Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Apr 22, 2011 5:33 pm We moved into our newly built home about 12 months ago and we are concerned about the amount of movement we have in our slab. Within the first 3 months we noticed cracking appearing in cornices in nearly every room. However more recently we have noticed cracking appearing about our sliding door and having tiles throughout our home we have found cracking grout running in a almost straight line through the middle of the house. We have also found a few tiles cracked along this line. I have also notices some cracks in the outter brick work that are hairline cracks through the mortar. We are not sure whether this is normal for a house this age and if there is anything that we can to fix it....Do we go back to the builders? The have been unhelpful about other maintainence issues to date ( we are still waiting for things to be fixed from our 3 month maintainece reveiw ) Some of the cracks were filled and repainted at 3 months but they were big enough for me to fit 3 fingers wide in. WE know that it has been un seasonably wet this year and we are on clay, being in the western suburbs of melbourne, and we know that we are on a "H" class slab, should be have this much movement?? I will up-load some photos as soon as I can. Any help or advice would be much appreciated. Thanks rcarlyon Re: Movement in our slab 2Apr 22, 2011 5:38 pm Some cracking is normally inevitable. Without seeing it is hard to say what is acceptable. Normally floor tiles should be laid using a flexible adhesive to cope with some movement and limit cracking to the grout. The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: Movement in our slab 5Apr 22, 2011 8:59 pm The cracked tiles are typically caused by the crack in the slab, if you remove those cracked tiles, you will see the crack in the slab, I hope you have kept some spare tiles. Did you pave around the perimeter of your house to protect your slab? Below is an article from CSIRO talking about how to protect your footing. http://www.publish.csiro.au/Books/download.cfm?ID=3612 Re: Movement in our slab 6Apr 22, 2011 10:09 pm Sorry to hear this. IMO: A slab that young and cracked so much that the tiles are cracked, and not just one or two tiles, is not normal to me. From what you describe, I'd say that the cracks in the slab are not 'hairline' (super fine). This is regardless of the fact that they tiled the slab so quickly after it's been laid. Do you have screed under the tiles, or are they glued direct to slab? What type of slab do you have (waffle pod, ... etc)? Any piers? How level is the block? Do you have lots of fill under the slab? Do you get lots of water ponding around one side of the house? And/or another side always dried out? My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Movement in our slab 7Apr 22, 2011 10:37 pm You NEED to engage a qualified and registered building inspector. Even if you have VERY slender fingers and the gap was 4cm that is still a large gap and there seems to be something else going on. There will be movement in every house and I think everyone should expect touch ups to be needed. Cracking around all doors and windows is the norm these days as build times are much shorter. 5 months is a very short build time. i would question how long they left the slab to cure and settle before the frame went up AND how soon the roof and (I assume) bricks went on. Even then there shouldn't be such large gaps if there is sufficient bracing in the slab. I think you should secure copies of the soil test, feature/contour survey and slab design. I would then get a separate soil test from multiple areas around the slab. I suggest 1m from each corner of the house (so if it was a square you would have 8 samples) Give these to your inspector so They can compare vs the originals and the contour survey. I'd also be interested to see how adequate your drainage is. Kel mentioned about paving around the house. Your choice of paving/landscaping MAY have had some impact and every possible cause should be looked at. Have look at your house plans and you will probably find that brick articulation joint has been missed. Maximum allowable spacing is 6M or 5.5M for a wall with window… 17 20616 Are they stumps or screw piles ? How much fill is there, is the site a class "P" ? A "H2" site is not supposed to have stumps it is supposed to have grid beams according… 1 6955 House movement is always a potential problem and there is a cause. Yes you should have it inspected by a competent and experienced building consultant 2 7058 |