house foundation subsidence... what to do?

@Leonie

I am still in the dark as to the form of construction eg: brick veneer with slab on ground, full brick, clad home etc. or how wide the cracks are, how long they have been there, are they getting bigger, do they grow and shrink, are they in corners, over windows/doors, signs of floor dropping/doors binding?

In the first instance I would speak to a structural engineer - if you go directly to Uretek or other injecting company they will only specify their product as the solution, an engineer will be unbiased. For what it's worth they may be superficial or they could be structural.

Are there any photos?

 

Sorry, I was away.

I think The house is brick veneer with stumps, as its timber floor is about 50cm above the ground.

 

@Leonie - any description of the cracks - location, width, direction

 

One of the cracks is on the upper wall, not far from the door... it is hard tell. I will ask the tenant to take a photo, and upload to here asap ;- )

 

What was the water issue? if you don't mind me asking

 

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Thanks all,

Finally got two photos of the cracking walls from the tenant....Sorry for the delay

 

Thanks Scott,

The photos are uploaded.

Any advice will be appreciated.

 

It could be a crack along the join in the plasterboard. For that sort of cracking, I would do a couple of things, in order:

1. Get a plasterer or skilled handyperson to scrape out the joint, and then bed in paper joint tape (paper tape is stronger than fiberglass 'mesh' tape) and finish with layers of plaster compound on top, as usual.

2. If it cracked again, I would replace the plaster sheet around the doorway to manufacturer's specs:

This means, cut a hole in the plasterboard sheet, that goes over the door and down each side as far as possible. Cracks are often caused by plaster joints near doorways and windows so these have to be done a particular way, according to manufacturer's specs.

I had similar cracking in my house along all the joints. Filled them with plaster compound but they cracked again. After relining a couple of rooms with new plasterboard and using the proper tape, the cracks are gone. Worth a go as if it works will be a cheaper than reblocking.

On the other hand, if your floors are uneven, doors sticking etc, and the issue really is subsidence, reblocking is not that expensive. Be aware that you may get some plaster cracks in reblocking.

 

$50 per stump. No way in the world is that to replace the stump.

 

Hi Tim

You are in Queensland, so maybe not familiar with Victorian prices. My house is just over 100 square metres and in Vic the stumps are placed quite close together it seems compared to pictures I have seen in QLD houses.

The total price is the important thing and both quotes I received were around $5,000. So whatever the cost per stump, the cost per area can be used for comparison.

 

Thanks for your detailed information....really appreciated.

There are doors sticking issues, so it's very likely foundation problems, as it's said it's very common among the houses in the area.

 

Yeah Im obviously thinking of different stumps. That wouldnt even cover materials.

 

A stumper checked the house today, and said the house had restumped before. He suggested to do a computer levelling plus 4 extra stumps.

What is a computer levelling?

 

Hi all,

Got an engineer checked the house. He said there is no needs to do the grinder, only stump needed.

Anyone got a contact of a good tradesman for stump in north of Melbourne?

@Joynz,

Is the person who did stump for you good at his job? If yes, would you mind to share his contact details with me?

 

Thank you very much for your detailed help... really appreciated ;- )

I thought I need to stump first before fix the cracking... but your way makes sense if the foundation has been settled.

Did you have issues with door open/closing before?

 

Have you done the restumpping yet? Is the trademan you found is good? If so, can you also give me the contact details? My lounge is also due to restump, get several trademen for the quotes and it is so expensive. Some are around $7000, and some are around $12000

 

Hi Melon I am in the middle of getting quotes for restumping as well
got 3 quotes all above 10000..mine is around 100sqm 3bedrooms
any reason why u don't like the 7000 quote?