Speed Bumps and House / Foundations shaking.
Discussion
I have lived in my property for many years, and of course the road outside is increasingly busier. It has speed bumps that have deteriorated to a point where there’s almost holes where the wheels enter the slope, and this now has changed the dynamics, as I can now feel the house shake when a large vehicle or HGV passes. The neighbours are also a little worried, they too notice the foundation shake
There is also the increased noise from scuttle shake when the lorries in particular pass over. You might consider the odd gardener’s trailer might make a little racket, but the sheer booming sound is terrifying. Skip lorries are the biggest culprit as you have the added bonus of their chains flailing all over.
I don’t want to enter the debate of the drivers not slowing down, this probably would not make any difference.
I did photograph a while back cracks that had appeared in the bay window of my house, and wrote to the Northamptonshire Highways department, which I also had a reported defect of the speed humps structure. I did include drawings of the shape of the humps and how they had changed. But this was batted off without even a letter in response. I logged into my incident ticket, to see it had been closed.
I did include my concerns for the environmental aspect relating to noise pollution, but I doubt this was never considered. I believe they thought “we have no money to rectify the road – leave it”!
So the reason for my lengthy post is;
Who do I contact, and how?
What should be my approach, I am obviously pi**ed of with the shaking and the noise, so are others?
I would like to see these ultimately removed, and maybe some other form of traffic calming, if we need it, maybe a chicane or bollards, as I don’t believe lorries should be using a residential street as they are.
Many thanks in advance!
There is also the increased noise from scuttle shake when the lorries in particular pass over. You might consider the odd gardener’s trailer might make a little racket, but the sheer booming sound is terrifying. Skip lorries are the biggest culprit as you have the added bonus of their chains flailing all over.
I don’t want to enter the debate of the drivers not slowing down, this probably would not make any difference.
I did photograph a while back cracks that had appeared in the bay window of my house, and wrote to the Northamptonshire Highways department, which I also had a reported defect of the speed humps structure. I did include drawings of the shape of the humps and how they had changed. But this was batted off without even a letter in response. I logged into my incident ticket, to see it had been closed.
I did include my concerns for the environmental aspect relating to noise pollution, but I doubt this was never considered. I believe they thought “we have no money to rectify the road – leave it”!
So the reason for my lengthy post is;
Who do I contact, and how?
What should be my approach, I am obviously pi**ed of with the shaking and the noise, so are others?
I would like to see these ultimately removed, and maybe some other form of traffic calming, if we need it, maybe a chicane or bollards, as I don’t believe lorries should be using a residential street as they are.
Many thanks in advance!
Edited by justinbaker on Tuesday 26th November 16:47
I think you and your neighbours need to check you contents insurance and see if you have Legal Cover. I'd then instruct a structural engineer to comment on the vibrations felt at your homes and whether he felt this could be causing damage (or the cause of your specific damage). Depending on what his report says I'd be instructing solicitors to go for some sort of order to have the humps removed - and if all the neighbours join the action then the council are far more likely to listen. Getting a local councillor on side wouldn't be a bad thing either.
There are other ways of traffic calming than speed humps.
There are other ways of traffic calming than speed humps.
Swervin_Mervin said:
Not wishing to stir anything up, but I thought there was evidence from testing by TRL in the late 80s/90s to suggest that road borne vibration has next to no impact structurally on buildings.
I don't expect that roads in general are a problem, but its the humps and the transfer of energy into the ground that is having an impact. 
Edited by justinbaker on Wednesday 27th November 08:07
Swervin_Mervin said:
Not wishing to stir anything up, but I thought there was evidence from testing by TRL in the late 80s/90s to suggest that road borne vibration has next to no impact structurally on buildings.
Well I'm not a structural engineer, but I find it hard to believe that buildings will never suffer damage from this source.In any case it seems to me that the use of speed humps is a very bad means of getting drivers to moderate their speed. I slow down for them purely out of concern for minimising wear and tear on my car, but it often means that I need to slow down more than would be necessary for safety to be maintained, and this is objectionable.
