Because of road works my road has become a bit of a rat run for the past couple of weeks. The speed at which some people drive down a residential street is one thing. But in the area (as in many areas) there is a lot of house building going on, and we are getting a few fairly large lorries trundling down the road.
When in my upstairs front room office, a couple of times I've noticed the whole house shake.
Should I be worried? Won't regular shaking loosen the mortar? Would it be an insurance job? I'm not aware of an subsidence issues in the immediate area
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>> Should I be worried? yes,
>>Won't regular shaking loosen the mortar? yes
>>Would it be an insurance job? no
>>I'm not aware of an subsidence issues in the immediate area yet
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 15 Aug 19 at 10:03
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A few years ago we had a period of fully loaded tippers going by with the same effect. The problem was greatly exacerbated by them crashing down on a sunken cover. If the surface is smooth the shaking shouldn't occur.
If you can't stop the lorries maybe you can get the road fixed, if that is the cause?
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I live on a main road with huge volumes of traffic and of course very large/heavy vehicles. We suffer the 'shakes' daily but I not noticed any structural movement of the house.
My mother-in-law lived on the A41 in north London with far higher volumes of traffic than we suffer. She spotted some cracking and I suggested a structural engineer look at it. His comment was that the traffic was not contributing the cracking but was a result of her father knocking through the wall between front and back reception rooms without adequate reinforcement.
So, no need to be worried. If mortar is loose it may fall out and you should have the house repointed, but if it is not loose it won't fall out. You cannot blame the traffic for loose mortar.
However, always monitor your house and if yo note any cracking, especially during or just after the works, then immediately tell your insurer.
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Thanks for the responses. The roadworks which made our road a rat run have now gone thankfully. Next time I'm having a beer with next door I'll ask if they've noticed it at all, other than that I might take a few pics now so I have something to compare to in a year or so, if given more grounds for concern.
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House shaking - Zero
