Been monitoring some issues we first noticed at the end of last summer

Cracks have been getting worse

Anyone have any experience with something like this?

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Would prefer not to have to take the whole thing down!

I feel our buildings & contents is going to take a hit!

the technology works for sure.

BUT

Injecting polymers in teh ground with no real knowledge of where they end up…. dick move

If you’re claiming on insurance, I would expect they’ll want to use a method and contractor approved by them as they’re paying for it and on the hook for any future work if it goes wrong again…

So the bodies are decomposing faster than expected and were used as foundations…doesn’t sound good.

Currently going through a subsidence process with our house (next door is pulling mine down). The engineer dealing with it said Resin is all well and good if there is something there for it to push against, if not it just keeps going and who knows where. Obviously all depends on the ground conditions.

Definitely subsidance? new conservatory on an old house, you would expect some cracking especially if conservatory done cheaply (ie shallow foundations) due to settlement – but once its moved that will be it, just fill in the cracks.

Subsidance, yeah, fix the issue not the symptoms, otherwise it will come back every year. I’ve recommended geobear or the rival company mainmark (https://mainmark.co.uk/technology/teretek/) as a potential option to clients a few times when draditional hand dug underpinning would be particularly difficult. never heard of it failing afterwards but as they offer an all in service, my involment ceases at that point.

I have – once – encountered a failure of the process, which required further work to fix. 1 failure out of a large number isn’t necessarily a reason to discount its viability.

used geobear products to stabilise contamination in an old gasholder base half under a bungalow. good stuff as far as I’m concerned.

it’ll be pretty solid, they offer it as a service, so know where to put it and how much expansion you shoud have.

However, if you’ve got subsidence due to say, peat at depth, you may not be able to do much without a large wallet.

Can you have a dig about to check the footings? I took the conservatory down on my house and it was on the kind of slab you might pour for a shed.
I replaced it as it was rotten, I went for a steel frame base on much deeper footings

My neighbour literally slung some paving slabs down and bolted a uPVC conservatory to the side of the house. It’s not looking great now.
I’ve never known him so anything properly, there’s a lot of that around apparently.

Massively off topic but I quietly worry about the fact he removed both his fireplaces on the party wall …

Massively off topic but I quietly worry about the fact he removed both his fireplaces on the party wall

have you still got both of yours?

One is open, the other is blocked but chimney breast is there on my side only.

Well insurance company are taking the P

according to the surveypors report

Proximate Cause Ground dehydration

Cause of Damage/Peril Ground movement

Inspection at the rear of the two-story property identified a crack in the vertical mortar line under the timber window of the conservatory
suggesting modest ground movement possible induced by ground dehydration associated with the unprecedented and elevated temperatures in
2022

their response to this was

I have shared the report stating the damage is thermal/atmospheric conditions which is not covered under the terms of the policy.

I have replied to them with the Financial Ombudsans definition of subsidence (which the policy does cover)

Subsidence The ground beneath a building sinks, pulling the property foundations down with it. It usually occurs when the ground loses moisture and shrinks, which can be caused by prolonged dry spells. It may also be caused by trees and shrubs which can absorb significant volumes of water from the soil.

Was the same shenanigans when I was claiming for my bike on the home insurance

Is it their surveyor? It’s not helpful (to you) attributing it to last year’s extreme weather conditions, it creates wriggle room for the insurer. If it’s their surveyor, the cynic in me would think they have been primed to try to blame subsidence on something they can potentially describe as an ‘Act of God’.

Well insurance company are taking the P

The way the climate is going there’s probably going to be a lot more of this.

I have this exact problem on an extension (built before I moved in). Basically, cracks appear in very dry weather, then close up in wet weather. I looked in to all the different options and decided it’s just not worth fixing. We are talking a few mm wide cracks, so no danger of collapse.

I think it is due to shallow foundations – I dug underneath and they are about 50cm deep.

@kimbers

Well insurance company are taking the P

Which insurer is it?

Trinity

20 odd years since I dealt with claims, but I’d have expected further monitoring to confirm that it was due to the dry spell that it has stabilised.

But certainly, climate change will make this type of issue more common.

Trinity

No idea who that is. Is it a broker? Lots of hits on the fca register for that name!

Anyhoo, subsidence rates in the UK are based on the hot summer of 1976. When subsidence happened because of… hot weather.

The way the surveyor has written it, it could be that they’re angling towards an exclusion which is “changes in the water table” or some such.

A dry period causing the soil to dry out is not this.

So – complain. Get the final response. Go to the ombudsman.

From what I remember, it’s not really something to worry about unless you can stick your finger in. Which is a good life lesson too 😁