Some drivers, perhaps with more robust 4x4 type vehicles, or vehicles that they do not own, will go thumping over the wretched humps without slowing down much, so that's not achieving much good. Then there's the matter of the braking and acceleration either side of the humps, which makes more noise, consumes more fuel and produces greater emissions.
Nope, speed hunps are a damned nuisance and IMHO they ought to be dispensed with.
justinbaker said:
Swervin_Mervin said:
Not wishing to stir anything up, but I thought there was evidence from testing by TRL in the late 80s/90s to suggest that road borne vibration has next to no impact structurally on buildings.
I don't expect that roads in general are a problem, but its the humps and the transfer of energy into the ground that is having an impact. Edited by justinbaker on Wednesday 27th November 08:07
I had another very quick dig last night and the summation of the research seemed to be that vibrations could cause cosmetic cracking of plasterwork but were highly unlikely to ever be large enough to cause structural damage. It also seemed that they asserted that in cases where signs of any damage did appear to have occured (cosmetic or structural) it was likely to have been caused by other factors or poor structural condition in the first place.
This is obviously completely aside from the nuisance factor. As someone that spent the last 10 years living next to the M56/M60 I understand that nuisance. We've just swapped it for a local rail line at the bottom of the garden and when those roll past you start to worry about the house!
p1esk said:
Swervin_Mervin said:
Not wishing to stir anything up, but I thought there was evidence from testing by TRL in the late 80s/90s to suggest that road borne vibration has next to no impact structurally on buildings.
Well I'm not a structural engineer, but I find it hard to believe that buildings will never suffer damage from this source.In any case it seems to me that the use of speed humps is a very bad means of getting drivers to moderate their speed. I slow down for them purely out of concern for minimising wear and tear on my car, but it often means that I need to slow down more than would be necessary for safety to be maintained, and this is objectionable.
Some drivers, perhaps with more robust 4x4 type vehicles, or vehicles that they do not own, will go thumping over the wretched humps without slowing down much, so that's not achieving much good. Then there's the matter of the braking and acceleration either side of the humps, which makes more noise, consumes more fuel and produces greater emissions.
Nope, speed hunps are a damned nuisance and IMHO they ought to be dispensed with.
Rovinghawk said:
I am a structural engineer. I agree with you.
What you really need, OP, is to get a structural engineer like Rovinghawk to put their name to it, in a formal report stating the damage, stating the cause, and stating what's needed to remedy it. ASAP.Then you need to get on to whatever legal cover you've got on your buildings insurance, and sic them onto whoever's responsible for that bit of road.
This is interesting...
I live in a residential road that is used as a cut through between two small High Streets about a mile apart by cars & vans/lorries - even the Police use it at high speed
. We have a number of speed bumps with the closest one to me outside my neighbours house and I am always feeling the house shake when a larger vehicle comes past.
I've been watching my house's movement over the last couple of years and it is moving, but I would not say subsidence is the cause as there are no cracks around windows or doors on ground or upper level but there is an internal crack running down a walls of the middle bedroom upstairs.
Someone once said to me it was probably caused by the house shaking but I'd never heard of anyone else having this problem. And mine only came to light a while after my attached neighbour had a loft conversion - but I struggled to see that as the cause as my crack is on the opposite side of my house.
You've got me wondering if I really have the same/similar problem OP.
I live in a residential road that is used as a cut through between two small High Streets about a mile apart by cars & vans/lorries - even the Police use it at high speed
. We have a number of speed bumps with the closest one to me outside my neighbours house and I am always feeling the house shake when a larger vehicle comes past.I've been watching my house's movement over the last couple of years and it is moving, but I would not say subsidence is the cause as there are no cracks around windows or doors on ground or upper level but there is an internal crack running down a walls of the middle bedroom upstairs.
