Structural damage to house?

Question

I live in a terraced house, built early 1900's. The house next door to me is being completely gutted and renovated at the moment. I've noticed that since they started work, my bedroom door no longer closes properly - I have to really push it hard to get it closed. Do you think that the work next doot has caused some sort of structural damage to my house and if so, what should I do about it?

Answer 1

Without looking at your door, where it is and the condition of the surrounding wall, I can't really say. Are there cracks in the surrounding wall? Are there cracks along the ceiling? Is this door the only door with this problem?

One reason why the door may be made more difficult to close because of the work next door is that the hinges that your door is hung on are loosened by the vibrations from the works. With the hinges loosened, the door will tend to fall off plumb, resulting in the top leading edge corner of the door leaf fouling the frame.

Check the hinges on the door, and check that the door is plumb and aligned to the frame.

Answer 2

It could be that the door has dropped and can be sorted by a joiner. There could be a bigger problem, however, if they have removed structural walls or cut into them without propping them properly then that could cause some settlement.
Older houses sometimes have walls sitting on wooden wall plates which haven't been protected adequately against damp, this can cause them to rot and then the structural wall will drop a little.Any of these things could cause the problem.

Check the cheapest, and most likely cause first before upsetting the neighbours.
All the best.

Answer 3

Oh dear it sounds like you may have a major problem. Houses build around the turn of the century do not have foundations as we now know them.
The builder would typically build a wider section of bricks at the bottom of the walls (Say four bricks wide) straight on to the bear earth.
As a result any ground works carried out can result in the walls moving.
I would strongly recommend that you talk with the builders next door and find out what ground works they have done.
Then I would suggest you contact a building inspector to come in and take a look at the house.

Answer 4

Unless thay are doing something with foundations. e.g digging holes to underpin the property or knocking down supporting walls then I doubt it. It is possible that if there is a lot of vibration from the building work it may have loosened screws on the hinges. Check for cracks appearing as I would imagine this would be the first sign of structural damage.

Answer 5

Have a word with the people who are doing the alterations and explain what has happened...if you don't get any joy from them then contact the Building Control Officer at your local council and explain to him what has happened as they may be doing structural alterations which are affecting your property and that they also may need permission to do so....also have a look at this link about working on a party wall...
http://www.diydata.com/planning/party_wall_act/party_wall_act.php

Good Luck!