Hi all,
I've recently (3 weeks ago) bought a new house. It's a 1993 build, that had a conservatory extension a few years later, '97 I think.
Anyway, down one side of the house/conservatory, I've noticed that the paving slabs have sunked a little (perhaps about 2" at the 'deepest' point).
See photo's below. The wall on the left is the garden wall, on the other side is the pavement & public road. The wall on the right is the conservatory, and the side of the house.
Noticing this had been niggling at me a little, so today I cleared away all the rubbish that had been there for a closer looked. Quite concerned to find that, the conservatory has clearly dropped perhaps 4-5mm, as is evident by the photo's below....
(house on left, conservatory on right above)
above, notice the window cill inside and out
above, best angle I can get of the 'drop'. Note that by lifting some of the loose slabs, I can see that some ground has subsided beneath the slabs.
Suspecting that perhaps one of the drain pipes in the ground has collapsed, I've had a look under the drain cover you can see in the photos. There is no obvious damage (not even cracking) in there. Water is still flowing out from the main/kitchen pipe. But I haven't yet tested flow from the gutter downpipe you can see running down the wall.
To be honest I'm not sure what to do next. Do I get a specialist out to investigate, and wait for the bad news? Or do I repoint the brickwork, seal the inside and hope nothing worsens. I'll be relaying the paving down the side anyway.
I cant see any cracks anywhere in the main structure of the house. The mortgage surveyor (only a basic survey) didn't pick this up. The sellers said nothing, nor did estate agent. I can't image that the previous owner (lived in the house since new) did not notice.
What should I do? If the pipe from the gutter drain has collapsed, can I simply dig it out and replace? Do I risk the whole house coming down?
Really grateful for anyone's help, really quite worried right now. All of my eggs are in this basket as such.
Cheers,
Tom
I've recently (3 weeks ago) bought a new house. It's a 1993 build, that had a conservatory extension a few years later, '97 I think.
Anyway, down one side of the house/conservatory, I've noticed that the paving slabs have sunked a little (perhaps about 2" at the 'deepest' point).
See photo's below. The wall on the left is the garden wall, on the other side is the pavement & public road. The wall on the right is the conservatory, and the side of the house.
Noticing this had been niggling at me a little, so today I cleared away all the rubbish that had been there for a closer looked. Quite concerned to find that, the conservatory has clearly dropped perhaps 4-5mm, as is evident by the photo's below....
Suspecting that perhaps one of the drain pipes in the ground has collapsed, I've had a look under the drain cover you can see in the photos. There is no obvious damage (not even cracking) in there. Water is still flowing out from the main/kitchen pipe. But I haven't yet tested flow from the gutter downpipe you can see running down the wall.
To be honest I'm not sure what to do next. Do I get a specialist out to investigate, and wait for the bad news? Or do I repoint the brickwork, seal the inside and hope nothing worsens. I'll be relaying the paving down the side anyway.
I cant see any cracks anywhere in the main structure of the house. The mortgage surveyor (only a basic survey) didn't pick this up. The sellers said nothing, nor did estate agent. I can't image that the previous owner (lived in the house since new) did not notice.
What should I do? If the pipe from the gutter drain has collapsed, can I simply dig it out and replace? Do I risk the whole house coming down?
Really grateful for anyone's help, really quite worried right now. All of my eggs are in this basket as such.
Cheers,
Tom