House insurance, crumbling bricks

[martysmarty]

Hi all

I am considering of ttying to go through my house insurance to get the brickwork looked at on our house.

When we bought it, previous owners left guttering leaking for what must of been years, and covered the crumbled brick damage with smeared cement. There is also signs of bad efflorescence below dpc.

The problem now is its time to get the brickwork fixed. Iv done lots of bricking but i feel too nervous of messing this close to footings and on a corner. The whole liability thing. I noticed how bad it was when i had to fit a lintel across a drainage pipe underground, near it.

The efflorescence could be from when we had a bricked manhole that was in bad shape and clay pipes were cracked. I have since built an extension and replaced all the clay pipes at the rear of the house, new chamber etc. However, theres still a clay pipe from upstairs svp W/c that runs parallel to the side of the house down the drive, i didnt change it as its tricky with shared access and id be too slow doing it myself.

So that concludes me to the reason for the post, whats reccomended route? I though house insurance as its structual, cracked bricks and mortar has desolved pretty bad. As far as finding someone to do it, trust is an issue. We had a nightmare with the builders on our extension and i ended up finishing it off due to not following plans and bodging. Im thinking pay the excess?

I have attached pictures. I have started chipping away the smeared cement and its hiding a lot.

 

[bernardgreen]

The insurance company will probably treat the poor brickwork as a pre-existing condition, ( known about when the policy was taken out ) and as such would be unlikely to pay for the repairs.

 

[martysmarty]

Thanks for the reply! Thats a good point. As it was in like for like condition as we got it. Its annoying me because i know i can do it, iv done much bigger brick jobs. (I built a pier for a 4.5m rsj). I just have this thing in my head that its unsafe as its so close to the footings and on a corner.

Do you think i am being a wuss for not having a go? Whats likleyhood of anything cracking? Its 4 courses deep, by 1 brick length either side of the corner. Iv got matching bricks from when we had a knock through i kept a pile aside for it.

Honest opinions

 

[ETAF]

Also the insurance company would have asked if house wa sin a good state of repair and maintained , even though not you

previous owners left guttering leaking for what must of been years

Its NOT been maintained

 

[martysmarty]

So theres no point asking then. It was a combination of guttering and bridged ground level i believe. As for the efflorescence i am still not sure. Maybe i could get a cctv survey of the clay pipe thats left? See if theres any cracks?

 

[ETAF]

no harm in asking, they can only say NO - BUT I'm not sure if they see that as a failed claim , even although its its been denied and goes on the record.

 

[martysmarty]

Il use that as a last resort then, i definitly dont want to risk that.

Not sure what to do, shall i just get on with it? Stop messing about? 3 bricks at a time? I could leave a 20mm mortar gap from the face and point it up as one later once its all done.

 

[cdbe]

Even discussing "structural damage" with your insurer could render your house un-insurable and difficult to sell.

You could safely remove and replace all those bricks, the fact that it's a corner makes no difference. Just do one face at a time.

 

[martysmarty]

Thats it then im going to go for it. I was always under the impression corners were iffy to mess with as they are under the most amount of load and more subjective to cracks. But i guess its only an issue the wider the opening, just like a flat wall.

 

[mrrusty]

On our house, the lower outer courses were badly spalled in a similar fashion. Our builder swapped out to 3 courses of engineering brick along one complete side. I didn't watch him do it unfortunately, but it is certainly possible and he did a good job.

 

[Lower]

So theres no point asking then. It was a combination of guttering and bridged ground level i believe. As for the efflorescence i am still not sure. Maybe i could get a cctv survey of the clay pipe thats left? See if theres any cracks?

I'm pretty sure that insurance won't cover you for stuff that would be considered wear and tear or routine maintenance.

 

[bsr]

If you're concerned, pay somome to do it and get a copy of their liability insurance certificate up front! That way you are covered.