We live in a 150 year old brick cottage which as been rendered. Just over 9 months ago we sold a plot of land to the rear and the owners started to build a house, timber framed and brick skinned.
Over the period of construction there has been upwards of 40-50 lorries, heavy cranes, cement mixers, delivery vehicles etc. which have passed up the drive (owned by us) within 2-3 feet of our buildings.
Consequently a number of cracks have appeared in the render around the gable end and lean-to sections which stand adjacent to the driveway.
We had a clause placed in the sale document for any damage caused to be repaired.
I must add that the driveway has sunk by as much as 5inches with the weight of traffic. This is to be relaid.
The owner of the new-build never made any assessment of the make-up of the driveway or surrounding areas near to the cottage to minimise and reduce any impact that his works would have on our building.
The render was painted two years ago and there was little or no sign of any problems/cracks.
My view is that the premature failure of the render has been caused by heavy traffic using the driveway which was never intended to be used for that purpose. We did ask that small delivery vehicles be used but this request fell on deaf ears.
I wonder what others think about this problem?
