Settlement or subsidence?

[Ftb987]

Hi everyone,

I’ve recently had an offer accepted on a house, and I’m reaching out for some advice following a second viewing. it's an old house made of Yorkshire stone. I have arranged a survery and appreciate they'll be able to give me a more definitive answer.

During the visit, I noticed several cracks across the rear face of the property — I’ve attached photos for reference. I’d really appreciate your thoughts on whether these could be signs of subsidence or something more superficial.

Here are the main concerns I’ve observed:
1. Some of the cracks appear to run through the stonework, not just the mortar.
2. There are internal signs as well — cracks and wrinkling/bubbling of wallpaper on the corresponding interior walls.
3. The cracks follow a consistent vertical stepping pattern. They often seem to originate from window or door lintels, but not in every case.

From your experience (or from what you can see in the photos), does this sound like typical settlement, or something more serious like subsidence? Is it possible to gauge the level of risk or damage based on this kind of visual inspection?

Thanks in advance for any insights.

Are the walls plumb?

Is the roof sagging/oscillating?

We where buying a house with cracks like this and it was caused by 'roof spread' (the house would have needed bracing at 2 levels to pull it back together). Basically old houses didn't have the roof braced together with a band and over time gravity takes its toll and the roof displaces the walls (can happen much fast and worse if the original roof covering has been changed too).

Cracks can be from loads of things but it makes me think roof spread due to the first photo, when the roof pushes too hard a lip of about 3 bricks can collapse from the top where the roof beams rest (it looks like someone has possibly laid the bowed bricks). You will probably need a structural engineer to confirm it regardless of what the cause is though.

You need a specific structural survey if you want to know for definite. A level 3 survey will just say that there are "signs if movement" which you already know and will recommend a structural survey.

However, that house has clearly been standing for over 100 years and so unless the ground has changed substantially (flooding/mining) it is unlikely to be subsidence.

If the soil is clay, it could be seasonal movement?
Does it have a cellar?
A slight warning is that some victorian properties have extremely shallow foundations but the only way to find that out is to dig a pit.

These cracks look very minor and I reckon are unlikely to be progressive, given that the house is probably over 100 years old. I see one stone block which is cracked alongside the mortar joint, probably just because the sandstone is softer than the mortar in this location. The mortar joints generally look fine, but if you are tempted to get any of the mortar joints pointed up (I wouldn't bother - the cracks won't be allowing water penetration and it will look worse patch repointed), use a lime-based mortar, not a cement mortar like around the cill in the third photo. Cement mortars can cause the surface of the stone to spall away which can be very difficult to resolve.

Thanks so much for your responses. We've pulled out of the purchase. The sloping tarmac drive way has been recently relaid, and on the third visit we noticed a sizable crack in the tarmac which follows the stepping cracks on the property itself.

Thanks again for your guidance and advice.