Regret of buying house

[Worriedhomeowner]

I’ve just recently purchased my first house with my boyfriend and I can’t stop worrying that it has subsidence.

Naively we only got a really basic survey from a family member (who is a structural engineer) but did not get any further checks done.

Since moving in we have had an increase in cracks in the house and I am convinced it’s due to subsidence. We are on a busy road in London and the houses around us all have cracks too.

I can’t stop worrying about it and it’s having a massive effect on my mental health, but I am too scared to get the cracks checked out in case it is what I think it is.

Can anyone help me see sense at all?

Not all cracks are due to subsidence.

we have a lot of hairline cracks where we’ve had new plaster, which I think is because of settlement and extreme temperature/ humidity changes.

Was there any new decorating done before you moved in? That often get a hairline cracks as it dries/settles.

Do you want to post a picture of the cracks ?

As a rule I think they need to be wider than a cm to be of concern? Or maybe 5mm?

As others have said, not all cracks are subsidence. We had a largish one in upstairs hall and fixed it a few years back with bars embedded in the walls. It wasn't that expensive and no sign of the cracking since. Subsidence is not all that common I think, it's more likely to be something else.

I think this is absolutely normal. I spent months catastrophising when my sale was going through, researching trees/distance from house etc.

We do have a lot of hairline cracks, but I've no doubt they're caused by temperature changes etc. Last summer was incredibly hot. How I deal with it is by telling myself if it IS subsidence it's not the end of the world. It can be fixed, for the 1k excess on most insurance policies.

You sound a bit like me with my first flat. I got the most basic valuation survey as money was so tight, then spent months obsessing over a crack in the ceiling.
I put a small pencil mark by it and that reassured me quite a bit as it wasn't actually getting any bigger (despite me convincing myself it was).
I think home ownership can be daunting & a big responsibility, & that can be anxiety-provoking. I can get very fixated on an issue and spend ages looking at the worst case scenario (I know it not healthy, & I do try to limit this!).

Are the cracks internal or external?

We have some tiny cracks in our plaster and what appeared to be some larger ones, but it’s actually thick lining paper on the walls that has cracked. Lots of things can cause cracks, not just subsidence.

It can be stressful owning property, but most issues are minor and even for the major problems there is always a solution, although it may be costly and inconvenient to remedy.

I think your level of stress about this is an issue, but the cracks themselves are unlikely to be.

Why don't you ask the person who did your survey for their view?

Get yourself some tell tales and screw them
onto the cracks. They are really cheap and then you can see if there is movement quite easily, hopefully it will put your mind at rest!

Don’t worry too much about the type of survey you had, we had the bells and whistles one AND a specialist structural one but, when we moved in a few months later, still found our house was coming away at the seams!! Cracks are now pretty much my specialist subject - we’ve had 15 sets of steel bars fitted and the back of our house is currently held up by acrows with a big hole in it 😂

Houses move and crack for a whole host of reasons, historic movement, shallow foundations under bays/extensions, the roof pushing down on the house, plaster drying out or aging and shrinking away from the walls. New houses settle too which causes cracks but it’s perfectly normal. Cracks thinner than a 5p piece aren’t worth worrying about and even slightly bigger ones are often nothing untoward! I could fit my fingers in some of our cracks which was when we started to worry but the house had still stayed up even with them.

What are the cracks like, where are they and how big are they? How old is your house? Our builder stuck bits of cardboard the width of the crack into them and then you can tell if it’s still growing by if it falls out or not.

Cracks don’t always mean subsidence. It can be the plaster has gone, it needs repointing, temperature changes. Or just a bad paint job. Keep an eye on the cracks and if they get bigger, get someone out. Don’t bury your head, this is one of the things to tackle sooner. If you have subsidence then you have home insurance, that’s what it is for. If you have subsidence, you don’t always have to underpin the whole house, sometimes it can just be a wall so it doesn’t mean it is a £20K job.

I was once told that you only need to start worrying about cracks if you can fit a pound coin in it.

Old houses always have some cracks in plaster work, especially in London where they are on clay. The ground moves slightly as the clay dries out and gets wet over the year.