Any surveryors / structural engineers around??

[Gomez]

I appreciate that you can not give specific advice but in general would you consider repairing a 35 year old house built on a raft foundation where there appears to have been a degree of movement at one corner. House is still very habitable although slanting floor is quite noticeable. The movement appears to have been uniform and there are no cracks in external walls. No idea if movement still occuring or not. Would it be hideous to try and repair? There is no evidence of subsidence either in this house or area in general so appears to be a construction issue with this individual property.

We are waiting on an engineers report but am desperate to find out if it is at all possible. Or just in general a bl**dy stupid idea!

Friends bought a house with a similar problem. Theirs had huge cracks in the walls though and in the end the house was demolished and rebuilt !!
Sorry can't be of any more help.

Ahhhhh - gingerbear wrong answer!
Thanks thou'.

Bump

I think it's probably repairable.

Thanks SofiaAmes!

My husband is a surveyor and this is what he said when I asked him. It depends on whether you wish to buy this house or if you own it. If you own it, then it would appear from the info provided that no remedial action need be taken , except possibly monitoring any future movement because the raft appears to be doing what it was designed to do ie "float" on a poor sub soil. If you are considering buying, you need to consider a future sale because it is an aesthetic problem, assuming there is no further movement. Check to see if any monitoring of movement has been carried out. It's not something that can really be repaired. I hope this makes sense to you and is of some help.

Thanks. Engineers report was encouraging, as you said Lucy need to determine if still moving or not, which can be expensive so recommend straight to repair which isn't too hideous then sort out the sea-sickness inducing internal slope.... We are madly hoping to buy this house as it is in a nice area and much cheapness in comparison...

Sorry - Lucy should add that when I say repair I mean stop moving, bore holes show that the bottom layer is only 8Ms down so we can apparently stick big piles in and then surround with concerete which will do the trick. Please say thanks to your DH.

Best of luck, I hope you get your house, you sound really excited about it.