Building repairs refer to repairs that need to be carried out on a property to ensure its structural safety. There are many different types of building repairs that can be undertaken on a property such as work to resolve problems surrounding damp, drainage, electrical, plumbing and subsidence as well as structural repairs.

Damp
The most common form of damp is rising damp. This occurs when moisture from the ground rises up by capillary action and rises up the walls of a property. This moisture will most likely carry salts, which are deposited on the face of the wall when the moisture evaporates. This leaves the walls of your property stained and damaged.

Structural
When it comes to structural problems you will most likely start to notice problems with your roof, walls or ceiling. With structural damage there are certain things that you should look out for which can indicate that damage has been caused to your property such as bulges, sways, leaning walls and sagging roof titles.

Your roof is the best indicator that possible structural damage has occurred. You should look at the ridge of your roof and determine whether it is straight. If you notice that your roof sags in the centre or at the ends then the load bearing walls may have shifted. From the exterior of your property you should check either visually of with a carpenter’s level that the walls are vertical/straight.

You also need to ensure that the structure meets its foundation to ensure the building hasn’t shifted on its foundation. Whilst you are doing this you should also check for cracks in walls, especially around your windows and doors.

Subsidence
Subsidence is the downwards movement of the bearing soil on which a building rests. It can cause cracks in brickwork, render and plaster as well as window/door frame distortions and leaking/blocked drains.

Subsidence can happen due to a number of different reasons such as:

• If previous mining activity has taken place
• When houses are built on clay soils, and either the water table drops due to a long, dry spell or water is sucked out of the soil
• By trees and bushes. As the clay contracts it pulls the foundations, triggering deflection which may cause structural damage to buildings. Different types of clay shrink and swell at different rates
• Water leaks into the soil from, for example, a broken drainpipe and washes soil away from the foundations. This happens to soils with a high sand or gravel content usually, or sometimes in chalk.
The main evidence that subsidence has occurred is new/expending cracks in plasterwork or in outside brickwork or if doors/windows are sticking for no particular reason or if any wallpaper in your property has started to ripple and hasn’t been caused by damp.

Most commonly, subsidence is due to shrinkage of clay soils beneath the foundations. Shrinkage is usually caused by roots from nearby vegetation drying out the soil. Other causes include softening of the foundation soil.

If you start to notice any differences to the structure of your property as well as any cracks appearing in your walls, whether it be in the plaster work or the brickwork of the property you should seek out a surveyor to find out the extent of the damage that could have potentially happened to your property.