Will my house collapse?

[Jonathan]

A couple of years ago we had a wall knocked through in our terraced house and an RSJ put in.

About a year later, we found out that we should have had it inspected to make sure it complied with regs. Hmm. I put it down to experience (and maybe getting it inspected prior to selling the house - what a pain!)

About six months ago, I noticed some small vertical cracks had appeared in the plaster underneath one of the walls to the side of the RSJ, and some other (small) ones in the walls above.

Is some natural settling to be expected, or is this is a sign that we need to get things inspected before the whole place falls down?

Jonathan

[Richard Faulkner]

In message , Jonathan writes

If you are worried, you could get a structural engineer to have a look. If you provide him with the size and profile of the RSJ, he may not need you to expose it.

His report may also make it easier when you get building control to inspect it retrospectively.

[Weatherlawyer]

Is the cracking going out at 45 degrees? It will work its way to the other weaknesses in the wall -corners of windows and doors for example.

What is the RSJ resting on? It might not be too late to construct piers for it but you do have a major problem by the sound of it. The RSJ should have been set on padstones like lintles to spread the footprint. But it can also push the walls out.

Go outside and look for bulges against the straight edges of the ends of the bulding perhaps or drop a string-line on a plumbob from the gutter.

Happy new year. (Boy, it's at moments like this that getting screwed by British Gas can almost seem a pleasure.)

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Heh! it might be a mid terraced house and the wall is an internal one seperating living room to backroom(parlour).

-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

[daddyfreddy]

Did you do the work yourself or at least see the RSJ being installed?

I'd guess that the seating beneath the RSJ had some poor packing of mortar or in the bricks just below and that has now collapsed but probably best get an expert in to check it out.

[Roger]

The message from Richard Faulkner contains these words:

The way I read the op the problem is the support for one end of the RSJ rather than an inadequate section RSJ.

It is not clear to me whether the RSJ spans the whole width of the room or just a wide opening. Paradoxically the former might be easier to resolve with a relatively short crosspiece inserted in the right angle wall immediately below the end of the beam if it is the footprint that is inadequate. However if it is the truncated wall that is suffering either the wall itself or its foundations probably need more serious attention.

Yes. The BCO might also know what has happened in the adjacent properties. Knock out too many internal walls and the whole terrace could collapse like a house of cards.

[none]

I would pay a few hundred pound and get an engineer structual or civil in to do an inspection. Any comments beyond generalities you recieve on here are ill informed at best or plain wrong at worst.