Browse Forums Paving & Concreting 1 Mar 29, 2017 7:04 pm Hi all, I have found over the years that my property seems to change shape depending on the rain, after a downpour my side gates jam, my driveway gates go out of alignment to each other, I have cracks opening up in my small pebblecrete backyard but most concerning is that my porch is drifting away ... when the house was built (early 80's) they laid the porch slab separate to the house slab but over the last few years a gap has opened up to the point now where you can see down the crack (about 30mm wide...). Is this common? I cant afford to get the hydraulic guys in to pump the porch back into position, so what do I do? I am looking at tiling it, so I was thinking about making an overlapping expansion joint there. That way it wont look as bad as it does and it can still move if it needs to. I also noticed that a gap is opening up where the front lawn meets the base of the porch so its all a bit of a worry. What do you all think? Re: Front porch separating from the house .... 2Mar 30, 2017 2:36 pm Sounds like you are on a site with reactive clay soils, hence the soils shrink or swell depending on the underlying moisture content in the soil (resulting in the misalignment of the gates etc). The separation between the house slab and the porch may be related to the clay soil or may be a different issue such as consolidation of fill under or in front of the slab. - does the gap increase or decrease (eg with the shrink / swell of the soil), or has it just progressively increased over time? - is the natural lay of the land sloping away from the porch? Hi, it comes down to a few things - Durability, looks and cost. Generally, iron fences are more durable due to the fact they are resistant to pests and rotting but are… 1 16464 Get some long brass machine screws and bolt right through the gate and put brass acorn nuts and washers on the other side. It will never come off 1 9074 that will depend on the kitchen bench depth. you'll have to specify it so it allows for both the tap and the sink 1 7394 |