Deciding to build a granny flat is simple, designing and building the extension can be a lot harder. You'll have a lot of questions to answer along the way. Can you use a general contractor or is is better to use one who has built a lot of granny flats before? Is a template design better than a customised one? Should you let the person who'll live in the flat have a say in what it looks like? Luckily, I'm here to help. My name is Maria. We moved my Mum into a purpose-built granny flat last year, so I've had to answer all these questions and more. I thought it'd be useful for other people to see how we managed the process, so here we are — get reading!
Should You Be Worried about Zigzag Cracks?
There are many different ways to design the foundation of a building, some of which are better than others. If you live in an older construction then you may have to deal with a practice that would be considered to be substandard in the modern era and, unfortunately, this can lead to issues that will need to be addressed. The foundation may become weaker as time goes by, and this may lead to instability. Movements in the soil may cause stress on the footing, and it may shift, turn or crack. When this happens, the slab may begin to move as well, and you may notice cracks in the masonry. Not every situation is a cause for alarm, but if you've noticed some unusual signs, then you may need to call in a building engineer.
When to Worry
Small cracks are to be expected, as they can be associated with settlement and natural movements of the earth. However, if you notice a larger crack that has a zigzag pattern, then this indicates that the building may have become unstable and you will need to investigate the issue before it gets any worse.
Causation
You may have unwittingly contributed to this problem in certain circumstances. For example, you may have removed some large and particularly mature trees from your yard, causing the root structure to die off, and this can affect the integrity of the soil in that area. You may have installed a water bore so that you can take advantage of the underlying aquifer in order to irrigate your landscape, and this may have diverted moisture away from the base of your home.
Extension Instability
Alternatively, you may have caused some instability by adding an extension. If you've built a new kitchen onto the side of your home, then you might not have taken full stock of its effect on the existing slab. This could have introduced some additional tension which could have led to these issues
Underpinning
To deal with this issue, you may need to get the property underpinned. The engineers will excavate to a certain depth beneath the footing and pour concrete into the pit. Typically, they will only focus on the load-bearing walls and will make sure that the concrete is mixed carefully to provide the best support.
Work in Progress
This is a very technical job, and you should only entrust it to qualified and experienced contractors. If you can, get to the bottom of the issue before work begins so that you know what may have caused the problem in the first place and, if necessary, make any adjustments for the future.
To learn more, contact a company like Pro-Pin Professional Underpinning.