Subsidence due to dry summer.

[Albert Fegg]

Just a heads up really. We've noticed a lot of new cracks recently appearing in the internal plasterwork of the house, some 2-3mm wide, with some under window frames that you can clearly see daylight through.

A quick google search has shown that that insurance claims for similar things have risen by 20% over the summer. It would seem to be common in areas with a clay soil, which is exactly what we all have, following a long dry summer.

One notable point is that you might resist attempting to fix the issues immediately as once the soil becomes damp again in the autumn, it will swell again and the cracks may close themselves.

Of course, this will not be the case in all instances and your house may be just about to fall into a massive hole in the ground.

[Penguin68]

This problem may be exacerbated by those who have put impermeable paving around/ in front of their properties, or whose properties are adjacent to the pavement, as there will be little moisture to re-charge the depleted clay. If putting in hard standing, permeable brick paviours, gravel over membrane etc. is a better choice than concrete or stone slabs set into mortar.

[Robert Poste's Child]

Not sure if this might be related but cycling up CPR there's a bowl-shaped dip in the road shortly before Jennings Rd. As I cycled home in the dark tonight it was even more noticeable and I wondered if it might be subsidence or a potential sink hole.

[kc38]

Having been down the subsidence road before, and having had our property underpinned as a result (and knowing other people who have been in a similar situation), be prepared for a long battle with the insurers if you have subsidence. I will guarantee with almost 100% certainty that the insurers will argue it is due to a remote tree or bush as it is dramatically cheaper to cut a plant down than underpin, and they'll hope this will shut you up. They will argue this even if their tests of the soil show no evidence of relevant roots: read the engineers' and tree 'experts' reports very carefully. Our battle with the insurers - where they relentlessly pursued cutting trees with no evidence to do so - went on for a year a half before they threw in the towel and underpinned (costing them ?150K as the whole house had to be redone inside, versus ?2K for cutting down a tree). And the property next to ours now has the exact same situation/argument, with zero evidence for removing plants.