Wolverhampton collapse

[mointainwalker]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...home-neighbours-extension-causes-crumble.html

Any forum members in that county - maybe specialising in extensions - got any inside information on this ?

 

[Norcon]

Looks like they excavated below the foundation level to lay pipes.
Either that or the foundations were just not adequate or a combination of both.

 

[^woody^]

This is what the Party Wall Act is for

Classic case of too deep and too near

 

[maltaron]

I would suspect that when the houses were built the foudation depth was decided by the "heel in the ground" method and probably only about a foot deep. Undisturbed, the houses have stood for tens of years. The modern method of "1 metre deep at least" alongside has been a disaster. One wonders who approved the building regs application without test pits.

 

[^woody^]

Those semis would typically have a 700mm or so foundation.

If the builders were doing any trench close to the wall, then it would be up to them to take the necessary precautions. The b/regs approval is only for the technicalities of building, the practicalities and method is up to the builder

But it is a sobering reminder for everyone

 

[urbanite]

The garage wall, which looks like it supports the first floor bedroom above, has exposed foundations you can see the corbelling to the base of that wall which looks like it is on the neighbours side. In a trench as it happens, with at least 2 rwp's, from the right sides house, that are not even connected up to the drainage system. Rainwater could wash away what that garage wall sits on within a few hours.
Why that wall has been allowed to have the footings exposed for any length of time is beyond me. Shore looks dodgy to me.
I'm beginning to feel they did this without building control advice, party wall surveyor or even a builder that actually knows what he is doing.
I don't think they'll be covered on their insurance either., expensive option for an extension.

 

[maltaron]

If any members of DIYNOT live in Wolverhampton it would be interesting to hear of any outcome of this, particularly if any criminal charges or insurance disputes arise.

 

[mointainwalker]

Just as a bit of curiosity, will the council end up billing someone for all their work or are they here acting like one of the emergency services ?

 

[Paulg31]

...

 

[^woody^]

The builder is also a very experienced builder

Experienced in what ... demolition?

Was the trenched shored up? And I can't see any horizontal braces from the flank wall to support the neighbours wall, and stop anything like this happening in the first place

Experience?

 

[^woody^]

Just as a bit of curiosity, will the council end up billing someone for all their work or are they here acting like one of the emergency services ?

Yes they don't do nothing for free. The council will call out a contractor who will bill the council extortionate rates, and then the council will re-charge this to the homeowner

Then the homeowner has to claim this back off the neighbour who caused the damage

Presumably this will all go through insurance, and end up at the lap of the contractors insurance .. if he has it.

It's a nightmare with at least four parties involved (assuming no other subcontractors), each looking not to pay and who to blame

 

[mointainwalker]

@paulg31

Building control left requiring no extra work to be done

As woody said earlier on, BC say what they want done, not how it should be done, so it's not up to them to tell a "builder " how to dig a trench, so your comment here has no merit.

As for clearing things up, think i'll wait for some more confirmation about that.

@woody

Looks like this could be a financial catastrophe for the homeowner with the new extension, especially if it was a friend who won't have insurance who caused the whole shemozzle

 

[noseall]

On our most recent project we had to dig a 1.5m deep foundation directly adjacent to the neighbouring building for a distance of 5.5m. Our dig exposed their footing and went below it by a good 900mm.

We decided to dig and concrete in stages. Once a section of foundation was dug we would hammer rebar into the soil so that there was 500mm of bar both in the exposed pit and into the soil of what would be the next part of the footing.

Worked ok. BC was happy.

The same BCO witnessed the devastation caused when a local builder did something very similar to the Wolvo' gig. He dug a footing adjacent to the gable end wall next to an end terrace in my local town.

A plumber i know was in the footing, when the tenant came rushing to tell him to get out of the trench. When they asked what was up she showed them what was happening to the wall upstairs as she could see daylight through the cracks that were appearing and that the building was on the move.

An hour later the gable end collapsed.

None of the floor joists or roof timbers were helping laterally.

 

[simonjay]

On our most recent project we had to dig a 1.5m deep foundation directly adjacent to the neighbouring building for a distance of 5.5m. Our dig exposed their footing and went below it by a good 900mm.

We decided to dig and concrete in stages. Once a section of foundation was dug we would hammer rebar into the soil so that there was 500mm of bar both in the exposed pit and into the soil of what would be the next part of the footing.

Worked ok. BC was happy.

The same BCO witnessed the devastation caused when a local builder did something very similar to the Wolvo' gig. He dug a footing adjacent to the gable end wall next to an end terrace in my local town.

A plumber i know was in the footing, when the tenant came rushing to tell him to get out of the trench. When they asked what was up she showed them what was happening to the wall upstairs as she could see daylight through the cracks that were appearing and that the building was on the move.

An hour later the gable end collapsed.

None of the floor joists or roof timbers were helping laterally.

I had to dig down 1m alongside the neigbours single storey outrigger at the back of the house. Their foundation was about 500mm down. It was exposed for a few weeks up to a few inches of the wall - I dug out the last few inches just before the concrete pour.
However,
it was single storey,
very solid clay that I wetted every day with a hose
there were several lateral walls bracing this wall.

The notable thing in the collapse pictures are that single side garage wall with little lateral support due to the large garage door opening. It just looks precarious.

Simon.

 

[^woody^]

It seems that the house has had an extension above the garage

Also, if you look the flank wall it has buckled at first floor level.

So the foundation has dropped and moved outward, causing the wall to stay more or less in place at first floor level (restraint from floor joists?), which in turn has cause the top of the wall at eaves level to move outwards.

Looking at the roof design, there does not seem to be any lateral restraint to the flank wall - which is why it has moved out so much while the roof remains more or less in place

So I'd be looking at the construction of that extension too - whilst it would not prevent movement, there does seem to be some disproportionate collapse