Crack on Stairs and beam problem

Apr 16, 2006 6 Replies

Hello



A couple of years ago I had a wall removed between the dinning room and the kitchen. The beams go from back to front in the house and the wall that removed went in the same direction so it wasnt supporting and building said it was ok. In the last 6 months I have noticed the following.


1) Crack all the way down there stairs either side. Between the stairs and the wall, not very big just 2-3mm.


2) I can see the beams in the ceiling downstairs throught the plasterboards, they have lowered by roughly the same amount. I was just thinking of sanding them down, but has anyone else got any ideas.


3) It is very noisy downstairs when someone is upstairs, you can see the ceiling bend when someone stamps or jumps upstairs.


4) I have looked at one of the beams upstairs and there is split along the beam. Others seem ok either side of it.



Should I be worried, start paying for engineers to check. Or just go a head and sand down beams and fill stairs. Is there away of limiting the noise as well.



thanks for any advice.



Tony



What do you mean "and building said it was ok", of course you have a problem, floors should not flex, cracks should not apear, you need some support and reinforcing, hire a pro for advise, something is wrong .

now you got me worried. it should have said builder not building.

He is a mates Dad so I trust him.

Just had a rethink, the wall was removed 5 years a go not 2 and only noticed the above 6 months ago roughly. Surelly if it was a result of the wall going it would have happened sooner and perhaps this is something else.

cheers for your reply.

You can get an engineer to look for $200. Why screw around with potential disaster.

Who should I be looking for, a building engineer?

cheers

Hi tony ,

I would request a visit from youur local building inspector. In my area they will come out and advise on projects at no charge.

You need a structural engineer. A good contractor/carpenter can probably see what is going on as well as a competent architect. The structural engineer's ultimate advice in writing is the one that counts. ______________________________ Keep the whole world singing . . . . DanG (remove the sevens) snipped-for-privacy@7cox.net

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