Post
by gillybean »
Sun Jan 23, 2011 2:01 pm
Hey Chris, thank you so much for taking the time to look and reply, I feel a lot better now :)
First the trees, the sycamore had been lopped, it was just the trunk no foliage which remained, it was around 9 feet tall. The guy who removed it took it away to be shredded or chopped or whatever tree people do with them! It just looked ridiculous as it was in the centre of the hedge.
The council tree which is on the pavement has already cracked our boundary wall but the council maintain it's due to our small leylandii hedge, which I disagree with at they have fibrous roots don't they? Anyhow it's a large Ash tree. At the other end of the garden further away is a lime tree which I believe are very thirsty trees but seen as this is further away I'n not too concerned. When the houses were built I am sure they didn't give much consideration to what they planted back then, nowadays they would only plant ornamental trees, perhaps like your cherry which generally aren't as invasive I think. The council assessed the tree over 3 of years ago as I mentioned about the roots sometimes visible in the grass, they told us to just remove them ourselves! I wished it wasn't there, much as I love trees but by removing I have read it can cause 'heave' as long as they maintain it....
Back to the photos. Yes, photo 4 is the boxing in under the RSJ supporting what was the external wall, also inside is the waste pipe from the bathroom above the kitchen - lovely! You can see where underneath the plaster and paint are kind of flaking off. My fear is that the old and new foundations are of course different and that one is moving against the other, I would have expected any settlement from the extension to have stopped by now. The extension was checked at points by the inspector who always came when I wasn't in. It's our fault it didn't get the final signing off as the only thing we couldn't agree on was his insistence to install vents in our windows as it's really exposed where we are (regularly get wind up to 50mph). Other than that the architect working with us sorted the calcs for the RSJ.
The worst cracks are on the landing above where the wall was removed along the skirting, they drive me mad and they look real bad in the pics, the green paint (must change that) crack is just above the tiling is common in a lot of houses that are the same on the lane ( I asked!!) apparently it's a common fault it still worries me though.
Thanks Chris!