Recommendation required: cracks in my house!

I need a structural professional for help.
Anyone know one?

I am shaving mm off my front door on a weekly basis so we can open/ close it. I have diagonal cracks appearing at the front of the house on the exterior and interior… i have also moved the front door lock over 5mm to re-align with the door.

I’m getting uptight as it has been going on for 5 or so weeks (not the usual summer warping… this is crazy and requires alteration not patience). I live in a mid terrace from 1900 so it’s not settling in or anything. The only changes I’m aware of is that and two houses down the strip have done their side returns within last few months… plus the heat and sun… oh and my nearest neighbor has had the same issue. I’m calmly stressing but need someone trained to reassure me.

So. Does anyone have the skills or the contacts?

Much obliged

Ben-crack-house-jamin

Any trees nearby?

London houses move around as the water table moves as they’ve on clay and lime just moves with it but what you are talking about seems like you need to be getting advice from someone with insurance. I would not panic but might Google how to do a rain dance.

http://thexfrontrange.com/how-to-perform-a-native-american-rain-dance-video/

See i have fixed your problem. :slight_smile:

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@lewisss

I read there are one or two structural engineers in the community, if you search under that term sure there posts will come up, you could DM perhaps.

Photos of the cracks might help those with expertise. I’m first floor flat, end of terrace and we developed cracks in our outrigger…the rear wall was coming away from the party wall, 5mm crack developed straight from top to bottom where they meet. Plus some diagnoal cracks along the rear wall. Structural engineer visited, cause was ties being taken out when house was converted into two flats. The walls were falling apart Charlie Chaplin style, or was it Buster Keaton? Ours was slow over several years. Yours is fast, over 5 weeks.

For peace of mind it might be worth a visit from structural engineer. Fingers crossed it’s good news, render, woodwork, and nothing serious.

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are the cracks wider at the top than the bottom ?

if so it could be the ‘S’ word that no one wants to mention here…

I went through it 2 years ago … development behind us lowered the ground by 10’ so they could appease planing regs to get the height of properties they wanted, plus we had a large eucalyptus and oak tree in the garden.
our property split back to front over the space of a week in the summer. along with 5 others in the street.

are you on a hill? higher properties get affected by the water table dropping first.

we lost the two trees in the garden but on the good side after about 4 months of monitoring the insurance paid out for repairs and redecoration throughout.

a few heavy downpours may rectify it, as @joeatkin2 mentioned, it is probably the london clay drying out.

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Maybe contact your insurance company, assuming you have one? They may give you advice and/or names. It’s in their interests to prevent further damage.

I can thoroughly recommend Saga, if you’re over 50. Cheap and good. I had to deal with them for a friend’s claim and I was pleasantly surprised. And their contractors were the best builders I’ve ever seen

Yes, if you are the owner, contact your insurance company, they will swing into action with surveyors etc. to prevent a greater loss/claim.

A word of caution about contacting insurance…my insurance claim manager said if I wish to start a claim they would log it as as the S word…they need to classify it with one of their categories before to kickstart investigation…even though it may not be the S word in the end, he said (as did the structural engineer) that it would be the S word would be forever associated with the property profile in an official insurance way, and would stay with it…both said it could scare off future buyers, increase premiums etc…even though it may not be S in the end! They just need to click an option from a drop down menu and S is the closest category they’ll have from the off.

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That sounds like a very stressful 4 months!

I’m not sure but you might have agreed to tell them asap. If there’s a claim they’re likely to ask when you became aware. Further damage could be caused by delays.

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I would be very careful before contacting the insurance company. Best to know what is going on first

You don’t want the S word if its just normal summer movement

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I had a similar issue recently and used these guys to repair the crack, after getting the insurance round and speaking to a surveyor. http://goddenstructural.com He was very knowledgable and could have a look and tell you if it looks like the insurers need to get involved.

Our insurers did an initial investigation and said it wasn’t subsidence but just seasonal movement. I’m still a bit nervous we’ve just covered up a problem rather than solving it, but there was evidence of an old repair to the plaster in the same place which made it seem less sinister, just a repeat of movement in a weak spot. So far so good.

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AWESOME information and ideas and guesses from everyone! (I live at the top of a hill) but now I now have a plan of action!

  • not to call insurers until I have a better idea
  • call structural company (ill start with the one above, the MS engineer wants to get away from work in here :wink:
  • do a rain dance :wink:
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Oh this does sound stressful but good advice so far.
I’ve noticed a hairline crack on junction of the extension to the original 1930 house. We have a lawson cypress very close to the back of the house and I think it’s transpirating water from the clay soil under the house in the heat (as well as drought related shrinkage).
I can see that the join has been cemented over at least once so it’s likely to be seasonal pattern. Just walking around the area I can see how shrunk and cracked the local soil can get.

Frustratingly I’d contacted a tree surgeon to get it lopped in half a month ago and they didn’t have slots till end of july.

Polyfilla. Lick of paint. Whack it on the market

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NO NO NO
Put toilet tissue in the crack first, then polyfiller then silicone, then more toilet paper then silicone then whack in on the market.

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I bow to your superior deviousity.

Hi all…

My challenge is progressing.
I contacted a supplier and they can’t actually do anything (not clear if it is the right thing either) till November + so I am in a different position:

This morning for example… I cannot get out of my house as the door is stuck again.

URGENT SHORT TERM NEED

The front door appears to be holding up the doorframe/ front of the house… I shave off a few mm to allow it to open and within 24 hours its catching again, within 48 its jamming, within 72 its completely stuck.

So far I have removed maybe 8mm I’m rather stuck (no pun intended) for what to do.

Long term maybe I need structural support, bracing or wires ‘to make the house move as one’ or simply rain…

Short term I feel like I need emergency door frame support or something but:
a) I do not know what I am searching/ asking for
b) do not know if it is even possible

Ideas welcome.

I have pictures of the wider cracking problem but my immediate concern is for my door. Me being literally stuck in my house is not a great feeling, I can’t open the door and I’m the biggest person in my house!

Would re-enforcing my door frame slow the inevitable journey to create a triangular door?

The fast messages demonstrate my panic.
I just spoke to a ‘friends structural engineer dad’ - based on my description he simply suggested I call the insurers immediately - let them deal with the door and start the measurements.

Anyone spitting on here about that?