Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Cost of fixing Subsidence in an old stone cottage??

Options
  • 19-07-2013 9:12pm
    #1
    AliceJane
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4 ✭


    Hi everyone

    Ive been searching the net for costs of repairing subsidence and havent found what I am looking for. So here goes maybe someone can help me here...please! :)
    I have inherited an 150 year old two story labourers cottage with what seems like some serious subsidence. There are cracks in the cement plasterwork leading from the corners of the two windows to the roof at the front of the house.The interior stonework walls upstairs show these cracks much wider (2" in places) and the floor in this room is sloping.

    The soil around the area is limestone which might have something to do with it? And there is an orchard that begins about four meters from the house.
    The house is lovely but I don't have a lot of money for restoration and Im afraid if I leave it too long the house may collapse.

    Would anyone know how much it would cost to repair this? Would I have to hire a contractor? I have a few builder friends; could we underpin it ourselves successfully and how would I go about doing this?

    Many thanks in advance :)
    Tagged:


Comments

  • Options
    #2
    sydthebeat
    Subscribers Posts: 41,477 ✭✭✭✭sydthebeat


    AliceJane wrote: »
    Hi everyone

    Ive been searching the net for costs of repairing subsidence and havent found what I am looking for. So here goes maybe someone can help me here...please! :)
    I have inherited an 150 year old two story labourers cottage with what seems like some serious subsidence. There are cracks in the cement plasterwork leading from the corners of the two windows to the roof at the front of the house.The interior stonework walls upstairs show these cracks much wider (2" in places) and the floor in this room is sloping.

    The soil around the area is limestone which might have something to do with it? And there is an orchard that begins about four meters from the house.
    The house is lovely but I don't have a lot of money for restoration and Im afraid if I leave it too long the house may collapse.

    Would anyone know how much it would cost to repair this? Would I have to hire a contractor? I have a few builder friends; could we underpin it ourselves successfully and how would I go about doing this?

    Many thanks in advance :)

    this query is so relevant to the site specifics that it would be irresponsible to try to give an average quote without knowing the details.

    you may need one section under pinned, you may need all of it under pinned...


    the whole house may be sliding down a hill.....

    you NEED a structural engineer to survey the work and diagnose the problem, before you can even think of trying to quantify the solution.


  • Options
    #3
    AliceJane
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4 ✭AliceJane


    Ok thanks for your advice Syd. Will do. :)


  • Options
    #4
    dashiell hammett
    Registered Users Posts: 36 ✭dashiell hammett


    At the other end of the scale the house might have been like that for years and stay that way provided the roof is kept in good condition for a quite a few more.

    If the building was built with traditional materials it will move naturally over the years but if at some stage someone stuck a coat of cement plaster on it then any natural movement will show up as cracks in the cement plaster which can't move.


  • Options
    #5
    AliceJane
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4 ✭AliceJane


    Thanks dashiell yes someone thought it was a good idea to put cement over the natural stone work a long time ago preventing the house to breathe, also making the house very damp.

    I dont know how I'd go about taking the cement off without causing more damage? It would have to be re plastered then with natural materials?

    The roof is in good condition, the house was happily lived in until last year but now its vacant and will be for the foreseeable future. I know it will start to deteriorate rapidly unless something is done with it :(
    I will try to get a structural engineer to look at it.
    The amount of time and money needed to fix the place up is probably a lot more than its worth and a lot more than I have but I am still hopeful! Thanks for all your advice :)


  • Options
    #6
    dashiell hammett
    Registered Users Posts: 36 ✭dashiell hammett


    I wouldn't worry too much, if the roof is OK then you just need to keep the place as well ventilated as possible and don't forget to insure it should the worst happen.

    A lot of old cottages need constant heat and ventilation to be habitable but provided nothing is actively rotting due to damp I can't see that it will fall down if you don't spend money on it.

    If there are other similar houses in the area see if you can take a look at them and ask about the way they are built, better still if there is a derelict one anywhere near take a look at how the walls are built. It might give you a better idea of what needs doing on yours.

    Removing the old render isn't that difficult and rerendering depends on what you are left with. If the stone work is good under the old render then it might just want repointing. Having half an idea of whats there should give you a better idea of what can be done.

    btw we live in a 200 yo house with no foundations and rubble filled walls, its not likely to fall down anytime soon ;) I wouldn't be rushing to remove the render as I know its so bad underneath I'd have to repoint and make good as I remove the render because the walls are just field stone with mud packed between them. Not many old houses still standing would be quite as bad as ours - even the ones "modernised" in the 60's and 70's.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #7
    jamnik
    Registered Users Posts: 3 ✭jamnik


    It's amazing how those old home are still standing. I wished they still made houses like that. If it's 200 years old, I wouldn't touch a thing.


