When I bought my Edwardian semi three years ago there was some
cracking evident where
the exterior wall meets the ceiling in my hall and similar cracking in
the room above level with the top of a door.
The surveyor put it down to past movement. All seemed well until six
months ago when my son moved in with me. Until then I had been the
sole occupant.
I noticed that the front door appeared to be gradually dropping and
had to move the catch lower on the door frame. There has been further
movement - the door mounted catch is moving down w.r.t the frame
mounted side and I have noticed some cracking to the door frame from
the outside. The crack in the wall/ceiling has lengthened and now
reaches about 25cm back from the front door but is still about 3-4mm
wide.
My neighbour, a builder who has lived all his life in the road says
most of the problems with cracks in walls in the road are down to
leaking drains. Certainly the movement seemed to coincide
with my son moving in and a consequent increase in water passing into
the drains.
I am wondering whether I should get a drain video survey done
privately in the first instance or if I should tell the insurance
company first. I assume that my insurer won't pay for drain repairs
and I am uneasy about mentioning subsidence should it affect future
premiums regardless of the outcome.
If the drains need attention, does anyone have experience of drain
lining with plastic.
If I need to involve my insurers I assume I need to tell them about
the cracks when I bought the house.

avinunca wrote:
> When I bought my Edwardian semi three years ago there was some
> cracking evident where
> the exterior wall meets the ceiling in my hall and similar cracking in
> the room above level with the top of a door.
> The surveyor put it down to past movement. All seemed well until six
> months ago when my son moved in with me. Until then I had been the
> sole occupant.
> I noticed that the front door appeared to be gradually dropping and
> had to move the catch lower on the door frame. There has been further
> movement - the door mounted catch is moving down w.r.t the frame
> mounted side and I have noticed some cracking to the door frame from
> the outside. The crack in the wall/ceiling has lengthened and now
> reaches about 25cm back from the front door but is still about 3-4mm
> wide.
> My neighbour, a builder who has lived all his life in the road says
> most of the problems with cracks in walls in the road are down to
> leaking drains. Certainly the movement seemed to coincide
> with my son moving in and a consequent increase in water passing into
> the drains.
> I am wondering whether I should get a drain video survey done
> privately in the first instance or if I should tell the insurance
> company first. I assume that my insurer won't pay for drain repairs
> and I am uneasy about mentioning subsidence should it affect future
> premiums regardless of the outcome.
> If the drains need attention, does anyone have experience of drain
> lining with plastic.
> If I need to involve my insurers I assume I need to tell them about
> the cracks when I bought the house.

If you didnt your policy may be invalid


NT

I would more be worried about renewing a mortgage in this current
climate, but if you have got a long mortgage period to run, ring up
your insurance and ask them if you are covered before you put in a
claim, if you dont and you try to patch it up, you may find they will
not pay up even if you were entitled to compensation. Were there
cracks detailed in your home buyers report?

On 20 May, 22:33, House martin <martin_ros...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> I would more be worried about renewing a mortgage in this current
> climate, but if you have got a long mortgage period to run, ring up
> your insurance and ask them if you are covered before you put in a
> claim, if you dont and you try to patch it up, you may find they will
> not pay up even if you were entitled to compensation. Were there
> cracks detailed in your home buyers report?

The survey states - about internal walls and partitions - .....Whilst
minor cracking was noted , in the kitchen in particular,no evidence of
a significant defect was noted.
Of the main walls - No evidence of a significant defect was noted.
Under Movement - No signs were found of past or present movement in
the building

On May 21, 1:34*pm, avinunca <avinunca1-goo...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> On 20 May, 22:33, House martin <martin_ros...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I would more be worried about renewing a mortgage in this current
> > climate, but if you have got a long mortgage period to run, ring up
> > your insurance and ask them if you are covered before you put in a
> > claim, if you dont and you try to patch it up, you may find they will
> > not pay up even if you were entitled to compensation. Were there
> > cracks detailed in your home buyers report?
>
> The survey states - about internal walls and partitions - .....Whilst
> minor cracking was noted , in the kitchen in particular,no evidence of
> a significant defect was noted.
> Of the main walls - No evidence of a significant defect was noted.
> Under Movement - No signs were found of past or present movement in
> the building



Are you sure that all the water does actually drain into the foul
sewer? In some old house it goes to a soakaway. In mine the
bathroom originally (until last month) drained into a soakway right
next to the outside wall.

A drain survey is quite cheap and entertaining, why not have one done
anyway?

