Structural subsidence
Subsidence is movement in a building’s foundations. One of the visible signs is often cracking in exterior brickwork. If you have or suspect your property has subsidence, don’t be alarmed – our expert team of structural specialists will undertake the full range of structural monitoring and repairs. They will identify and fix the problem quickly, confidently and with the minimum disruption.
There are several ways that subsidence occurs. Most often it is a result of ‘clay shrinkage’ when a prolonged dry spell causes the water table to drop and movement occurs. Other causes include trees and bushes growing under the foundations, water leakage from a broken drainpipe washing soil away from the foundation and previous mining activity.
Most subsidence-related problems can be fixed using Helifix Sustainable Structural Solutions. SDM is one of only four Helifix-approved installers in Scotland.
The process incorporates a detailed structural survey and assessment of the situation, diagnosis of the problem and its causes with recommendations for its solution. This is followed by schematic designs and specifications by our Helifix-approved in-house engineers and quality installation by our fully trained Helifix-approved Installers. All designed repairs are underwritten by Helifix professional indemnity insurance and 10-year insurance-backed warranties are available for all Helifix repair work. Please refer to the Helifix terms and conditions.
Our professional installation ensures concealed, non-disruptive, structurally reliable repairs. In those instances where foundation settlement results in cracked or buckled walls, Helifix Micro-pile solutions provide a technically superior and more cost- effective alternative to expensive, disruptive and time-consuming methods of stabilisation that require extensive ground excavations.
Our structural monitoring service establishes the cause of the damage prior to the works and also makes sure the problem has been successfully fixed.
- Level monitoring establishes whether there is any continuing movement of the building as a whole and identifies the extent and nature of the movement. Levels are taken periodically on a series of points around the building. Using the latest technology, our team are able to monitor foundation movements to a fraction of a millimetre.
- Crack monitoring is carried out by installing small metal studs either side of cracks and readings are taken to establish whether the cracks are opening or closing.