woolybanana Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 Was wondering if anyone has had much cracking in their walls, or worse as a result of the prolonged drought?My very first French house walls were ab9ut three feet thick and used to have quite large cracks in very dry periods but they always closed up again when the rains came. That was a very old farm house which had no ‘proper’ foundation, just rested on immense granite type stones.Which makes me wonder whether that is not better than modern foundations which might be more prone to lasting damage in drought periods? Any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 IMHO, it depends on the soil where you are. For example, clay soil tends to get very soggy in wet weather and also tends to hold onto moisture. So, a prolonged period of dry weather could lead to shrinking of the clay and to foundations settling and cracks to walls.I know that in large parts of London (the famous London clay), many houses, over the years, have had to have underpinning to avoid subsidence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 I thought you may be talking about visitors to the site or new topics.Not back out for a month, wonder what I shall find? had some ground movement on the pool over winter necessitating a small repair but not bad for 17-18 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lehaut Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 I remember during the last episode seeing (on TV) people "watering" their houses in very dry clay areas to try to stop popogation of cracks.http://tiny.cc/2aoiazJudging by the problems the departement in the link is having (again) it may be necessary to change the norms for foundations in such areas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickP Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 At the end of our garden we have a mill stream which is a branch of Le Loir. Downstream a weir has collapsed, and while they are trying to find the owner, (only in France could a weir be privately owned) the river level has dropped by about three feet. Our millstream bed, because of the situation, we found was higher than the river bed, so that has drained plus our well has dried up. The biggest problem is, apart from the houses along the mill stream the village has an 11th-century church with wonderful frescos, things are starting to slightly move including the church and the tombstones. Everybody hopes it gets resolved as the village, Saint-Jacques-des-Guérets is on the traditional pilgrimage route to Santiago da Compostella. So the added drought we're experiencing doesn't help one bit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now