Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Mar 19, 2016 7:53 pm I seek advice from anyone with prior experience with a similar dilemma. My neighbour removed a retaining wall on his side of my boundary fence and all the fill and trees up to the edge of my driveway, past the boundary. He's left it open for 4 months and in that time my driveway has broken at the join, dropped and lifted and continued to crack like a puzzle the length of my driveway. The neighbour says his building works have nothing to do with the cracks in my driveway. The boundary fence, that my partner and I paid for some years ago, has also lost it's footing and cracked the edges of our driveway. Is there anything I can do? The neighbour won't give me his builder's details or his insurance details so we can't work with that. He's also not interested in a dialogue. Is there a course of action I can take to recover the cost of repairing/replacing my driveway and boundary fence? My property isn't new, the driveway is 70-80's pebblestone but it wasn't broken before the neighbour removed the fill to up under it. It had 2 surface cracks but the join was in tact. The broken, jigsaw-like cracks have appeared in the last 3.5 months. How do I verify that the damage resulted from the neighbours works? I look forward to helpful feedback. Re: Driveway cracked after neighbour removed retaining wall 2Mar 19, 2016 8:06 pm I would ring the council to get their opinion and also if you're allowed to make a complaint. Then I would ring your lawyers Re: Driveway cracked after neighbour removed retaining wall 3Mar 19, 2016 8:34 pm Thanks Kylie. I went to local council and was told it's a civil matter. I then went to the Community Justice Court to get mediation..no luck. I guess a lawyer's the only way, which I was trying to avoid. Re: Driveway cracked after neighbour removed retaining wall 4Mar 20, 2016 8:03 am Hi Adviceseeker Either way I recommend you start with the engineering to determine the exact cause and effects, For starter put some photos up and I'll take a quick look Further points to consider 1. was your drive way built correctly, ie rebar? 2. Geotechnical report ie bearing capacity? 3. Retaining wall report ie did the RW have to be removed? 4. Blah,Blah, you get the gist all the above variables need to be factored and considered independently and in unison the later needs to be modelled in Software because secondary effects are etrememly difficult to calculate without software, and would be supporting evidence (deal breaker/maker) in building your case. 5. I don't generally recommend (Multiphysics) Simulations for driveways sadly the average punters cant afford them (cost of software)... IMO, save your money and repair your driveway yourself its cheaper than the engineering reports 6. The flip side of 5, then again if you have deep pockets and its a matter of principle,etc,etc ..Please leave a PM see Example below Designer,Engineer (Civil,Const & Envir),Builder,Concrete & Masonry Contract.Struct Repairs Re: Driveway cracked after neighbour removed retaining wall 5Mar 20, 2016 10:56 am Great advice thanks Structuralguy! I'm not sure how to PM you. My pockets aren't that deep so maybe you're right and I should just redo it! DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair Hi there, I just recently received my new house from my builder. We handed the house to another company to deal with the… 0 8892 Plumbers 'can be' plumbers, made all the worse by self certification which the building surveyor invariably accepts as proof of compliance! The good thing is that you know know. 3 4835 |