Someone once said to me it was probably caused by the house shaking but I'd never heard of anyone else having this problem. And mine only came to light a while after my attached neighbour had a loft conversion - but I struggled to see that as the cause as my crack is on the opposite side of my house.
You've got me wondering if I really have the same/similar problem OP.
TooMany2cvs said:
Rovinghawk said:
I am a structural engineer. I agree with you.
What you really need, OP, is to get a structural engineer like Rovinghawk to put their name to it, in a formal report stating the damage, stating the cause, and stating what's needed to remedy it. ASAP.Then you need to get on to whatever legal cover you've got on your buildings insurance, and sic them onto whoever's responsible for that bit of road.
herewego said:
p1esk said:
Swervin_Mervin said:
Not wishing to stir anything up, but I thought there was evidence from testing by TRL in the late 80s/90s to suggest that road borne vibration has next to no impact structurally on buildings.
Well I'm not a structural engineer, but I find it hard to believe that buildings will never suffer damage from this source.In any case it seems to me that the use of speed humps is a very bad means of getting drivers to moderate their speed. I slow down for them purely out of concern for minimising wear and tear on my car, but it often means that I need to slow down more than would be necessary for safety to be maintained, and this is objectionable.
Some drivers, perhaps with more robust 4x4 type vehicles, or vehicles that they do not own, will go thumping over the wretched humps without slowing down much, so that's not achieving much good. Then there's the matter of the braking and acceleration either side of the humps, which makes more noise, consumes more fuel and produces greater emissions.
Nope, speed hunps are a damned nuisance and IMHO they ought to be dispensed with.
Speed humps are needed, generally in 20mph zones, as most police forces will not enforce a 20mph limit. They are to be "self enforcing", so speed humps/tables, build-outs, pinchpoints etc.
There are recognised issues with speed humps and vibrations to nearby properties, especially from heavies. For example, guidance discourages speed humps near a fire station, or in the vicinity of industrial parks.
Speak to your local councillor. They will ask the highways dept to have a look at it. The chances are, the maintenance guys that deal with resurfacing/reprofiling speed humps don't live, or travel along, your route.
A quick email to your local ward councillor will open up a decent dialogue. They're generally very helpful. They may not agree with removal of the humps, but they'll have no problems with ordering it resurfaced/reprofiled to reduce the vibrations to your property.
(Highways engineer, had multiple experiences of this)
There are recognised issues with speed humps and vibrations to nearby properties, especially from heavies. For example, guidance discourages speed humps near a fire station, or in the vicinity of industrial parks.
Speak to your local councillor. They will ask the highways dept to have a look at it. The chances are, the maintenance guys that deal with resurfacing/reprofiling speed humps don't live, or travel along, your route.
A quick email to your local ward councillor will open up a decent dialogue. They're generally very helpful. They may not agree with removal of the humps, but they'll have no problems with ordering it resurfaced/reprofiled to reduce the vibrations to your property.
(Highways engineer, had multiple experiences of this)
Swervin_Mervin said:
Would Rovinghawk be able to prove that the vibrations have caused the damage?
No.But he can give his expert, learned opinion.
And then the council's expert can give their expert, learned opinion which says he's wrong.
And then the lawyers get to argue the toss in front of a judge, who gives HIS opinion on which of the expert opinions is right.
And then the lawyers can ask a more senior judge his opinion.
And so on, ad infinitum, until either the most senior judge gives HIS opinion, or somebody decides fixing the house is cheaper than paying the lawyers any more.
TooMany2cvs said:
Swervin_Mervin said:
Would Rovinghawk be able to prove that the vibrations have caused the damage?
No.But he can give his expert, learned opinion.
And then the council's expert can give their expert, learned opinion which says he's wrong.
And then the lawyers get to argue the toss in front of a judge, who gives HIS opinion on which of the expert opinions is right.
And then the lawyers can ask a more senior judge his opinion.
And so on, ad infinitum, until either the most senior judge gives HIS opinion, or somebody decides fixing the house is cheaper than paying the lawyers any more.
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