Walls slipping on damp course! Information, help and advice on many architecture, self build and design problems and issues

[lovethetoon]

Hi there,
A close friend of mine has a problem where 3 of the 4 walls of his bungalow seem to be slipping away on the damp course.
At the worst point there is over 0.5 inches of overlap and he says that it has been slowly happening over the past 20 years. The house is 30 years old and he has owned it from new. The foundations and the few layers of brick below the damp course appear to be solid and running vertical. The 3 walls which have slipped have all slipped in the direction away from the house creating an overhang. My friend has had a structural engineer out to look at the walls but he siad he'd never seen anything like it before and he'd been in the trade for 30years+.
My friend is keen to sort out the problem but as he doesn't know the cause he doesnt know where to start. Please please please can someone give me an idea of what might be going on in my friends house.
ps.

[eljaybee]

I suggest you try a different structural engineer, or you may get more luck from a building surveyor as the only thing that I have ever heard of the kind of occurance you describe is due to thermal movement (expansion) this is why there are restrictions in the lengths of wall that you should have before a movement joint is installed.

[lovethetoon]

Many Thanks eljaybee,

I'll tell my friend about this and hopefully he'll have more luck. I'll let you know what the outcome is.

[TheDoctor5]

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