Hi, I'm a total newb to this - so would appreciate any simple advice.
I live in a house which is about 150 yrs old and is on the short end of an L shape. This means that I share a party wall with two properties, since the depth of my house is equal to the width of two on the long part of the L.
The house adjacent to the front part of mine has recently undergone extensive renovations, including demolition of the chimney on the party wall and replacement of the roof.
I don't know what else was done, but the banging on the party wall was constant for several months. (the owners never lived there so I couldnt ask - they did it up and it is now rented out).
Subsequent to this several cracks appeared in our house, running vertically from ceiling to floor, adjacent to the party wall and also down the corners of walls opposite the party wall. (across the landing so only about 5ft away). There is also a crack downstairs running down the corner adjacent to the party wall though not as big as those upstairs.
I contacted our local building regs to ask about this as I thought I should have had some notification about work on the party wall. He said if they had removed the whole chimney there was no problem and it would just be settlement and was pretty dismissive about it all.
I have been watching and waiting and don't think the cracks are worsening but not sure yet.
Now I have another problem. My bathroom shares a party wall with a second house. This house is owned by the local council (for some reason they bought 2 of the properties in the past). I think the council have been doing some work on that property, though not as extensive. The tenant is an elderly gentleman with special needs so I don't want to approach him about it as I think it would distess him. I now have a bulge running across the whole bathroom wall. There is a tiled area the length of the bath and the grouting cracked in a straight line across the whole length and now the tiles are starting to lift. Beyond that the area is plastered and painted and the plaster is bulging in a line extending from that in the tiling.
There are two other houses on the long part of the L. Thier rear walls face into my back garden. These walls are therefore an extension of the party wall I have mentioned. They have visible wall ties which suggests previous problems with the wall although we had no problems prior to the building work and surveys when we moved in (a good few years ago) revealed no problems with our property.
My thoughts atm: Best case scenario - the cracks are just settlement and if they don't get bigger I fill them in and redecorate. The problems in the bathroom may be caused by moisture getting behind the tiles and the bulging is just plaster coming away from the wall. Worst case scenario - the adjacent renovations have destabilised the party wall and caused both sets of problems. I then have a situation where I have to negotiate with one (absent) private owner and with the local council to sort out who pays what for rectifying the problem. (?)
So where do I start? Get the plaster off the bathroom and see what the underlying wall looks like? Talk to the council and ask what work they did on their property? Talk to the building regs guy again? Get a structural engineer? Insurance company?
Very worried, please help.
I live in a house which is about 150 yrs old and is on the short end of an L shape. This means that I share a party wall with two properties, since the depth of my house is equal to the width of two on the long part of the L.
The house adjacent to the front part of mine has recently undergone extensive renovations, including demolition of the chimney on the party wall and replacement of the roof.
I don't know what else was done, but the banging on the party wall was constant for several months. (the owners never lived there so I couldnt ask - they did it up and it is now rented out).
Subsequent to this several cracks appeared in our house, running vertically from ceiling to floor, adjacent to the party wall and also down the corners of walls opposite the party wall. (across the landing so only about 5ft away). There is also a crack downstairs running down the corner adjacent to the party wall though not as big as those upstairs.
I contacted our local building regs to ask about this as I thought I should have had some notification about work on the party wall. He said if they had removed the whole chimney there was no problem and it would just be settlement and was pretty dismissive about it all.
I have been watching and waiting and don't think the cracks are worsening but not sure yet.
Now I have another problem. My bathroom shares a party wall with a second house. This house is owned by the local council (for some reason they bought 2 of the properties in the past). I think the council have been doing some work on that property, though not as extensive. The tenant is an elderly gentleman with special needs so I don't want to approach him about it as I think it would distess him. I now have a bulge running across the whole bathroom wall. There is a tiled area the length of the bath and the grouting cracked in a straight line across the whole length and now the tiles are starting to lift. Beyond that the area is plastered and painted and the plaster is bulging in a line extending from that in the tiling.
There are two other houses on the long part of the L. Thier rear walls face into my back garden. These walls are therefore an extension of the party wall I have mentioned. They have visible wall ties which suggests previous problems with the wall although we had no problems prior to the building work and surveys when we moved in (a good few years ago) revealed no problems with our property.
My thoughts atm: Best case scenario - the cracks are just settlement and if they don't get bigger I fill them in and redecorate. The problems in the bathroom may be caused by moisture getting behind the tiles and the bulging is just plaster coming away from the wall. Worst case scenario - the adjacent renovations have destabilised the party wall and caused both sets of problems. I then have a situation where I have to negotiate with one (absent) private owner and with the local council to sort out who pays what for rectifying the problem. (?)
So where do I start? Get the plaster off the bathroom and see what the underlying wall looks like? Talk to the council and ask what work they did on their property? Talk to the building regs guy again? Get a structural engineer? Insurance company?
Very worried, please help.