My dusty crack is getting bigger and now it smells of smoke!

[threebikesmcginty]

Yes it was indeed. We may even be related!

Isn't everyone over there?

 

[Matthew_T]

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An assessment of the ground and foundations of your building and neighbours needs to be carried out before any work is done. You could temporarily cover it up, but you will not be able to solve that by filling it with something.
Even rebuilding the affected walls wont solve the problem because by the sounds of it, this is a long term problem with the ground.

To solve it, the best option would be to have piles put in your floor and a new in-situ concrete pad. The piles would prevent the building from sliding and the concrete would prevent the building from cracking from subsidence.
Once this is done, you will need to rebuild external walls and fill internal walls (internal dont have cavity so a simple fill will do the job). External need rebuilding around the affected areas when the crack is at the extent in the picture. Small cracks can be filled.

A structural survey will then need to be carried out on the integrity of the rest of the building and specifically the roof. If there are any cracks in the roof, then water could get in and cause damp in the building. Damage to the roof could also cause the nails in tiles to slit and crack tiles and allow water to penetrate the roof.


This is a very costly solution and I suggest that you teporary cover up the cracks, kill or kidnap the people you have told about them, and then sell the house as quickly as possible. A crack that size is not to be meddled with!

 

[threebikesmcginty]

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More crack than Harlem!

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Yes it was indeed. We may even be related!

Well this is Suffolk!

 

[Andrew_Culture]

An assessment of the ground and foundations of your building and neighbours needs to be carried out before any work is done. You could temporarily cover it up, but you will not be able to solve that by filling it with something.
Even rebuilding the affected walls wont solve the problem because by the sounds of it, this is a long term problem with the ground.

To solve it, the best option would be to have piles put in your floor and a new in-situ concrete pad. The piles would prevent the building from sliding and the concrete would prevent the building from cracking from subsidence.
Once this is done, you will need to rebuild external walls and fill internal walls (internal dont have cavity so a simple fill will do the job). External need rebuilding around the affected areas when the crack is at the extent in the picture. Small cracks can be filled.

A structural survey will then need to be carried out on the integrity of the rest of the building and specifically the roof. If there are any cracks in the roof, then water could get in and cause damp in the building. Damage to the roof could also cause the nails in tiles to slit and crack tiles and allow water to penetrate the roof.


This is a very costly solution and I suggest that you teporary cover up the cracks, kill or kidnap the people you have told about them, and then sell the house as quickly as possible. A crack that size is not to be meddled with!

We don't have cavity walls, just a front, a back and our neighbour's houses

We did wonder why the previous owner had the roof replaced just before putting the house on the market; it seemed awfully generous...

 

[Andrew_Culture]

When you say the cracks are being monitored are they doing this using devices known commonly as telltales (a perspex ruler looking thing with a graph in the middle) which are glued or screwed in place either side of the crack, or alternatively have they put studs known as Vernier markers either side of the cracks, or are you just keeping an eye on the crack and periodically checking if it is increasing in width?
To gauge what is happening any building surveyor or structural engineer will need to look at the extent of the movement over a given period to ascertain the cause and if it is ongoing.

We have Vernier markers, I would take photos but we've only just gotten the wee one to sleep and the last thing she needs to hear is my android phone's silly shutter noise

 

[Milo]

That looks bad and well worthy of a sharp intake of breath.

 

[asterix]

You need to do what my near neighbours did: fill with newspapers, then cover up with plaster, wallpaper, then move.

(That isn't on the landing, just at the top of the stairs, by any chance?)

 

[Arjimlad]

That's not a crack - it's a spare bedroom for gerbils !

 

[4F]

Isn't everyone over there?

 

[dellzeqq]

that's an anfractuosity. Be proud,

Most of the time houses move around a bit, and come to an arrangement with gravity that persists. But....where water is moving through the subsoil, or, worse still, sewage, and where there's a slope, there may be no steady state. Ever.

so, if anybody is reading this and thinking of buying a house on a slope...................think it through. And get really good advice from somebody who has a duty to you and not the mortgage company or whoever.

 

[Theseus]

You think you've got problems?

The best thing about that place is that the floors slope the other way. Put the beer bottle on it's side and watch it apparently roll uphill.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

that's an anfractuosity. Be proud,

Most of the time houses move around a bit, and come to an arrangement with gravity that persists. But....where water is moving through the subsoil, or, worse still, sewage, and where there's a slope, there may be no steady state. Ever.

so, if anybody is reading this and thinking of buying a house on a slope...................think it through. And get really good advice from somebody who has a duty to you and not the mortgage company or whoever.

Wise words! We bought this house when we were still pretty much children and liked the idea of a house with potential, on a hill... Northern Rock just threw money at us; we got a 100% mortgage with a 5% cashback! A short while later a friend bought a house a few yards away and Nothern Rock gave him a 115% mortgage with zero deposit! Apparently each time he had to ring them he could hear loud music and the clinking of glasses in the background.

 

[asterix]

Our French place is on the side of a hill. The walls lean this way and that and there were cracks all over the place. It's 300 years old however and shows no recent signs of movement. We didn't have a survey as it would simply have put us off buying the place and it is mostly on rock and the French don't really do surveys anyway. And it was very cheap. It's great living just below the top of a hill and being able to watch the weather from whichever direction it comes. Thunderstorms are especially dramatic.

In Felixstowe they built some houses on the side of a hill. Everyone knew it had springs emerging. Soon after they were built the houses began to slide down the hill!

 

[Archie_tect]

Andrew,

Is that the only major crack in the house? Are there similar corresponding ones in neighbours' terraced houses- particularly down the hill [I appreciate your party wall neighbour next door will have one identical to yours...].
What you need to determine first is which walls are affected, whether the cracks get progressively larger higher up in the house and whether any floors or roof trusses/purlins are getting 'stretched' by the walls moving out... so joist end bearings needs to be checked to make sure the joists have enough support.

Some houses do move and then settle in, HOWEVER if the movement has been rapid and is worsening by a noticeable amount each month you need to get a structural engineer in to monitor it properly... they will be able to advise on stitching the walls with metal cramps and if necessary tie rods through the house within the floor depth... if the house has a timber joisted ground floor, the engineer can lift a few borads and get unedr to look at the substructure brickwork... better still dig down on the crack line to check the ground bearing brick footings [there won't be concrete founds in an 1880 house]. He will be able to tell a lot just by looking where previous owners haven't covered up the brickwork. The crack looks to have settled 15- 20mm sideways and vertically 5-10mm but if it has also twisted, each movement will suggest different issues...

Have you also got diagonal cracks under window cills and over the window and door heads and which way do they run out: away from the window/door or in towards the centre?