Vibration Damage to Property

speedos

Hi

I'm looking for some advice and hopefully some peace of mind. We've recently moved into a new house - (2 storey, 2500 Sq. Metres). The house is located about 5m away from, and about a meter under a busy road, with a log of haulage and heavy farm machinery.

Whenever a heavy vehicle passes - multiple times a day and night, the entire house physically shakes. Well, you can feel the shockwaves, anyway. This is felt all around the house, but more evident in certain rooms on one side of the house.

The house is about 5 years old, and does have many cracks visible in the plaster on the exterior and some on the interior. There are some cracks visible on the wall between the house and the road also.

Like I said above, we've only recently bought this and have a 30 year mortgage.

1. Is this something serious to worry about - in terms of serious structural damage to the building?
2. If so, are there any measures that can be taken?

Does this type of problem come under the jurisdiction of the council?

rayjdav

Basically it sounds like you need a structural engineer out to look at this case specific house and only then can a real professional opinion be made. Otherwise all you will get here is well intentioned "blind" advice thats worth squat.

Did you not have an engineer look at the house prior to purchase and if so, what did they say???

I don't understand your query of how the council can be involved???

the_syco

rayjdav wrote: »

Did you not have an engineer look at the house prior to purchase and if so, what did they say???

This. And if the OP skipped getting one because they were too expensive, you sir, are going to learn a very expensive lesson!

speedos

Thanks for the responses guys.

We, of course, had a structural survey completed prior to purchasing. However, I still have a doubt that the impact from the road traffic was not evident or overlooked at that time. It may have been a quiet period when the survey was done. My post on here is more a wondering rather than taking it as gospel.

Extracts from the structural survey report...

"Although there were quite a number of hairline cracks around the entire external of the house, these cracks should not turn out to be of structural significance. There was no evidence of any movement of settlement of the overall structure.


There was evidence of some slight movement between the ceiling and the walls, this is probably due to some shrinkage of the ceiling joists or initial settlement of the house."

These all relate to foundations and construction of the house, and sound like assumptions. There is no direct reference to the proximity of the road or the impact of passing HGVs. It may not be relevant, I don't know. I'm not sure if that would have appeared in such a survey.

My query regarding the council is in relation to the condition of the road. The vibrations originate from the condition of the road - minor differences in the slope and level of the road directly outside the house. It also concerns them since they regulate the speed limit of these roads. If the speed limit is lowered in this area, I believe it would help matters. Total assumption, of course.

Basically, I would like to know if prolonged shockwaves/vibrations from HGVs CAN cause MAJOR structural damage. I'm not concerned with hairline cracks in plaster, etc, more like "could the house fall down on top of us??".

AIR-AUSSIE

speedos wrote: »

Basically, I would like to know if prolonged shockwaves/vibrations from HGVs CAN cause MAJOR structural damage. I'm not concerned with hairline cracks in plaster, etc, more like "could the house fall down on top of us??".

I would be o the opinion that vibrations from HGVs will not cause structural damage, but that aesthetic damage could be caused - as you say cracked plaster or some cracks in brickwork.

The issue with vibrations from heavy road traffic tends to affect the occupant's comfort rather than cause structural damage.

However, the only way to confirm for definite would be to contact a structural engineer.

the_syco

speedos wrote: »

Extracts from the structural survey report...

Best get onto your solicitor and a 2nd opinion for those cracks...