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Our Brief

After a decade of continually fixing wall cracks that had resulted from house movement, the owner of this Georgian style home in Sydney’s Inner West, decided on solving the problem permanently. Buildfix was called to find a solution.Situated in the leafy suburb of Newtown, the home was surrounded by mature gardens and a large Gum tree in the front garden.During the inspection by Buildfix, it was clear the house movement was active, and several attempts had been made to rectify the cracked walls. Effectively, it was like throwing money down the drain. No matter how often it was patched and painted, the underlying faults had not been remedied and the cracks returned .However, it was the layers of patching, and, the plaster tapes pushing out that help us determine the cause of the house moving.

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Our Challenge

Combining visual observations and our surveying technique, we determined the house was both lifting and sinking concurrently. We found during wet weather, the internal structure, and the side and rear elevations lifted consistently, however, the front continued to subside.This tug-of-war scenario was taking its toll on the house, and the cause was a large Gum tree in the front garden.Due to the enormous tree, and its thirst for water, the clay near the front was not allowed to expand with the rest of the house during downpours, instead it was going the opposite way.

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Our Solution

Because of the complexities causing the house movement, a multitude of repair methods was employed to fix the problem, both at foundation level, and above ground.We began by underpinning and lifting the structure at the front with our proprietary product, GeoPoly™ to reverse the effects of subsidence.To combat the reactive clay effects, and to allow the natural house movement, the walls were strategically reinforced with our HelicalBars™ and control joints installed.A FlexiCoat system was then applied to the walls to give a smooth finish, and all walls were painted.

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The Outcome

In the end, we were able to return the structural integrity of this beautiful Inner West house and preserve the heritage for generations to come.All the work, from the foundation underpinning, to the cosmetic finish, was completed by our team of skilled builders, engineers, and technicians: this reduced cost and the headache of hiring multiple companies for the homeowner.We also managed to save the Gum tree from being removed!

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The final outcome from wall crack repair

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