Piling effects on older buildings
Discussion
Mum lives in a ~16th century cottage, about 200m away from a building site where multiple blocks of 3-story flats are due to be built.
She's been notified that deep piling will be used for the foundations and is a bit worried that the work may cause some structual effects on the house. Is it something to think about? If so is there a good way to monitor this other than looking for cracks/movement?
The building site is a very large scale project so I'd imagine consideration has been made for local listed buildings etc, but better safe than sorry..
She's been notified that deep piling will be used for the foundations and is a bit worried that the work may cause some structual effects on the house. Is it something to think about? If so is there a good way to monitor this other than looking for cracks/movement?
The building site is a very large scale project so I'd imagine consideration has been made for local listed buildings etc, but better safe than sorry..
john_p said:
Mum lives in a ~16th century cottage, about 200m away from a building site where multiple blocks of 3-story flats are due to be built.
She's been notified that deep piling will be used for the foundations and is a bit worried that the work may cause some structual effects on the house. Is it something to think about? If so is there a good way to monitor this other than looking for cracks/movement?
The building site is a very large scale project so I'd imagine consideration has been made for local listed buildings etc, but better safe than sorry..
I'd have thought a building that old will have pretty shallow foundations. It's probably sort of "floating".She's been notified that deep piling will be used for the foundations and is a bit worried that the work may cause some structual effects on the house. Is it something to think about? If so is there a good way to monitor this other than looking for cracks/movement?
The building site is a very large scale project so I'd imagine consideration has been made for local listed buildings etc, but better safe than sorry..
It would seem reasonable to contact the contractors & get an undertaking that they will pay for any repairs. Maybe get an inspection done & get it agreed that there are no cracks etc before they even start.
If your mum is worried then I'd get her to put it in writing to the developer now before work begins. They may offer to do a schedule of condition on her house, or she could instruct a local BS to carry one out on her behalf (obviously she would have to pay). As the previous poster said it may depend on the type of piling and also the local ground conditions, if it's a 16th century cottage it would have minimal foundations, perhaps 18" of compacted stone at most. If cracks appear after a schedule occurs then she has a good claim against the developer (as long as we have no freak weather between the survey and the end of the development)
If you're worried, get a condition survey done before work commences. This can just be a photographic record of current condition and cracks etc, with one copy kept by all parties.
If you contact the developer or contractor then they ought to be only too keen to arrange this survey with you.
If you contact the developer or contractor then they ought to be only too keen to arrange this survey with you.
It can also cause problems from another source.
A house near to a friend of mine was for sale.
The surveyor noticed the presence of a large tree in another neighbour’s garden. This was of a species that has invasive roots that go a long way and is known to damage properties.
The building society made it a condition of the mortgage offer that a trench be dug and filled with concrete as a barrier to the roots growing towards the property.
This concrete work was done. A year later, my friend and his neighbour noticed cracks in their property. They ended up having to have their houses underpinned. There were several years of stress, mess and litigation. My friend didn’t own the tree, the concrete wasn’t on his land and he was an innocent party.
The expert opinions were that the concrete had formed a barrier to the underground movement of water in the ground. This had caused the ground to move, damaging his property. The Court ruled in his favour and he was compensated for his loss. However, nothing can remove the stress.
I would be looking to see that there is no chance of the new pilings causing similar disturbance to your mums property.
A house near to a friend of mine was for sale.
The surveyor noticed the presence of a large tree in another neighbour’s garden. This was of a species that has invasive roots that go a long way and is known to damage properties.
The building society made it a condition of the mortgage offer that a trench be dug and filled with concrete as a barrier to the roots growing towards the property.
This concrete work was done. A year later, my friend and his neighbour noticed cracks in their property. They ended up having to have their houses underpinned. There were several years of stress, mess and litigation. My friend didn’t own the tree, the concrete wasn’t on his land and he was an innocent party.
The expert opinions were that the concrete had formed a barrier to the underground movement of water in the ground. This had caused the ground to move, damaging his property. The Court ruled in his favour and he was compensated for his loss. However, nothing can remove the stress.
I would be looking to see that there is no chance of the new pilings causing similar disturbance to your mums property.
having worked as a labourer for a piling company for 3 years, (some of us students do work in holidays!) i'd say that if its a rotary drilling rig, you wont have a problem. however, vibro piling might cause some issues, same goes for drop hammers.
i've been on a team drilling 750mm piles to 13 meters deep with a CFA (conitnous flight auger) and it hardly makes an impact on surrounding area. see:
Odex (see: http://www.midnightsundrilling.com/ODEX_system.htm... uses casing and a DTH (down the hole hammer) which drills into the ground and at the same time drags the casing into the hole created by the DTH hammer. Again this wouldnt really affect surroundings.
used with rigs like this:
hth
i've been on a team drilling 750mm piles to 13 meters deep with a CFA (conitnous flight auger) and it hardly makes an impact on surrounding area. see:
Odex (see: http://www.midnightsundrilling.com/ODEX_system.htm... uses casing and a DTH (down the hole hammer) which drills into the ground and at the same time drags the casing into the hole created by the DTH hammer. Again this wouldnt really affect surroundings.
used with rigs like this:
hth
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