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- 26 Oct 2018
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Hello, I would really appreciate some advice please. Firstly I must add that I am not a tradesman so please go easy on me.
I’ve bought a detached house, built in 1974. I’ve been doing it up over the past year, however since moving in I have noticed numerous cracks on the exterior. The majority of these are through the cement around the window lintels. However some these go straight through the bricks themselves.
In addition I have noticed a very large, raised crack in the concrete flooring by the front door. The wooden flooring that was down seemed to have lifted up, and when I removed the wood I noticed the cracking.
There are 5 interior cracks that go up the length of the wall, from the floor to the ceiling. I had filled these in with flexible filler but they have reopened. The coving has also lifted from most of the rooms.
I’m quite worried about this and I don’t see the point of continuing doing the place up until I work out exactly what is causing this. At the moment I can think of three possible causes...
1. There has been a large water leak, (identified by the plumber) at some point, however we never found out where it was - it is likely to have been from under the concrete flooring however we don’t know how long this went on for. I suspect it may have occurred over the winter period when we didn’t use the heating at all and it was excessively cold.
2. We have several very large trees in the garden, taller than the house itself. 3 of these are within 15 feet of the house.
3. We have a lot of HGV’s passing by the house which cause the place to physically shake.
I never noticed these cracks before we moved in but that definitely doesn’t mean they weren’t there.
I am considering contacting the insurance company, however I wanted to get some advice first.
Any advice is appreciated, thank you.
I’ve bought a detached house, built in 1974. I’ve been doing it up over the past year, however since moving in I have noticed numerous cracks on the exterior. The majority of these are through the cement around the window lintels. However some these go straight through the bricks themselves.
In addition I have noticed a very large, raised crack in the concrete flooring by the front door. The wooden flooring that was down seemed to have lifted up, and when I removed the wood I noticed the cracking.
There are 5 interior cracks that go up the length of the wall, from the floor to the ceiling. I had filled these in with flexible filler but they have reopened. The coving has also lifted from most of the rooms.
I’m quite worried about this and I don’t see the point of continuing doing the place up until I work out exactly what is causing this. At the moment I can think of three possible causes...
1. There has been a large water leak, (identified by the plumber) at some point, however we never found out where it was - it is likely to have been from under the concrete flooring however we don’t know how long this went on for. I suspect it may have occurred over the winter period when we didn’t use the heating at all and it was excessively cold.
2. We have several very large trees in the garden, taller than the house itself. 3 of these are within 15 feet of the house.
3. We have a lot of HGV’s passing by the house which cause the place to physically shake.
I never noticed these cracks before we moved in but that definitely doesn’t mean they weren’t there.
I am considering contacting the insurance company, however I wanted to get some advice first.
Any advice is appreciated, thank you.