Is this subsidence?

[jwilf]

Had an offer accepted on a house but noticed some worrying cracks around the front door when doing the viewing. Also a fairly big crack in the wall of the box room above the front door and signs of movement in the wallpaper.

Full building survey is booked but not happening until the 29th. So... does this look like subsidence?

The brickwork looks more like it just needs repointing as there are no cracks straight through the bricks. The plaster crack I'm not sure. Hope it all turns out okay OP, subsidence worries are very stressful. I read somewhere if you can stick a 2p into a wall crack it could be subsidence.

Also what I hate about surveys is they are so vague to cover their own arses "whilst I don't believe the wall crack in the top right corner to be subsidence related... it still could be" 🤦🏼‍♀️

Look carefully when you're walking in residential streets and many houses do exhibit the level of cracking that this house has above the front door. There's clearly been some movement at some point but it doesn't necessarily mean a current and active case of subsidence.
That's a big crack inside though.
I would not buy without a very thorough survey.

Does the crack inside match up with crack outside?

The cracks above the porch look to be more like the lintel over the door has moved slightly or is not up to the job, if indeed there’s much of a lintel there at all. That wouldn’t worry me much - easily fixed or upgraded. The crack in the plaster does look quite bad, but it’s probably not actually subsidence - I’d want it investigating though!

I’d feel quite worried about these cracks. Can the owners offer any kind of explanation? Is in an old house? Has it has any recent work done? Are there any big trees near the property? I don’t know much about this but I have an old house and have read a lot about subsidence and would feel concerned about the cracks on the photos.

We have a bit of this because of the kind of soil we are on. Not as impressive as the one inside that house though. What happens with us is that when the soil is wet it expands and when it is dry it shrinks. This causes some movement and a bit of cracking in the mortar. They tend to move a bit open and closed. Sometimes you can see minor cracking, other times it's completely closed and you can't. It's not a big deal for us but, if concerned, I'd get an inspection for that property to check if it's a deal breaker or not.

Mmm looks like the lintel over the door has collapsed which can happen over time. It's showing the tell tale diagonal direction if either lintel failure or subsidence so I'd get money it isn't just the mortar get a survey on it to be sure op x

Diagonal direction of the crack I mean which is common in any movement within a house x

It could very well be. I’ve done a lot of work on ground investigation to determine subsidence. Do you mind saying whereabouts in the country it is? (message me that postcode?) the I can check the geology map abs have an idea if it’s likely due to subsistence.

What age is the house, some older properties have wooden lintels so this could be rotten or in poor condition.
Are there and trees close to the foundations or ones that have recently felled this can cause the ground to swell or shrink.
Check for drains that run under foundations, perhaps if terracotta they could be damaged and washing away substrate soil.
To me it's not disastrous, old houses have cracks, and there are many easy less invasive ways to cure/strengthen the area.

www.google.com/search?q=tie+and+epoxy+wall.repair&oq=tie+and+epoxy+wall.repair&aqs=chrome..69i57j33i22i29i30l3.14218j0j7&client=ms-android-samsung-ss&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#

I doubt you'll get more than arse covering from a surveyor.
Better to use the survey report to negotiate a reduction and use the money to make repairs or stabilise the area.

Interesting to think that it could just be the lintel over the door, I didn't think of that.

I don't know about drains but there are no trees close to the front of the house, just a couple of small shrubs.

@jwilf - this crack is identical to the one I found in a house we're purchasing. We're in the same position, awaiting a survey before proceeding. What did yours come back as?

Looks to me like some sort of lintel issue over the front door. Its hard to tell properly from the pictures but thsts what my money would be on.
If the house is 30’s or older then it’s probably got wooden lintels and the opening is quite wide so more chance of them sagging/ deflecting over the years.

I’ve seen exactly the same over a bay window before in a friends house, we removed the wooden lintels and replaced with steel.