Who to call - Surveyor or Builder?

stoofa · 22 Jul 2009 at 16:33

We have a crack down one of our walls.
Nothing major but lets be honest - no cracks are good news!
The crack follows brick lines - so no bricks are broken, it's a crack that follows the cement lines.

We aren't talking about a small crack, it does run a little way down one of our walls.

I'd like to get it looked at ASAP.
Just wondering if I should really be calling in a surveyor or a builder for this one?
I'm sure a good builder will be able to tell me what is going on and quote me to have repairs made (something we will want to get done).
However I guess a surveyor might better be able to tell me what caused the problem.

Which should I be calling in?
And what do you think I should be paying for somebody to come and asses (not actually do any repair work)?

Thanks.

uber soldat · 22 Jul 2009 at 16:33

Ghostbusters

merlin · 22 Jul 2009 at 16:36

Decent builder will be able to tell you what's going on. Cracks in the mortar aren't usually particularly alarming, some buildings do "settle". Cracks over doors/windows that haven't been fitted with a lintel are pretty much standard features.

If he mentions subsidence then talk to your home insurers.

Pkiely · 22 Jul 2009 at 16:39

Give either a call if you know em personally, both would do the job or failing it pass it on. But if you don't know any and it looks bad you have to deal with your home insurance, they'll send a surveyor.

lewism · 22 Jul 2009 at 20:22

if the cracks are under 5mm then they aren't structural.

If they are over 5mm and go down the mortar diagionaly like

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get a surveyor in or a trusted builder.

trO · 22 Jul 2009 at 20:56

If you get in touch with your House Insurance, they will send a Surveyor round to take a look....He will do a few tests, depending on what he thinks is necessary... If he thinks the house has moved or is in any Danger, you House insurance will cover costs, including the Surveyor bill.....
Beware though if you do get in touch with your House Insurance, it will go on your record that your House has moved, this may prove hard to sell the House in the future.....

Dark_Angel · 22 Jul 2009 at 20:58

uber soldat said:
Ghostbusters

Son of a

v0n · 22 Jul 2009 at 21:46

trO said:
If you get in touch with your House Insurance, they will send a Surveyor round to take a look....He will do a few tests, depending on what he thinks is necessary... (..)
Beware though if you do get in touch with your House Insurance, it will go on your record that your House has moved, this may prove hard to sell the House in the future.....

Don't do that. Insurance is absolute last resort. No cracks should be ignored, but unless there is evident subsidence and house needs underpinning or structural changes (at which point any builder you call will tell you to get in touch with structural engineer and they won't touch it with a barge pole without written instructions) calling your insurance will just screw up your house paperwork to the point it will be impossible to insure it again for several years and even harder to sell on, so you have to weight the pros and cons very carefully.

Most of cracks can be repaired quite cheaply by any builder, if it's settlement, most of the time simple rebar with epoxy resin along cracks and repointing will fix it perfectly. Ask few different builders for opinion, method and price quotes, that will give you good enough picture.
Even minor subsidence cases are easy to spot and remedy without involving insurance - as an example - if the crack starts close to corner where your rain gutters or pipes join drains underground, it's probably because something is leaking down there causing subsidence. Even if you were to rent remote camera and check it for yourself, decent 30m setup cost only about £210 to rent for entire week. No honest engineer charge more than £200 a day of work. And leaking drain and repointing shouldn't cost more than £600 to fix. So there - all fixed for the price of your minimum insurance subsidence excess and no dirt in property history.

lewism · 22 Jul 2009 at 23:13

i seriously doubt it's subsidence. from your brief description it sounds like stairstep cracking. Easiest ways to find out if its subsidence. Is the house built on clay soil? when its dry are there areas in or around the ground that are continually wet, was there a large tree/vegitation that was near the house that was recently removed. If the answer to all of these is no then you don't have subsidence and do NOT mention it to your insurers as they will crap the proverbial brick.

stairstep cracking could also be thermal expansion/contraction. If the house is fairly old then it could be a case of your mortar giving up and all you need to do is repoint it. as i said before, if the cracks are under 5mm then it's not structural just aesthetics. if it's bigger than 5mm bring in a surveyor or a civil engineer. only bring in a builder if you have to as a last resort. the majority will crack on with work regardless and foot you with a bill only to have a the problem reoccur or someone else to tell them it's wrong leaving you out of pocket.

It also depends on what way the cracks are going as it could be heave as well. But again, if theres no clay soil theres a 90% chance it isn't subsidence.

stoofa · 23 Jul 2009 at 02:03

Thank you all for your replies.
The house is about 15 years old.
We moved in nearly 5 years ago and we didn't notice the cracks at the time - nor did the surveyor or I'm sure they would have said something.

We remortgaged 2 years ago and that was subject to survey - which again threw nothing up.
However at the end of the day that was a mortgage survey and not a full structural.

I think I'll have a chat with a few of the neighbours and see if I can get the name/number of a trusted builder and get him to come and take a look.
I think we'll only involve insurance companies as a last resort - if the builder says the terrible S Word

Cheers.

kefkef · 23 Jul 2009 at 08:25

Not sure why everyone is against the insurance companies. My mums house had pretty much the same as described about 3yrs ago, but it was on a few walls. The house is 80yrs old but had a brick extension put on about 15yrs back. Called the insurance, they sent out a surveyor who spent the day there doing tests etc and it turned out to be 'Natural Heave', he submitted this to the insurance company as a report and that was it. No problem re-insuring it with the current company or with the subsequent company she is with now and no increase in premiums.

Pipe & Slippers · 23 Jul 2009 at 13:40

Had an issue with my roof. I had 3 builders/roofing specialists come around, all saying "well, I can try this" with no gurantee about actually fixing the problem

I didn't want to get used as a guinea pig so got a surveyor around

Cost me 2 hours @ £100 a hour + vat and I got a written report I can give to a builder to tell him exactly what needs doing - I actually got 3 options - quick fix/cheap; medium term/medium cost; high cost/permanent fix

I thought it was worth spending money up front and getting a proper diagnosis and repair options rather than trying things that may not work

Finding a good builder is the real problem....