Cracks in recent work :(

[Perleman10]

I used a highly recommended guy (recomended by a builder friend) to do some work for me but it is cracking after just a few months, absolutely gutted

How bad do these look - am I overeacting being really concerned by it?
Are they repairable by the looks of things?

Driveway edging:

Patio:

I don't know a lot about building...
Could this be caused by heave (we are in a high clay area) which has actually caused some cracks to appear in our lawn during the very hot weather?
I am assuming this is just going to get worse and worse and fall apart? Or am I overeacting
Or, if it was caused by heave can I just try to chop out & repoint the cracked mortar and hope we don't have another heatwave
It was all only done 5 months ago

 

[Ian H]

I’d say over reacting.

The first pic shows the edging being a skim down to nothing so that would crack. You could dig it out square (downwards) to get a thicker lump of concrete in there or tarmac upto the cobbles.

 

[Perleman10]

Thanks... This is an overview picture - the tarmac is missing / in poor shape where the edge is as you can see

 

[Notch7]

The hairline cracks on the brickwork, look like shrinkage cracks probably from drying out or possibly a bit of ground movement.

They dont look to me like a fundamental fault in construction.

unfortunately cement mortars don't have any give, hence why modern foundations tend to be so large

 

[KenGMac]

Perleman10, good evening.

As all above.

There is no indication of "heave" as an aside to this i work as a Subsidence engineer, have done so for a few years, at one meeting of about 15 Engineers we were asked if anyone had ever seen the dreaded "heave" no one had, but in discussion Heave only occurs under exceptionally unusual conditions where a "load" has recently been removed from an area of ground, the exposed ground then reforms and rises, hence "heave"

As for the cracks in the cement front edging to the blocks, it is simply not strong enough, it should have been Concrete, and that should have been taken down 300 / 400. mm plus reinforcement to withstand the sliding force of the blocks pushing down slope on to it. Actually my preference would have been to install a Granite Kerb fully backed by concrete haunching? The cement is weak, and transferring movement from the driveway on to the even softer tar mac

The cracked mortar in the brickwork could be down to the recent hot weather or a over strong mortar?

Ken.

 

[Perleman10]

Thanks for this - the guy is coming back to have a look next week
Problem is I am not very knowledgable in this area as you can probably tell and am keen to learn a bit more about how it should be done so it gets done right
Do you think in it's present state it can be made good? How would you suggest this was approached? As much detail as you can be bothered to type please!
Thanks for the comments all

 

[KenGMac]

Perleman10, good evening again.

Do you know where the boundary line is sited? is it near the cement band?

Ken

 

[Perleman10]

Good evening to you Ken
It’s a private road and I own up to where the 2 fence lines converge so a fair bit further into the road is mine