Hi, i'm hoping someone can help me with a problem that i am having.
A few days ago my wheelie bins caught fire between my house and next door's garage wall. The fire was put out / reduced significantly by another neighbour who spotted it early and the fire brigade were called who extinguished it fully. The owners of the garage are claiming that the fire has caused the interior mortar work of their garage to crack as a result, despite the fact that the exterior brickwork / mortar is unaffected.
I find this hard to believe as,
1. the fire did not get too big and was not burning for very long at all (this can be seen in the minimal damage to the plastic pipework in close proximity to the area indicating low heat. Also, the combustible material is only charred, not burnt and is visibly left.
2. there are similar cracks in the mortar work approx 5ft further along the wall too. They are NOT joined and are a around 5ft from where the fire started.
3. as mentioned above, the exterior brick / mortar work is unaffected and there for could not cause this damage to the inside.
I have attached a couple of photos to show what i mean.
Could someone please give an opinion as whether they think such an incident could have caused this or if it more likely 'old' cracks caused by something like slight subsidence or ground movement.
Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks in advance.
A few days ago my wheelie bins caught fire between my house and next door's garage wall. The fire was put out / reduced significantly by another neighbour who spotted it early and the fire brigade were called who extinguished it fully. The owners of the garage are claiming that the fire has caused the interior mortar work of their garage to crack as a result, despite the fact that the exterior brickwork / mortar is unaffected.
I find this hard to believe as,
1. the fire did not get too big and was not burning for very long at all (this can be seen in the minimal damage to the plastic pipework in close proximity to the area indicating low heat. Also, the combustible material is only charred, not burnt and is visibly left.
2. there are similar cracks in the mortar work approx 5ft further along the wall too. They are NOT joined and are a around 5ft from where the fire started.
3. as mentioned above, the exterior brick / mortar work is unaffected and there for could not cause this damage to the inside.
I have attached a couple of photos to show what i mean.
Could someone please give an opinion as whether they think such an incident could have caused this or if it more likely 'old' cracks caused by something like slight subsidence or ground movement.
Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks in advance.