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

[Andrew_Culture]

Fortunately the crack I took a photo of seemed of little interest to the engineers that have been to look at the house, we uncovered (and had pointed out) a lot of damage from the previous period of subsidence (in the 1950s if I remember correctly). The engineers are monitoring the wall at the top of the stairs and the wall above the kitchen door, both inside and out. Now that we look closer at the house we can see there was movement of at least 10mm that was never properly corrected - it looks like the rear of the house was coming away quite badly. The crack I took a photo of is the internal corner where the bathroom (which is at the top of the rear wing of the house) meets the main body of the house.

 

[Crackle]

'tis but a scratch

 

[Archie_tect]

Movement between separate and 'independent' sections of a house is quite common: ie as long as the main house block is reasonably square and solid then a crack between it and an offshoot can be repaired as it's likely the two sections settle on their own founds anyway. We have a 1974 extension on our 1966 house which has a crack on the join but that's because the extension isn't tied to the main house founds and a nearby willow causes the ground beneath the extension to shrink and swell according to the dryness of the seasons. I'm pleased you've got engineering help... that's excellent and reassuring.

 

[Hacienda71]

Where I work in Macclesfield a lot of the town centre buildings are Georgian. I would estimate that about 75% of these have tie bars, that have been fitted post construction holding walls in situ.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

[QUOTE 2188794, member: 259"]Do you ever get tentacles coming out of it?[/quote]

Being next to the nappy changing table the tentacles come in handy.

 

[tyred]

Some expanding foam required?

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Some expanding foam required?

I've been stuffing the used nappies in there.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

I've been stuffing the used nappies in there.

Kind of a 21st century take on wattle and daub.

 

[Arch]

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!

There's a story about the JB Morrell Library on the York campus. It was built onto and into a steep slope, and carefully engineered so that the weight of the building stayed put.

Then they filled it with books, and it started to slide. They had to do some hasty reworking...

 

[vernon]

You think you've got problems?

I once got wasted in that pub then I had a drink.

It really is an experience not to be missed. I could have sworn that the brick buttresses were huge timber affairs when I visited the place in the late seventies.

 

[EltonFrog]

View attachment 16000

You plonker! That's not a crack it's a passage.

 

[asterix]

There's a story about the JB Morrell Library on the York campus. It was built onto and into a steep slope, and carefully engineered so that the weight of the building stayed put.

Then they filled it with books, and it started to slide. They had to do some hasty reworking...

I expect it was all downhill after they filled the engineering section.

Have heard a few stories about the new campus buildings. Nothing major though, leaks and heating problems.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Here's a more illustrative photo for your horror and amusement:

 

[threebikesmcginty]

That's a fuggin stoater AC.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Your sloping ceiling could be adding to the woes, it means the roof is exerting a horizontal load on to the top of the walls and pushing them outwards.