In article . uk,
Richard Meredith scribeth thus
In article ,

(Owen Dunn) wrote:

*From:* Owen Dunn
*Date:* Thu, 05 Aug 2010 22:29:13 +0100

I'm in one of those all-too-common situations where I have a problem
(in this case with my (1950s build) house) and I'm not sure what class
of expert to summon.

My staircase appears to have moved away from its adjacent wall. So
far
it's only about 1mm away, but I can measure this because the staircase
has pulled a small amount of the wall paint with it.

So, who does one call in a situation like this? The cam.misc wiki
entry for builders seems to be all about building fancy things rather
than mending existing buildings.

All buildings move to some extent, depending on the foundations. Small cracks
aren't usually anything to worry about, and a 1 mm crack is definitely small.

The existence of a crack is in itself nothing to be particularly concerned
about;
you only need to be worried if the crack continues to get wider over time.

What I would recommend is just to keep an eye on it to check it isn't getting
substantially bigger: if it doesn't close up of its own accord in a few months
and
its existence offends, Polyfilla is your friend. In the unlikely event that it
is a
sign of a more serious structural problem, all that will happen is that the
crack
will reappear and continue to widen.
If that happens, you may need to consult a structural engineer or building
surveyor
for advice; be very careful with jobbing builders, especially if they start
recommending expensive remedial work, since there are plenty of cowboys only to
willing to charge exorbitant amounts for unnecessary and frequently shoddy
work.


Good advice and what you can do is to take a few pix upload them
somewhere and post a URL of said pictures and crostpost to UK.D-I-Y
--
Tony Sayer

tony sayer wrote:
In article . uk,
Richard Meredith scribeth thus
In article ,

(Owen Dunn) wrote:

*From:* Owen Dunn
*Date:* Thu, 05 Aug 2010 22:29:13 +0100

I'm in one of those all-too-common situations where I have a problem
(in this case with my (1950s build) house) and I'm not sure what class
of expert to summon.

My staircase appears to have moved away from its adjacent wall. So
far
it's only about 1mm away, but I can measure this because the staircase
has pulled a small amount of the wall paint with it.

So, who does one call in a situation like this? The cam.misc wiki
entry for builders seems to be all about building fancy things rather
than mending existing buildings.
All buildings move to some extent, depending on the foundations. Small cracks
aren't usually anything to worry about, and a 1 mm crack is definitely small.

The existence of a crack is in itself nothing to be particularly concerned
about;
you only need to be worried if the crack continues to get wider over time.

What I would recommend is just to keep an eye on it to check it isn't getting
substantially bigger: if it doesn't close up of its own accord in a few months
and
its existence offends, Polyfilla is your friend. In the unlikely event that it
is a
sign of a more serious structural problem, all that will happen is that the
crack
will reappear and continue to widen.
If that happens, you may need to consult a structural engineer or building
surveyor
for advice; be very careful with jobbing builders, especially if they start
recommending expensive remedial work, since there are plenty of cowboys only to
willing to charge exorbitant amounts for unnecessary and frequently shoddy
work.


Good advice and what you can do is to take a few pix upload them
somewhere and post a URL of said pictures and crosspost to UK.D-I-Y

Looks like you have done it for him!

My money is on simple woodwork movement. Plus maybe loose attachments.

On Aug 6, 2:08*pm, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:
tony sayer wrote:
In article . uk,
Richard Meredith scribeth thus
In article ,

(Owen Dunn) wrote:

*From:* Owen Dunn
*Date:* Thu, 05 Aug 2010 22:29:13 +0100

I'm in one of those all-too-common situations where I have a problem
(in this case with my (1950s build) house) and I'm not sure what class
of expert to summon.

My staircase appears to have moved away from its adjacent wall. *So
far
it's only about 1mm away, but I can measure this because the staircase
has pulled a small amount of the wall paint with it.

So, who does one call in a situation like this? *The cam.misc wiki
entry for builders seems to be all about building fancy things rather
than mending existing buildings.
All buildings move to some extent, depending on the foundations. Small cracks
aren't usually anything to worry about, and a 1 mm crack is definitely small.

The existence of a crack is in itself nothing to be particularly concerned
about;
you only need to be worried if the crack continues to get wider over time.

What I would recommend is just to keep an eye on it to check it isn't getting
substantially bigger: if it doesn't close up of its own accord in a few months
and
its existence offends, Polyfilla is your friend. In the unlikely event that it
is a
sign of a more serious structural problem, all that will happen is that the
crack
will reappear and continue to widen.
If that happens, you may need to consult a structural engineer or building
surveyor
for advice; be very careful with jobbing builders, especially if they start
recommending expensive remedial work, since there are plenty of cowboys only to
willing to charge exorbitant amounts for unnecessary and frequently shoddy
work.

Good advice and what you can do is to take a few pix upload them
somewhere and post a URL of said pictures and crosspost to UK.D-I-Y

Looks like you have done it for him!

My money is on simple woodwork movement. Plus maybe loose attachments.


1mm woodwork movement? I'd go back to sleep.


NT