On 13/04/2021 21:22, NY wrote:
"Brian Gaff (Sofa)" wrote in message
...
Yes is the bungalow built on a concrete raft over an old clay quarry?
There is a house not far from me like that and the raft is beginning
to crack, one assumes due to subsidence under it, the road outside has
also developed cracks and a definite dip, and the porch fell off a
couple of years ago.
How long are such fixes supposed to last I wonder, these were put up
in the 1960s.

Don't talk me about mining subsidence. My school in Wakefield was right
under where the Coal Board wanted dig new tunnels to mine a new seam.
This is back in the days when we *had* mines - "You remember them?
Dinosaurs, dodos, miners." (Brassed Off).

The Coal Board knew that there might be subsidence, so they dug a
six-foot deep trench in the grounds all round the perimeter of the
buildings, filled it with ash (how many bonfires did that take?) and
tarmacked it over. This was supposed to make sure the whole school
dropped/twisted as a single unit, as if it were on a raft. Right load of
old ******** that was! For the rest of the time I was there, the front
of the school was propped up by an enormous wooden buttress, and there
was scaffolding and planks that you had to clamber over when going up
and down the main staircase. There were cracks (some 1/2" wide) in the
plaster all over the place. Goodness knows how much the school got in
compensation because the so-called subsidence prevention trench hadn't
worked. My friend's house, just down the road from the school, also
developed nasty cracks and the family were put up in a hotel for several
months while the Coal Board did remedial work.

Still, it was probably cheaper than what the Coal Board paid British
Rail to divert the East Coast Main Line between Selby and York because
of the subsidence that the Selby Coalfield mine was expected to cause.
I'm not sure whether there *was* much subsidence to buildings in the
area, but it was wise to take precautions and BR benefited by the
removal from the main-line route of the notorious reverse curve north of
Selby station and the even more notorious swing bridge over the Ouse.

******s.

BTW did I ever mention that my Dad was in charge of British Coals
(Yorkshire area) subsidence department?


--
Adam