worried sick , cracks in house

78daniel

i have seen stepped cracks on outside wall and noticed same place inside as well. initially i thought inside was just blown plaster. 
blown plaster in other parts of house as other walls need re-plastering as well due to cracks.
also noted a crack outside in straight line where bay window is attached to house.
also , cracks have  suddenly appeared above internal doors which seemed to have gone bigger.
have had a builder friend to look who says it may be the s word.
not quite sure whether to contact insurance company 
any advice appreciated.
thanks

Keep_pedalling

Can you let us have some pictures please.

MikeJXE

No one can say without photos 

Abbafan1972

You don’t say how old the house is either. 

Bigphil1474

If it's subsidence, contact your insurer and get them to fix it? Why would you not want to do that. 

We had it about 15 years ago caused a by a leaking water company drain. The excess was £1k, but we basically avoided paying that by deducting it off the redecorating costs and doing that DIY. We did pay higher insurance for about 10 years, but only about 30% higher, and it was still a bargain given they spent over £25k fixing the house. If it turns out not to be subsidence, the insurers will tell you. 

Kiran

Pop some photos on, ideally close up and whole elevation photos as they usually paint a picture. There's loads of things it can be but can't diagnose without seeing

78daniel

 thanks for all the replies
i am trying to upload photos from phone , but cant login on my phone .

builder says i should contact insurers , but panicking about what questions they will ask.

there are cracks inside but they are blown plaster which we were going to take back to brick and deal with anyway.

its just the outside ones and ones next to windows and above and sides of doors that i am concerned about.

just worried incase insurance turns round and says lack of maintenance.  have checked gutters and drains which are clear

Annemos

As a general trend. 

If you are on a sandy soil, then leaking drains and water mains can cause subsidence. 

If you are on clay, Subsidence is often caused by Tree Roots (the very fine ones) under the foundation. They take the water out of the clay under the foundation. So if you have trees in close proximity (and especially large trees) or many overgrown bushes, then that could be causing it. 

(Doors sticking is another sign of Subsidence.)

78daniel

also , insurance needs to be renewed , as only couple of weeks left on policy

Annemos

You will not be able to get Insurance Cover with new Insurers, as you will have to declare the cracking. 

In my opinion you must open a Subsidence Claims immediately. They will send someone round to review your property. 

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If you are not sure what soil you are on, you can try using this.  Click on the little magnifying glass and enter your postcode. Then click on that Postcode. 

It is very slow on my computer, as it is now very sophisticated. So give it time to work. 

(It was also very revealing during my Subsidence Claim. When I was sent my first information from the Insurance Company for my Claim, they had attached an extract from a different place in the Country! It took them 3 goes to send me the correct one.) 


https://geologyviewer.bgs.ac.uk/?_ga=2.165279479.937003694.1724075096-255272150.1724075096

Annemos

Also, send them several photos of the cracking to show why you are worried.