Prevent people who damage from being sent from pillar to post. This was stated as the starting point during the launch of the Soil subsidence Service Point in Emmen town hall. As of today, residents of the municipality who experience damage to their home due to subsidence can go there for support and answers.
The arrival of the service point is the result of the many reports that the municipality has received in recent years. More than 100 now, half of which are from the vicinity of New Amsterdam and Erica.
stress
One of the inhabitants who has had to deal with subsidence is Aldo Krabbenbos. “As early as the 1990s, we got the impression that something was wrong with our house,” he recalls. “For us it was the most natural thing in the world to pick up your sidewalk and your garden once in a while.”
Five years ago, the subsidence of the soil took enormous proportions. “We were really stressed out. The damage was significant. The floors are crooked and the walls are cracked.”
Initially, Krabbenbos did not know who to turn to. Contractors and other parties did not always know what to do with it. “I had to find my own way in that.” The solution was found in a ring beam foundation, with piles that go seven meters into the ground. “Our house was about to die, but is now standing firm again.”
Not one cause
He sees the service point as a good, necessary step. “As a homeowner, you are on your own in these cases.” Krabbenbos sometimes speaks with neighbors who run into the same problems. “They think there is a party that you can hold liable. Or ask for compensation.
The problem is that there is no single cause. It is a possible combination of subsidence, renovations and faulty building structures, heavy traffic and the extraction of groundwater. The investigations are still ongoing. “But it is in any case nice that there is now a counter that can assist you.”
Constructor
The counter is a joint initiative of the province of Drenthe, the Vechtstromen and Hunze en Aa’s water boards and the municipality of Emmen.
According to alderman Rene van der Weide, the service point is not the answer, but in any case a tool that offers residents a helping hand. It offers people a place for their questions or a referral to, for example, a constructor or a soil consultant. “I also hope that this counter has a preventive effect. If people want to build a house, then they know, for example, what risks they are confronted with.”
Commissioner Hans Kuipers of the province of Drenthe expects that the experiences from the municipality of Emmen can also be taken into account in other parts of the province.