know what the insurer will do. I guess they will send a surveyor to inspect the property. What I am not sure is that if it turned out that the cracks are not caused by subsidence, will the insurer still register that my property has made a subsidence related claim which will raise my future premium and also makes it extremely hard to move to another insurer?

For option 2, if the structure engineer finds an issue and I have to make the claim, will the insurer still send its own surveyor or engineer to check the property rather than accept my engineer's conclusion? If it's the latter case, I would have wasted the money to do my own investigation and gained nothing.

I will be very grateful if you can provide some advice on which is the better option.

Are these any more than hairline cracks?
Are the cracks just in the plaster surface, or down & through to the brick work?
If the cracks pass through the brickwork, do the cracks follow the mortar or are the actual bricks cracked?

Before contacting the insurance company and before engaging a Structural Engineer at cost, the first thing I would do is to contact a local builder and ask for a quote to repair.  That will be a quick, and no cost, way to get an initial view on whether this is a real problem or not.

Do you have any photos of any of the cracks?

FWIW, our house has some cracks in the walls, a bit of cosmetic movement is really quite normal in many properties.

diystarter7

Hi OP

Personally, I'd make good notes, take pictures of cracks and see if they increase over xx period and then decide. If the did not, I think I'd get a builders opinion first that had knowledge of this type of thing then decide if to go with that or the 2 options you have posted about

Here in London, we are on clay and I've noticed some hairline cracks on the inside since last year  - be we have plastered walls and white all thought the house so easily noted if you look close enough and they have settled - so we will repaint etc  as not really noted other than by me.

Can you post any pics, please?


Thanks

Ian2012_2

Many thanks for the replies.
I think it's the sheer number of those cracks in the property that worries me. The cracks are mostly on the inside walls. Apart from some cracks outside one window, I haven't seen any cracks on the external bricks. Unfortunately, I cannot see through to the bricks as they are covered by the plasterboards. 

I am enclosing a few photos here and any suggestions/insights/experience sharing will be appreciated. I have been thinking of doing a rear extension to the house, but seeing those cracks appearing make me nervous: if there is subsidence, then probably not worthwhile to spend more money on it. I did have a builder coming for a quote for the extension about Sept last year, he reckoned that the cracks shouldn't be a serious concern as they could be caused by minor movement, but at that time, there were not as many cracks appearing.

Pict 1: crack on lower left side of bathroom window wall (1st floor), the floor below has an extended room. 
.
Pict 2:
Pict 1's corresponding location from outside wall (there are a few cracks on the render).


Pict 3:
cracks on the same window's upper right wall from inside


Pict 4:
From outside of Pict 3 above, cracks on the render on the same side as Pict 3.

Pict 5:
Crack on side wall of another window 


Pict 6
Above an internal door on the ground floor


Pict 7

Horizontal crack on where a wall joining the ceiling



Pict 8
More cracks like below in rooms

rabialiones

hi, just been looking at your photos, and i beleive that if there are no corresponding cracks on the outside of the property , then it just looks like the plaster has blown/cracked.
is it quite old plaster/plaster boards etc or is it relatively recently been plastered.
perhaps if you get a reputable builder to have a look, they will be able to advise you clearly

huckster

If you are worried, as the homeowner with financial interest to protect, then get a surveyors in to take a look and provide a report. And carry out any recommendations.

rabialiones

would it be a surveyor or structural engineer to provide the report

dunstonh

Structural engineer is better.  They have a grading scale for cracks and will know where to look for potential issues.  A surveyor will give basic information but tell you to use a structural engineer for more detail.

The cracks in the pictures don't look too bad for a drought year.  

Smithcom

dunstonh is correct - you need to get these cracks checked out, and a structural engineer is probably the best starting place. 

Be careful with:

1. Possible disclosure of cracks to insurers (check Statement of Fact to see if this question is asked)
2. If matter needs to be reported as a claim (this will depend on structural engineer's report/conclusion)

Insurance is never a problem...until it becomes one!!   Property cracks are common, but you need to ensure that they are disclosed (if this disclosure is required by insurers) and a potential claim reported at the earliest opportunity, if the matter is, indeed, subsidence, landslip or heave.

Hope it goes well

SC