Disintagrating wall, advise needed??

[Rick2517]

From looking at your photo, and reading the posts you've made about the scenario in which the wall collapsed, it seems to me as though the tree roots may have lifted the left hand side of the wall, causing a linear crack or weakness through the wall. Add frost damage, age and lime mortar to the mix and it's probably very lucky that the wall fell the way it did rather than onto your crew on the other side.

 

It's such a can of worms you have here, I think you should just let your insurance company fight this one as you don't have a leg (or a wall) to stand on!!

 

The insurance company, surveyors etc will drag the whole thing out for months anyway, so another option may be to be a little more assertive with the property owners and tell them that they have two options - you rectify the damage and reinstate the wall 'as was' or they fight your insurance company and you walk away.

 

Be good to hear how you get on, best of luck mate!

 

thanks allot, thats some sound advice hear and from all other posts to, im still trying to get a quotation from a builder so just trying to keep people happy in the knowledge that i am trying to resolve the situation as quickly and as fairly as posable.

As soon as I Get a quote together for repair I will make the offer and leave it to them, if its refused then i will take youre good advise and hand it over. ive got more important things to spend my time doing then fighting with a un reasonable guy. and I think you may be right about the tree as this may explain the original claim for the wall! However what the picture doesnt show is the tree was actually about 10feet below as there is a retaining wall between the customer and neighbour. so altho tree root damage could be posable what is the chance of roots moving that much soil?

Any way thats a hole different argument and not mine to have so il stay out of that one lol.

 

thanks again all youre comments have helped to structure the way I handle this matter .

and gave me chance to have a good winge :-)

[geoff]

Good luck with it mate,let us know how you get on.

[Rick2517]

Finally we have a result, I got a quotation from a local builder to repair the damage that we caused and nothing more, it came in at £400! now my excess for insurance is £500 and it would have effected my premiums for next year so I figured this was the best option. I sent them a check with the quotation and 2 months later they have cashed it. Case closed and lessen learnt.

Thanks for all you're replies guys

Rich

[WorcsWuss]

Just read through this sorry saga, good result! Must be a massive weight off you.

I took the top off a garden wall with a power harrow many moons ago. Right outside the front door of the local police station.

When the local finest finally found me a few days later [?!] I went back to take a look and the wall was clearly in pretty poor shape originally. I cleaned the mess up and laid the bricks back on the wall in the same codged up manner they had been previously and that was the end of it.

Essentially the same outcome as your wall but without the cheque.

Quite often the outcome is not nearly as terrifying as you first think it will be!

[McMichael]

Years ago we properly destroyed a rusty old metal five bar gate. The farmer went mental and wanted it replaced so we said we would, and returned a week later and replaced it with an equally rusty old five bar gate.

 

He went even more mental cos he wanted a new one but we walked away!

 

Fair play

[Rick2517]

Just read through this sorry saga, good result! Must be a massive weight off you.

I took the top off a garden wall with a power harrow many moons ago. Right outside the front door of the local police station.

When the local finest finally found me a few days later [?!] I went back to take a look and the wall was clearly in pretty poor shape originally. I cleaned the mess up and laid the bricks back on the wall in the same codged up manner they had been previously and that was the end of it.

Essentially the same outcome as your wall but without the cheque.

Quite often the outcome is not nearly as terrifying as you first think it will be!

I did consider this as an option and if the wall was 4 feet high then its what I would have done, but in this case it would seriously have put the tenants at risk (altho no more so then they originally where) but now I actually feel good that 1: the case is closed but 2: i really think it would have gone at any time and if it wasn't for us pushing the thing over it would have been the tenants kid kicking his ball against it!

[WorcsWuss]

You did exactly the right thing and I think it was a fair solution in the end.

It does smart a bit when something becomes your fault simply because you were there, when it's actually due to lack of upkeep by the owner, but that appears to be life unfortunately.

Presumably this hasn't become a talking point locally and done your reputation any damage?

[Rick2517]

You did exactly the right thing and I think it was a fair solution in the end.

It does smart a bit when something becomes your fault simply because you were there, when it's actually due to lack of upkeep by the owner, but that appears to be life unfortunately.

Presumably this hasn't become a talking point locally and done your reputation any damage?

 

No I dont think so, The customer was watching as it happened and even wrote us a statement to send to the landlord explaining what little force was put on the wall to make it full, I wasnt on site when it happened but the lads rang me as soon as it did and I came around straight away and spoke to all of the effected neighbours even tho one of them did become very rude but I think she was just shocked!

 

You are right tho its just the way things work out some times (wrong place wrong time) and I paid the price. Its just the attitude of people that got me going, I wasn't trying to hide from the fact that we had done some damage but they where trying to throw all sorts of rubbish accusation at us such as "trespassing" and "did we assess the stability of the wall before we started work" thats all good in hindsight but I usually take it for granted that if a wall is left standing then it is safe enough to do so. To many people are out to play the blame game and screw each other over as much as possible.

Ive got to admit tho I do pay allot more attention to near by structures when quoting jobs now!!!