hello, i know nothing about building work/diy so forgive my ignorance, and sorry for the very long post.
a few months ago i visted my widowed mother and noticed there were cracks in the bathroom tiles above the taps on the bath, and after taking the side off the bath, i could see that the hot water tap was slowly leaking, the gap between the pipes and the wall was only a couple of inches, and the hot water pipe was blocked by the cold tap/pipe, and also i could bearly touch the hot water pipe with my finger tips.
the hot water pipe goes from the boiler into the kitchen, up the kitchen wall, and then to the bath, the pipe from the boiler was copper but from the kitchen wall it was lead, upto a few inches from the tap, where it was copper again, ( i take it, it must have been a real pain to replace the lead pipe, so thats why it was not replaced.) and from looking at it,the only way i could see of getting to the hot water pipe would be to remove the bath? again i think a major job.
so for a temporary fix, i went and bought and fitted a gate valve in the kitchen, so she could turn the hot water on/off from the kitchen, so stopping the pipe leaking near the bath, and i told my mom to get a plumber to look at it, she then told me that sometimes drips of water had come from the kitchen ceiling, and it appears that the pipe could have been leaking for a long time..
a few days ago, i visited her again to take some computer equipment that had been stored in a room next to the bath room, it was fairly heavy equipment and had been there for a year or so, the wall the equipment was stacked against, runs along the bath, and the pipe which was leaking is next to the outside wall/ but also very close to the wall that runs down the side of the bath.
while moving the equipment i noticed a large diagonal crack (18inches long, a few mm wide) in the wall paper, and looking along the wall there was another small crack just above the door frame and another small crack on the other side of the door frame, upto the ceiling. i pulled some of the wall paper and plaster away, and it looks like the wall has sunk by a few mms, it looks like the bricks are on their side in the wall, also there is a piece of wood that looks like it might go the length of the wall.also there is a crack that it looks like it runs all the way down the wall from where it joins with the outside wall. it looks like the mortar has cracked and not the bricks. and the wall is not supported by bricks underneath as it goes across the kitchen ceiling.
i'm going to get a surveyor to look at it, but im wondering if she can claim on the insurance as subsidence? does anyone have an opinion of what could have caused this..
could it be the weight of equipment that was on the floor near the wall, and the weight has caused the floorboard/wall to sink ?
could it be from the leaking tap and this has caused the wood beams or paster to expanded and the shrink as most of the leak was stopped?
could it be subsidence ?
the house is a 100yr old semi detached
apologises for this long post. i'm just wanted to know what could have caused it, and what do you think are the options, would the wall need rebuilding? or could the cracks be filled and the wall strengthen? , the wall is about 8ft high and 13ft long.
thanks for any advice or info .
a few months ago i visted my widowed mother and noticed there were cracks in the bathroom tiles above the taps on the bath, and after taking the side off the bath, i could see that the hot water tap was slowly leaking, the gap between the pipes and the wall was only a couple of inches, and the hot water pipe was blocked by the cold tap/pipe, and also i could bearly touch the hot water pipe with my finger tips.
the hot water pipe goes from the boiler into the kitchen, up the kitchen wall, and then to the bath, the pipe from the boiler was copper but from the kitchen wall it was lead, upto a few inches from the tap, where it was copper again, ( i take it, it must have been a real pain to replace the lead pipe, so thats why it was not replaced.) and from looking at it,the only way i could see of getting to the hot water pipe would be to remove the bath? again i think a major job.
so for a temporary fix, i went and bought and fitted a gate valve in the kitchen, so she could turn the hot water on/off from the kitchen, so stopping the pipe leaking near the bath, and i told my mom to get a plumber to look at it, she then told me that sometimes drips of water had come from the kitchen ceiling, and it appears that the pipe could have been leaking for a long time..
a few days ago, i visited her again to take some computer equipment that had been stored in a room next to the bath room, it was fairly heavy equipment and had been there for a year or so, the wall the equipment was stacked against, runs along the bath, and the pipe which was leaking is next to the outside wall/ but also very close to the wall that runs down the side of the bath.
while moving the equipment i noticed a large diagonal crack (18inches long, a few mm wide) in the wall paper, and looking along the wall there was another small crack just above the door frame and another small crack on the other side of the door frame, upto the ceiling. i pulled some of the wall paper and plaster away, and it looks like the wall has sunk by a few mms, it looks like the bricks are on their side in the wall, also there is a piece of wood that looks like it might go the length of the wall.also there is a crack that it looks like it runs all the way down the wall from where it joins with the outside wall. it looks like the mortar has cracked and not the bricks. and the wall is not supported by bricks underneath as it goes across the kitchen ceiling.
i'm going to get a surveyor to look at it, but im wondering if she can claim on the insurance as subsidence? does anyone have an opinion of what could have caused this..
could it be the weight of equipment that was on the floor near the wall, and the weight has caused the floorboard/wall to sink ?
could it be from the leaking tap and this has caused the wood beams or paster to expanded and the shrink as most of the leak was stopped?
could it be subsidence ?
the house is a 100yr old semi detached
apologises for this long post. i'm just wanted to know what could have caused it, and what do you think are the options, would the wall need rebuilding? or could the cracks be filled and the wall strengthen? , the wall is about 8ft high and 13ft long.
thanks for any advice or info .