Really worried about outrigger on 1900 terrace

[dawn22]

Hi Everyone
First question here I live in a 1900 Vic/Edwardian terrace in Manchester. The main body of the house has a cellar but the outrigger at the back does not. Where the outrigger joins the house a long crack has developed running across the width of the downstairs loo. When I bought the house the outrigger part was always lower than the main house and I was told by engineer that it was just differential settlement which is very common if the back part doesn't have a cellar.
However, I know think the crack is getting worse. There is also a crack on the upstairs landing and some of the mortar has cracked outside. Basically I am not sure what to do next. Do I pay for a structural engineer to look at it or would a builder be able to tell if its serious? Any advice or recommendations in the Manchester area would be really appreciated and a rough guesstimate of what costs I might be facing would also be helpful as I live on my own.

Thanks everyone for any help
Cheers Dawn

 

[big-all]

do you have buildings insurance ??
if so contact the insurer and ask there advice

 

[tony1851]

Can you post any pics of the cracks, near to and from further away?

 

[^woody^]

The crack is just a symptom, and you need to identify the cause. A structural engineer, or an experienced building surveyor will normally be more able to identify the cause, or appropriate further investigation than a builder would.

A crack on the landing is not normally likely to be associated with any movement of the rear wing, unless the landing and the crack is next to the rear wing.

Drain checks for leaks, and a period of monitoring would be the first steps. Any trees as high as the house within 10 metres may also be suspect