Subsidence in Period Property

Subsidence in Period Property 

Subsidence in a period property is a terrifying thing, especially if it occurs suddenly. I'd only owned my Victorian house for a few weeks when a wall started to cave in. My builder had started to remove the concrete slab in the kitchen when one wall started to crack and heave into the room.

Subsidence in Period Property 

There was a deep gap between the floor ground and the wall footings, very much like a ravine cut into a mountain by millennia of water erosion. And water erosion it proved to be in the form of decades of leaking water from the old galvanised mains water pipes.

Subsidence in Period Property 

A galvanised pipe ran from the external stopcock just outside my front door, which steps out onto the pavement. Presumably, the pipe leading up to the stopcock also has leaks, increasing the water level directly outside my house. This pipe is also going to be replaced, meaning the pavement and halfway across the road needs to be dug up, and a nearby street lamp needs to be removed.

Gosh, the neighbours will love me!

Subsidence in Period Property 

That is a metal brace my heroic builder had made late at night to stop my wall from collapsing. There was a delay in getting started on the underpinning because my insurance company quibbled about covering the work. They claimed it was the responsibility of the previous owner's insurer due to an industry-wide agreement. After a lot of messing about, they finally accepted responsibility as a change of ownership cancels this agreement. Had I owned the property for a while and had just changed insurer, my previous insurer would cover subsidence that had been caused previously but only recently been discovered.

Subsidence in Period Property 

This is the hole outside my front door that was dug out to reveal and replace the stopcock, which was also leaking. The water company wanted to fill in this hole before it had been confirmed there were no more leaks. They only left when I threatened to get in the hole if they tried to fill it. It's lucky I scared them off as an old drain pipe had, indeed, been smashed and was leaking water into the hole.

How many leaks!

Subsidence in Period Property 

A few days passed after the subsidence started as I fought with the insurance companies. In that time, I read everything I could on the internet about subsidence in period properties. I even phoned an expert on the subject, who very kindly gave me half an hour of his time. Underpinning is the last resort for period properties because it's very invasive and creates a very rigid foundation to a previously flexible structure. As period properties were designed to move and were built with flexible, permeable and breathable materials, such as lime, great big blocks of solid concrete could upset the wobbly equilibrium. Usually, however, subsidence is a gradual thing and can be monitored over time and treated gently. However, my subsidence was an emergency situation and even the metal brace wasn't going to stop it from falling down, with potentially catastrophic consequences for not only my house but my two neighbours' houses as well.

Subsidence in Period Property 

My builder turned up at 6am with three strong men to get started on the daunting task of underpinning five meters of wall. The dark cold scene and their dark clothing and somber mood was reminiscent of grave diggers in a cemetery. The first day was terrible: I sat upstairs with my daughter, hardly able to breath due to anxiety, and waited for news, loud bangs, cracks, wobbling, screams and total callapse.

I really should have had a whiskey!

Subsidence in Period Property 

The men had to dig down until they reached solid ground, which they did between one and two meters down. The deepest hole was, of course, at the front door.

Subsidence in Period Property 

The builder removed a triangle of wall bricks, the area that had caved in, and rebuilt it. It's been a few months since this happened and the wall is doing well. The diagonal cracks that had appeared higher up and further away from the 'epicenter' did expand at first, but they've not grown bigger than about 4mm.

Experiencing subsidence in a period property is one of the worst things a person could go through. The thought of your house falling down is terrifying and, even after the problem has been fixed, your sense of equilibrium will be shot. For weeks after it happened, I felt as though I was falling over no matter where I was in the house. I became paranoid about existing cracks and worrying they were suddenly enlarging. Probably the best advice is to stay at a relative's house until all the work is completed, or just drink whisky!

I'm lucky in that these major leaks were discovered at the outset of my renovation project and before I'd carried out any work or spent any money. There was no sign of either a water leak or subsidence when I viewed the house. The floor covering needed replacing but no-one, not even a surveyor, would have known it was acting like an eggshell and hiding a soaking and cavernous secret.

If you're reading this post because your house is subsiding, you have my sympathy. However, you will get through it, your house will most likely be absolutely fine and you will be stronger because of it.