Stabilized Foundation and Subsidence Repair Without Removing Protected Oak Trees

The actual treatment from GeoBear was very quick. took a week. The prep work that was required again was sort of directed by GeoBear, what they wanted to do. This is once they had decided they were going to go ahead with GeoBear. They had a drainage survey done, which was done by a company that GeoBear subcontracted to. And that actually was the only other company that came and took up some slabs and stuff. That was it, really. Hello, my name is Sheena Lashko and I live in, well, near Saffron Walden in North, in Uttlesford in North Essex, England. We noticed that the porch is the first place we noticed was actually showing signs of subsidence. was cracking either edge of the way attached to the main building and the garage was also showing some cracks in it where it was attached to the annex that we built later built behind the garage at a later date. We had one really dry summer in the UK and it started to show then and then the subsequent two sub-sundowns weren't too bad. And then we had another really bad, really hot summer and it cracked again. My biggest concern about fixing the foundations is really to stop the movement, really. It was pointless just filling in the cracks because as soon as we had another hot, dry summer, it would crack again. The property is built on hydroscopic clay, which obviously moves a lot when it dries out. We also have two big oak trees at the front of our property that don't belong to us, but they're beautiful, very old oaks that are under preservation order, so even if he wanted to do something about them, we couldn't, but they will impact the soil as well. Well, we put the claim through the NFU, the insurance company, and they were the ones in the end that came up with Geobear. Having considered lots of other options, the first option was ridiculous because they suggested we cut down the trees. That wasn't ever going to be possible because they're not ours. And also, if you cut down trees that are probably about 300 years old, you're going to cause heave, obviously. So that would not have worked, so I said no to that and then we had another meeting. The claim is put forward to a different building surveyor who came and had a look and actually, he said no way, you know, he would never have recommended cutting down the trees anyway and he came up with Geobear My overall experience of working with GeoBear is very positive, actually. We developed a relationship with one of the lead guys in the UK, who was very helpful. It took a long time for the company that NFU had appointed as the building, not contractors, but the building or suppose the person who was organizing the whole thing and that took a long time and GeoBear were very proactive and emailing our lead in that company and helping me hassle her really to actually get the work done and get them to agree to all the things that needed to be done and get on with it really. Push for it, push for it to start and be finished. I think I would recommend Geobear because it, most importantly, it's actually not much upheaval. You don't have to move out. The people who actually did the work were lovely. They were really professional. They looked after our property carefully. They explained what they were doing all the time. They were very user-friendly. They were very careful when they actually injected the whatever it is that you inject into, into the foundations. They were very careful about how they did it. They were monitoring the whole time and making sure they weren't putting in too much or too little or putting it in too fast, all those kinds of things. And then when they had finished the whole thing, the whole sort of treatment, they cleared up the site beautifully, very courteous. I mean, I can't praise them enough, really. They were great.