An interesting day, heh.

[MotorWerk]

Here I am, at the office, trying to sort out last years company balance - which seems to have been done by two drunk monkeys - and all I can think of is that today it's 328 years since the annual Lady Godiva procession began in Coventry, England.

The CD player is jammed so I'll have to listen to Kraftwerk's The Man Machine the rest of the day, which isn't so bad I suppose.

[Milaya]

In cases like that, I love to use the shredder.
If I had to listen all the time to only one song, I would throw the cd player out of window, take my medicine and go back to bed.I remember once listen to Dido's here with me far too many times.Unfortunately there was no window in that room...Medics and bed had to do it...
I could share my happy time now. Think I'm gonna clean the bar now...

[Zimtsternchen]

Ooooh happy time good. *brings out the rum* sorry Breezers are out...

What a frelling day. I came home from work to find the girl from our Beauty Salon in the kitchen, telling me that DK and her boyfriend had rushed off to find someone in charge cause there was new major damage to the house cause of the construction. Which they happily continued all afternoon btw, not as much but the floor was still vibrating. We had "experts", landlord and her husband and two of the offspring rushing through, mumbling and taking pictures. At some point they said we might end up in hotel rooms for the night. The girl had to close her Salon because the customers were scared and it felt like the whole building could collapse any minute. But in the end they agreed that the house is safe, they are going to stabilize the back wall and make sure no more sand can get away from under the house, and that "they are going to make it a nice house again once this is over". WTF?!?

Take a look at the kitchen...

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e367/VGSmiles/Pict0114.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e367/VGSmiles/Pict0123.jpg

[Zimtsternchen]

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e367/VGSmiles/Pict0122.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e367/VGSmiles/Pict0118.jpg

Don't know how well you can see that the doorframe is crooked, the door is effectively jammed into place. There's two gaps an inch wide and several feet long in the hallway, which is also slightly uneven now. The wood paneling looks mainly intact but the wall behind it is not. I try to get some outdoor shots tomorrow.

It's an ugly house (our rooms are real nice though) but it was/could be not that bad. It is now. We are looking into legal advice now - and for real estate agents.

[RustySlinky]

. . . "they are going to make it a nice house again once this is over". . .
ooOOoo!! Nice!

An opportunity to expand the house? How about a flap door for the dogs? A sliding glass door in place of the crack in the wall? An extra 20 feet of space, with an indoor grill for the kitchen? ;)

[Zimtsternchen]

Yeah I can just picture it: the back wall collapses and the landlord goes, "well, see, you have a backyard now!"

[ctheokas]

Zimtsternchen, love the cracks in the wall, especially since you can see outside through them. I hope they're fixing that quickly. And you're right, legal advice would be a good idea, especially if you're going to move.

[eta_carinae]

dude.... that was caused by construction? How old is your house? and what kind of construction? cripes!

[scrape_medic]

I think thats called de-construction. Or the short version....destruction. What are they building and how did they manage to turn the sand under you house into liquid?

[malachilenomade]

:eek: WOW! Call me silly, but wouldn't they want an actual building inspector or something along those lines checking the place out to see if it's safe rather than the landlord? If you're getting that much damage from nearby construction and the sand under your foundation is creeping away, that's unsafe.

[Zimtsternchen]

There were two so-called building inspectors.

They tore down the whole block, our house was supposed to go too but our landlord refused to sell. Now they are building new appartments around us with a huge underground garage underneath. There is a pretty impressive hole there, about a football field? They had stabilized the sides of the hole with metal sheets that they are taking out now, lots of vibrations and sand going down in between where the sheets were and the actuall new walls, I think.

[scrape_medic]

Seriously, in my former life as a civil engineer, unless they are actively doing something about reinforcing you foundations, right now, I don't know how any building inspector can say its a safe place to live.

Your local authority, council, city hall, whatever they are called whould have building inspectors and regulations that cover this. Also if you have buildings insurance I would get them on the case.

The vibration from the building site next door will turn the sand under you house to liquid, just like happens in earthquakes. That means it is able to flow more freely from under the wieght of your building, into any free space, like the gaps in the foundations next door.

Looking at those pics it looks like the wall is falling away from the rest of the building already, and is that a crack along the floor along that line of tiles running from the back of the door to the spin dryer?

[Zimtsternchen]

Yep that's a crack.

They said they would support the wall from the outside and put something on the sand to make it solid rock hard. Another bunch of people have been here today, but no further news. I guess the sad bottom line is, what's cheapest.

[malachilenomade]

Yep that's a crack.

They said they would support the wall from the outside and put something on the sand to make it solid rock hard. Another bunch of people have been here today, but no further news. I guess the sad bottom line is, what's cheapest.
Not to be too morbid, but that's a nice thing to put on a tombstone, if you get my meaning.... That's just not good enough.

[scrape_medic]

Yep that's a crack.

They said they would support the wall from the outside and put something on the sand to make it solid rock hard. Another bunch of people have been here today, but no further news. I guess the sad bottom line is, what's cheapest.support it?! Its moved already! Looks like the bottom corner of the building has shifted.


Who are these people....so they represent you or the building contractors. If they don't represent you, then get your insurance people onto it straight away.