Dorine and Jérémy were evicted from their home three years ago, following a danger order. Due to the drought, their house was cracking and part of it was even in danger of collapsing. In France, one in two houses is exposed to the risk of “shrinkage-swelling of clay”… Extract from “Droughts, floods: who will pay the bill?”, a survey by Mathieu Robert, broadcast Thursday September 15, 2022 at 9:10 p.m. on France 2.
“This is where it all started, the first cracks appeared on this section of the wall. In 2017, it was much lighter and it continues to grow. There, you can easily pass your hand behind“, explains Jérémy Lazare to the magazine “Cash Investigation” (replay). In 2013, Dorine and Jérémy bought this house for 220,000 euros. Four years later, the first cracks appeared. Since then, they have continued to grow: it is a sign that part of the building is collapsing!”I feel like he’s a silent killer“, said Dorin.
Jeremy adds:Generally, when we talk about natural disasters, we have more in mind floods, hurricanes… much more sudden and much more visible things. The consequences are exactly the same. You lose everything.“So, to understand how they got there, you have to dig underground:”We have clays in the basement. We should find some pretty quickly. You already see… at the first shovelful…“A building with feet of clay… and this diagnosis is corroborated by the study of an expert sent by the prefecture.
The “shrinkage-swelling of clays” in question
The Lazare house is located in an area of high risk “shrinkage-swelling of clay”. Journalist and science popularizer Jamy Gourmaud explains what that means… and it’s not that rocket science: “The Lazare family house is built on clay soil. And clay is a sedimentary rock that is very sensitive to water. When it rains, it will soak up water like a sponge, but when it is hot and dry, it will become hard, brittle and shrink.“
“This is what happens in Hauts-de-Francespecifies Jamy Gourmaud. A succession of wet periods and very dry periods causes swelling and then shrinking movements of the clay. And this damages the foundations of buildings, which slowly but surely crack…“In France, more than 10 million houses are exposed to the risk of “clay shrinkage-swelling”, i.e. one house in two.
“Droughts, floods: who will pay the bill?”, an investigation by Mathieu Robert, broadcast Thursday September 15, 2022 at 9:10 p.m. on France 2.
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