Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

Looking for recommendations for a builder who can give us advice regarding a property we are looking at. In the one corner of the house is a crack about 1 meter high to the ground that appears on the inside and the outside. Not sure if this is a simple repair job or possibly requires some underpinning.

Has anyone else had a small underpinning done, or can suggest builder who knows how to do this if necessary

Speak to Celal at Ersem Trading in Alsancak. Telephone 0533 8602754

A crack on the outside and the inside,unless you are buying the property at a significantly low price,
I would just walk away, or be prepared to spend vast amounts of money attempting to fix the problem.
Then this could have an impact when you come to sell

Zafer, why do you say this? Lot's of houses have small underpinning done. Would be very interested as to why you say walk away.

I have pm you lapta tony

Compass Cyprus (they advertise on this Forum) might give you more independent advice than a builder. Ask for Stuart.

I remember years ago going to a tyre fitting place asking them to check my tyres to see if they needed replaced. “Yes they do.”, was the reply, “Now I’ll check them!”

Laptatony,
Most new houses here are built with columns in each corner of each of the rooms in concrete reinforced with steel, or
should be for earthquake reasons , these columns support the concrete roof which will have steel bars for the same reason as the columns.( Your building if built like this is not going to fall down of its own accord ).
In between the columns is where the windows, doors etc go. The gap between the columns is usually filled with either block or red type cheap brick and then cemented over.
You will probably find that the crack you have is in the infill part of the structure ie block or brick and is not supporting anything.
Cracks in walls here are two a penny in this type of build and can be filled, but they are over time likely to return.
The problem is with the the heating and cooling of the concrete putting pressure on the repaired crack.
Sometimes taking out a large section of the infill and re-doing will stop the crack re- appearing but it might also mean another crack appearing later on in the new repair.
I am no expert, it is just my observations over the last 18 years or so and having watched my house and other houses being built over the years. My house is still standing and no reason to think it won’t be still here after I am gone!
Hope this is helpful for you.

I agree with Mr Chinnery, Tony, we have a couple of cracks which open up after every repaint. I have tried all different types of cement and filling compound over the years and the last resort will be to tile over the whole wall. It is the wall which directly faces the sun, and the septic tank is probably too close to the house. I know you have hair but you'll probably end up tearing it out. Only consolation is that others have far worse problems to worry about

Heaven wrote:Zafer, why do you say this? Lot's of houses have small underpinning done. Would be very interested as to why you say walk away.

Of course all the properties have cracks in the render, it's very unusual to see any forms of expansion joints in the render, so something's by has to give and you get cracks which can be filled and no problem. However what is being described sounds a bit more of a "structural" problem which will take time and a lot of money to repair. With the huge number of properties for sale why would anyone bother to buy a "problem" when there are so. Any others to choose from

Safer12
The crack might just be through the cheap brick infill which isn’t really structural.

I wouldn't argue with anything that's been said (unusually ) but if the OP is intending to invest money in a Property, then it would be prudent to seek professional advice rather than accept reassuring platitudes on a forum!

Quite agree Keith, but for-warned is for armed before someone turns up takes a sharp intake of breath and state that half the house needs rebuilding and it will cost x amount of thousands to put right.
Not everyone knows how these buildings are constructed and some problems are not as bad as some people will make
out.

Well, that's true as well

I would recommend having a chat to this guy: - http://www.compass-cyprus.com/

Keithcaley wrote:I would recommend having a chat to this guy: - http://www.compass-cyprus.com/

Didn’t I just say that (message 7)?
Do keep up Keith!!

Sorry!

I thought that someone had mentioned him earlier, but when I glanced through the posts, I didn't spot your link, so I thought that I'd imagined it

Anno Domini setting in...