Robert

On 21 May, 14:03, RobertL <robertml...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> On May 21, 1:34*pm, avinunca <avinunca1-goo...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > On 20 May, 22:33, House martin <martin_ros...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > I would more be worried about renewing a mortgage in this current
> > > climate, but if you have got a long mortgage period to run, ring up
> > > your insurance and ask them if you are covered before you put in a
> > > claim, if you dont and you try to patch it up, you may find they will
> > > not pay up even if you were entitled to compensation. Were there
> > > cracks detailed in your home buyers report?
>
> > The survey states - about internal walls and partitions - .....Whilst
> > minor cracking was noted , in the kitchen in particular,no evidence of
> > a significant defect was noted.
> > Of the main walls - No evidence of a significant defect was noted.
> > Under Movement - No signs were found of past or present movement in
> > the building
>
> Are you sure that all the water does actually drain into the foul
> sewer? * In some old house it goes to a soakaway. *In mine the
> bathroom originally (until last month) drained into a soakway right
> next to the outside wall.
>
> A drain survey is quite cheap and entertaining, why not have one done
> anyway?
>
> Robert

I called a reputable drain company this morning. The woman I spoke to
was surprised I wasn't going through my insurer
as she said they would pay for the survey. In view of this I decided
to contact my insurer. I am waiting for them to call me back once
their technical department has been consulted.

On 21 May, 14:03, RobertL <robertml...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> On May 21, 1:34*pm, avinunca <avinunca1-goo...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > On 20 May, 22:33, House martin <martin_ros...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > I would more be worried about renewing a mortgage in this current
> > > climate, but if you have got a long mortgage period to run, ring up
> > > your insurance and ask them if you are covered before you put in a
> > > claim, if you dont and you try to patch it up, you may find they will
> > > not pay up even if you were entitled to compensation. Were there
> > > cracks detailed in your home buyers report?
>
> > The survey states - about internal walls and partitions - .....Whilst
> > minor cracking was noted , in the kitchen in particular,no evidence of
> > a significant defect was noted.
> > Of the main walls - No evidence of a significant defect was noted.
> > Under Movement - No signs were found of past or present movement in
> > the building
>
> Are you sure that all the water does actually drain into the foul
> sewer? * In some old house it goes to a soakaway. *In mine the
> bathroom originally (until last month) drained into a soakway right
> next to the outside wall.
>
> A drain survey is quite cheap and entertaining, why not have one done
> anyway?
>
> Robert

I called a reputable drain company this morning. The woman I spoke to
was surprised I wasn't going through my insurer
as she said they would pay for the survey. In view of this I decided
to contact my insurer. I am waiting for them to call me back once
their technical department has been consulted.

On 21 May, 14:12, avinunca <avinunca1-goo...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> On 21 May, 14:03, RobertL <robertml...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > On May 21, 1:34*pm, avinunca <avinunca1-goo...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > > On 20 May, 22:33, House martin <martin_ros...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > > I would more be worried about renewing a mortgage in this current
> > > > climate, but if you have got a long mortgage period to run, ring up
> > > > your insurance and ask them if you are covered before you put in a
> > > > claim, if you dont and you try to patch it up, you may find they will
> > > > not pay up even if you were entitled to compensation. Were there
> > > > cracks detailed in your home buyers report?
>
> > > The survey states - about internal walls and partitions - .....Whilst
> > > minor cracking was noted , in the kitchen in particular,no evidence of
> > > a significant defect was noted.
> > > Of the main walls - No evidence of a significant defect was noted.
> > > Under Movement - No signs were found of past or present movement in
> > > the building
>
> > Are you sure that all the water does actually drain into the foul
> > sewer? * In some old house it goes to a soakaway. *In mine the
> > bathroom originally (until last month) drained into a soakway right
> > next to the outside wall.
>
> > A drain survey is quite cheap and entertaining, why not have one done
> > anyway?
>
> > Robert
>
> I called a reputable drain company this morning. The woman I spoke to
> was surprised I wasn't going through my insurer
> as she said they would pay for the survey. In view of this I decided
> to contact my insurer. I am waiting for them to call me back once
> their technical department has been consulted.

Well my insurers called back. The technical dept have told them I must
provide my own report. They won't even come out at this stage.My first
ever claim too! I am going to get a drains video done.
In answer to an earlier question all water goes into the foul water
system. Oddly there is a branch off the manhole in the front pointing
to the front garden. It only goes about a metre. I twice found soil in
the manhole. After clearing
I pulled a spraying hose down the drain from the manhole in the back
garden to the front while someone looked for
muddy water running into the front manhole. It ran clean. I poured
large quantities of water down a drain at the front
of the house - again it was clean. I blocked the short pipe with a
circle of upvc foam and next morning saw a hole neatly chewed through
it .I assume rats were excavating the soil into the manhole. It
happened twice but not after I blocked the pipe with stones. There
was a lot of soil. Surely rats couldn't have disturbed the
foundations.

Good Luck!

Martin