  • Options
    #8
    crockholm
    Registered Users Posts: 2,448 ✭✭✭crockholm


    Just as an aside,some stone buildings from the early 20th century onwards,were built with external plaster/render in mind. It follows on from a fad that exposed stone on the house equated poverty,the quality of the stone used and the building style were different from earlier builds.
    If you take off a small section of the plaster on the outside,clean it up and find proud(jutting out) poorly faced,or pointy stones exposed,the likelyhood is that the house was built with a rendered finish in mind (the reasoning being,that roughed up eneven stone would bond the plaster to the walls better).


  • Options
    #9
    AliceJane
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4 ✭AliceJane


    Thanks for that reassurance Dashiell, that makes me feel much better! :) Yes I don't think the stonework was ever meant to be exposed. The house was built under Parnell around the time of the Land League who fought to give poor Irish labourers better quality housing and an bit of land for themselves. Its a fairly common cottage but it has so much history I am conscientious to preserve it as true to how it should be. Thanks for all your great inputs I have a better sense of what I'm doing now ! :)


  • Options
    #10
    sydthebeat
    Subscribers Posts: 41,477 ✭✭✭✭sydthebeat


    i think some posters might have missed the fact that the external cement cracks are reproduced internally and are up to 2" wid ein some places.... this is a structural problem and one to be rectified.

    you definitely need a structural engineers report done to categorise the issues and to offer solutions to rectify.


  • Options
    #11
    dashiell hammett
    Registered Users Posts: 36 ✭dashiell hammett


    sydthebeat wrote: »
    i think some posters might have missed the fact that the external cement cracks are reproduced internally and are up to 2" wid ein some places.... this is a structural problem and one to be rectified.

    you definitely need a structural engineers report done to categorise the issues and to offer solutions to rectify.


    You're not wrong but I'd be concerned that your average structural engineer will find so much wrong with the building it would be cheaper to pull it down and start again rather than attempt any repair. It never ceases to amaze me how old structures will hang on provided they are kept dry and the roof is sound and not pushing the walls out. The evidence is that this one has stood there for 150 years, if it was only 15 years old I'd be very concerned.

    The 2 inch cracks may sound huge but because of their location above the windows they didn't really raise any alarms as plenty of walls on old cottages would be leaning out by more than that amount due to poor roofing at various times in their history. If there was subsidence I would have expected the OP to report on additional cracks below the windows.

    The point that seemed more relevant from the OP's post was "Im afraid if I leave it too long the house may collapse." The main thing I'd check in the short term is that the roof is tied together correctly and not putting undue outward pressure on the walls. Given the OP has builder friends I'm sure she can get that done relatively easily.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #12
    sydthebeat
    Subscribers Posts: 41,477 ✭✭✭✭sydthebeat


    dashiell hammett wrote: »
    You're not wrong but I'd be concerned that your average structural engineer will find so much wrong with the building it would be cheaper to pull it down and start again rather than attempt any repair. .

    you really have no faith in the engineering profession have you.

    in my professional experience, the only time demolition is ever suggested is when the structure is immediately unsafe. there are many many solutions to structural problems which dont include demolition.


  • Options
    #13
    sinnerboy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,433 ✭✭✭sinnerboy


    dashiell hammett wrote: »
    You're not wrong but I'd be concerned that your average structural engineer will find so much wrong with the building it would be cheaper to pull it down and start again rather than attempt any repair.

    Not in my experience. "your average engineer" is a lot smarter than that with a lot more to offer than your posting here.

    dashiell hammett wrote: »
    It never ceases to amaze me how old structures will hang on provided they are kept dry and the roof is sound and not pushing the walls out. The evidence is that this one has stood there for 150 years, if it was only 15 years old I'd be very concerned.

    Any building which is neglected will eventually collapse. Buildings do not age without assistance.
    dashiell hammett wrote: »
    The 2 inch cracks may sound huge but because of their location above the windows they didn't really raise any alarms as plenty of walls on old cottages would be leaning out by more than that amount due to poor roofing at various times in their history. If there was subsidence I would have expected the OP to report on additional cracks below the windows.

    Quite a stretch to post such text about a building you presumably have never actually seen.
    dashiell hammett wrote: »
    The point that seemed more relevant from the OP's post was "Im afraid if I leave it too long the house may collapse." The main thing I'd check in the short term is that the roof is tied together correctly and not putting undue outward pressure on the walls. Given the OP has builder friends I'm sure she can get that done relatively easily.

    Any building "left long enough" will collapse. The OP does not need her "builder friends"

    She needs a qualified and insured Structural Engineer.

    To actually inspect the building.

    Not post texts on here.


Advertisement