House we’re looking to buy has had an issue that has been retified. We’ve got a copy of the cert, it says:

Brief description of damage: Subsidance damage to: Differential movement to the rear of the garage and also the front right corner of the garage.

Cause of damage: Clay shrinkage subsidence exacerbated by nearby vegetation was the main cause of damage to the rear, in conjunction with the rain water discharging to ground. Localised drain damage to the front right corner was found to be the main cause in this area.

Mitigation measures: Drain repairs towards the front were completed. Removal of vegetation to the rear was completed and the rain water was directed away from the foundations.

Superstructure works: Resin injection repair of cracked brickwork with helibar reinforcement where considered necessary to the left hand side towards the rear of the garage and to the right hand side towards the front. The garage floor was repaired with further resin injection and helical reinforcement.

The front right corned of the garage is approx 1m from the rear corner of the house.

I guess we want to know whether this is something we can forget about as it’s now been rectified, or could there be any potential future issues?

Not a structural engineer but I have dealt with subsidence claims for years.

Essentially if the implicated vegetation has been removed, and and rain repairs completed, then the causes of the movement have been removed and the property should therefore stabilise.

Of course, if the cause of the problems hasn’t been correctly identified, then it could well reoccur (for example, other implicated vegetation not removed).

You would also have to declare it on any future insurance, though the ABI does have guidelines that firms should cover properties that have suffered subsidence.

HTH.

*edit* – sorry, just noticed it was the garage, not the main house. Garages will often have shallower footings (if any) and are thus more susceptible to differential movement. If it’s not the house, I wouldn’t be overly concerned.

I’d get a quote for buildings insurance first though, just phone up pretending you have bought it and see what they quote you…..

Sorry, just re-read my post, yes its the garage, not the house. Just outside the 15 min edit window now too. doh!

Good idea re. the insurance quote though.

Just fitting some helicoil bar on my current site. Clever stuff, and fully certified and approved by our experienced (big civils) engineer.
Garages were quite often put on “lesser foundations” also.

Providing advice with very little information and no knowledge of the house or anything on the ground and the extent of the subsidence risks being unprofessional as there’s a risk of giving in correct advice.

How long ago were the works completed, if was say 5 or more years ago then I would be less concerned than if it was earlier this year.

My advice would be (and this maybe a requirement of your mortgage lender) is that you employ a suitably experienced and qualified engineer to inspect the property and provide you with a report. Typical bread & butter work for your small engineering consultancy. Depending on where you are this normally costs around £150-300.

This link might help you find one: findanengineer.com

By the way, I am a Chartered Structural Engineer

PS wrightyson is correct, it was and still is common practice to some extent. But not knowing the details in your case, its impossible to confirm

Mark78 – Member
Providing advice with very little information and no knowledge of the house or anything on the ground and the extent of the subsidence risks being unprofessional as there’s a risk of giving in correct advice.

Which is presumably fully understood by the OP who, if he was looking for a fully professional opinion probably wouldn’t be asking on a cycling forum… 🙄

I always find the standard of advice on STW is way better than you normally get by paying professionals!

footflaps – Member
I always find the standard of advice on STW is way better than you normally get by paying professionals!

(Probably because they’re all on here asking advice to give to their clients!) 😉

I would want to know when the helibar was installed. It locally stiffens the wall, so if there is still movement in the ground the wall will crack at its next weakest point (probably just outside the stiffened area). So if it was done 5 years ago with the amount of rain we have had, chances are if it was going to move it would have done by now. If it was done 2 weeks ago it may well still be on the move

Certificate is dated 14th Feb 2014. Happy valentines!

Yep, I understand that any advice given here is obviously only as useful as it can practically be.

I work for a large engineering consultancy (but I’m an electronic eng.), I’ve run it by one of our civils guys (not specifically buildings though) who said similar to above.

If we put an offer in we’ll be undertaking a full structural survey of the whole property before buying partly due to age and partly due to this.

Thanks for all the help so far though. 8)

I thought I would give something back, seeing as people on here have helped me in the past. But Jakester, if you know it all, please continue…

Mrjmt, if it was done that recently it would be pretty easy to get a copy of any engineers report regarding the investigation to the cause and this might give more information. Assuming that is an engineer was employed, which would be a natural course of action in such a case. You might be able to get hold of a copy, or maybe better yet be able to talk to the engineer over the phone briefly to discuss your concerns before making an offer….assuming the engineer in question is a reasonable person.

You or your mortgage company may still want a partial or full inspection of the property still, but at least you can make your offer with more confidence in the repair works.

Hope that helps