House structural repair question

[freepo]

Hi there,

Thinking about buying a house, you can view it here

zoom in to the the top of the window above the front door, you can see that the brickwork has moved. The house originally has brick arch lintels this particular lintel has at some point been removed and it is now no longer a brick-arch, rather, the lintel is now made up of bricks laid horizonatally - you can just about make this out on the picture - and there is a poxy strip of thin metal underneath the bricks, - it might be a proper lintel - one of those modern ones with the structure of the lintel hidden behind a facade of bricks.

On this brick faced lintel on the right hand end you can just see in the picture there is a crack there through the bricks. On the left hand side there is a substantial amount of movement of the top 5 or 6 courses of bricks they stick out into the window by about 12 - 15mm The window/wall also looks twisted on the left hand side

Underneath this window (not visible on the picture) there is a fine crack running from the right hand side of the red windowsill into the centre of the brick arch above the front door, with the crack running through the brick arch itself

In addition on the gable end (rendered) on the end where the front door is there are some other fine cracks where windows are and also a larger crack (4mm) at the point a single storey extension joins to the main house.

I will try to get some proper close up photos of all the crack to show here later.

Questions:

1. Would the whole of the brick work on the left hand side have to be pulled down and re-set?
2. Could I replace it with a proper brick arch lintel?
3. What does one do about a crack in the render between the ground floor extension and the main house?

1. How much would 1 & 2 cost when done by a good builder?

Thanks

[NT]

the pic doesnt show the cracks at all. So generally...

1/2" of movement shuold not require any rebuilding

if you mean the lintel over the door, normally yes no problem.

fill it to keep expanding ice out

The big problem with this house will be cost of insurance. Be sure to get quotes before offering - and you will likely need a specialist insurer.

NT

[Bruce]

I can see that you want to do this on the cheap, but there is really no substitute for employing a structural engineer. If there is to be a mortgage on the property, the lender's surveyor/valuer is almost certain to demand a structural survey in any case.

Although I am qualified to carry out such a survey, it is not possible give an opinion based on photographs. There is no substitute for a proper site survey. What might appear to be a minor problem can be hiding something more serious.

If you phone around, you may be able to engage a local structural engineer or technician who will meet you on site and give you some informal non-binding indication of whether the problem is likely to be serious (expensive) enough to avoid making an offer for the property. If you can fit in a meeting around their work schedule you may be pleasantly surprised by their price. Depending on their opinion, you can then decide whether to commission a full survey yourself or rely on that done for your mortgage lender - obviously you don't want to end up paying twice.

It looks an attractive property and I hope that you will find that the problems are not serious. Good luck!

[freepo]

Hi,

No, I meant replace the lintel over the top window where the brick arch has been removed.

And the centre of the brick arch above the front door has opened/ dropped in the middle slightly, what is to be done? Fill the bottom of the gap with slate?

I will have to get some better pics to try to show the cracks. Hopefully I'll have them up here on Saturday

It always worries me when I see cracks on a house I want to buy. I haven't had any experience in dealing with them before.

Thanks for the insurance tip, how does one ask the insurance to quote? Tell them about the dropped lintels and cracks?

[NT]

IIUC you've now got bricks there and a strip of metal under them. Why then do you want to do work there?

fill the gap wth mortar. If you need to rake any out, support the arch first, as removal of mortar could possibly cause it to fall otherwise. For a visually better result, take the dropped part of the arch out, propping the rest, clean the bricks and mortar them back in. Do use the right type of mortar for the age of the bricks.

Yes, and they'll want to know history too re any monitoring, claims, work done etc. If you dont disclose this any policy will likely be invalid.

NT

[freepo]

Because of the crack on the right hand side of this lintel (which is just about visible on the picture when you zoom in) And because of the movement in the column of bricks on the left hand side where the wall appears to be pushed out at the top (not really visible in the pic) and there is a 15mm step in the brickwork (shown in the picture)

And to restore the house to it's original brick arches which look more attractive than horizontally laid bricks.

Thanks

[NT]

Its hard to say much without seeing the crack, I didn't see anything clear on the google pic. Arches do turn a downward force into a sideways spreading force, and shallow arches gear this force up considerably.

NT

[Mark]

Quite honestly unless you are getting that house _considerably_ cheaper then comparable ones in the area i would walk away, you may find getting a mortgage on it problematic as the lender will want a full structural survey (if they will lend at all) and will withhold cost of any remedial work needed, which could run into thousands, as it looks like the flank wall has moved. P.S the advice you get on here is only worth what you have paid for it, particularly if it's from NT. 

[NT]

Good chance the insurer isn't going to know what remedial work is needed, as it seems the OP doesn't have long term monitoring data to determine the stability or otherwise of the situation. I asume the OP realises that normally the insurer will not pay for remedial work for a preexisting condition, nor ditto if it continues to deteriorate.

Factual info could be more useful. Youre right about one thing, the price would need to be significantly reduced by the structural issue for it to be a good deal.

NT