At a council house in West London, a leaking drain had caused subsidence at the rear of the property. With a young family living inside, the issue needed to be rectified as soon as possible with minimum disruption for the tenants. Hammersmith and Fulham Borough Council used Geobear’s innovative solution to fix the subsidence in just one day.
Project background
This project involved a council house on Aldbourne Road that was experiencing subsidence at the rear of the property, with diagonal cracks visible in the exterior walls. The subsidence was caused by a cracked drain: water leaking from the drain had caused the soil to wash away and the rear elevation to sink.
The house was home to a single mum and her children – for whom moving out, albeit temporarily, would be very disruptive. A solution was required that could rectify the subsidence as quickly as possible whilst causing minimal disruption.
Alternative solutions
The traditional solution, underpinning, would have been problematic to implement in this situation. Firstly, it would take around a week and a half to carry out and would involve excavation below the property. The tenants would either have to move out while the work was being done or endure disruption to the home environment, undoubtedly causing some distress.
In addition, the property was a terraced house and the location of the subsidence would have meant work had to be carried out on the party wall. This would require the council to obtain a party wall agreement, involving additional work and expense.
Geobear’s solution
Geobear handled this project from start to finish on behalf of the local council, offering an end-to-end service. They inspected the property, identifying the broken drain and arranged for repairs to be carried out to the drain before fixing the subsidence with geopolymer resin injection.
Geobear’s solution simply required a few small holes to be created in the ground at strategic points, through which an expanding and hardening resin was injected, compacting and stabilising the soil below. This work was carried out in just one day and there was no need for the tenants to vacate the property.
Why was Geobear chosen?
Geobear was the obvious choice for this project, as they were able to provide a solution that was non-disruptive, fast and more cost-effective than the alternative.
Avoiding the need to get a party wall agreement and carry out work on the party wall saved the council lots of hassle and money. Geobear’s patented geopolymer resin injection method also meant the subsidence issue could be sorted in just a fraction of the time underpinning would have taken.
Finally, the speed of the solution and minimal disruption was a lot better for the tenants living in the property.
