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Long story short, our house (5 years in property, 20 years left on mortgage) seems to be possibly subsiding. Where to start for help? Go direct to a surveyor and get a survey or contact home insurance?
Long story long. The house is end terrace on steep hill. 1930s build. Has a big drop down to neighbouring house. When we bought we had home buyer survey as a local person said he thought some houses in area may have had historic subsidence issues. We got solicitors to ask the owners and they said never had any issues. Home buyer survey mentioned possible historic movement but nothing untoward based on age and location. Over 5 years many cracks have opened up. Doors are sticking/droping, windows don't close flush. The problem started with cracks in garden wall but now are on internal walls. I am concerned that by getting insurance involved it will become official and be a major hinderane in the future even if it turns out to be something easily solved but also concerned that by getting a surveyor in I might be led down the garden path with unnecessary works.
Any advice or similar stories?
Can you upload pictures of the cracks?
The direction and type of crack is important. Do the cracks follow the joints or go straight through bricks?
What material is the house?
My first house had movement (I knew this when I bought it) It turned out to be the weight of the Yorkshire stone tiles on the roof. The joists ran front to back but nothing tide the gable end to the house. We had it structurally strapped on on two levels.
Structural surveyor signed off the work and gave me a 25 year guarantee. His advice was what used house comes with such a long guarantee? Even new houses only come with a ten year guarantee! He said it can be a selling point! The jobs been done professionally and it's back up by a quality insured guarantee.
Plenty of ways to sort subsidence these days. Usual excess on subsidence claims is around 2k i believe. No reputable independent engineer would suggest works need to be carried out if they didn't. If you had such works done and didn't disclose them when coming to sell you may end up in hot water.
On rhe flipside, an insurance assessor working on behalf of a subsidence company may well request the complete maximum amount of work be done "just to be sure" and therefore ramp up the claim.
First off it requires monitoring which will be done over a period of several months before anything can be decided. Pay an engineer and get it done privately, await results and suggestions but I can assure you piling and associated works ain't cheap, think floors up, etc etc.
Or go down the insurance route and your 2k will go a long way to sorting it.
Hi, I look at this sort of a thing for a living, feel free to drop me an email with a few more details and I can try and help out if you like.
Won't you need to mention it on your next buildings insurance renewal? Contact the insurance company, what's (rightly) a massive worry to us is everyday business for them