How, in our experience,

insurance companies deal with

cracks in properties

If you would like a chartered building surveyor or a building engineer to phone you back and discuss the structural problems, cracking, movement, subsidence, heave, etc, please do not hesitate to phone us on 0800 298 5424.

In our experience insurance companies generally do the minimum work required under the insurance policy (which makes commercial sense for them) to sort out the problem and we have found some insurance solutions to structural cracking that we would term as being short sighted. The best way to explain this is for us to give you an example that we recently came across.

Trees causing structural cracks?

We have recently come across a problem where the nearby trees have caused movement in the property and the property has been partially underpinned and there has been no root barrier put in place, so the same problem could happen again, albeit that the underpinning foundations will get in the way. So, if we were asked to report on such a property when you are thinking of purchasing it, it's not just the fact it has been underpinned that doesn't make it a good property it's the other considerations that have to be made, such as the nearby tree.

The property has been underpinned so the cracking isn't a problem

If only cracking was so simple we would comment that on some properties where only partially underpinning has taken place, this adds add weight to one side of the property and therefore causes problems. We came across a beautiful old Grade I Listed property which had been underpinned on one side. This had caused further problems and further subsidence in this part of the property.

Subsidence, what is it?

Subsidence, in its simplest form, is where the ground gives way and this movement affects the structure of the property, which often results in cracking.

Ground heave

A ground heave usually occurs in clay areas, where the pressure of the wet clay forces the ground up.

We have a hands on approach to cracking in properties

This part of the article looks at the more technical side of cracking.

Below is an example of a Specific Defects Report that we carried out on a property with cracking:

Please contact us for help and advice on this type of building claim or insurance claim or any other structural problems on 0800 298 5424 and a chartered surveyor will ring you back to discuss this further. Please note we are independent chartered surveyors.

If you would like Dilaps Help then please visit our DilapsHelp.com website.

If you think or feel differently to the above, or feel that we have made a mistake or error please kindly contact us as we wish to change and amend any errors.

The contents of the web site are for general information only and is not intended to be relied upon for specific or general decisions. Appropriate independent professional advice should be paid for before making such a decision.

All rights are reserved the contents of the web site is not to be reproduced or transmitted in any form in whole or part without the express written permission of 1stAssociated.co.uk.