My home, my castle - now pull it down

Five years ago Tony Everett was over the moon when he moved into his brand-new home next to Christchurch's Bexley wetlands, near the Avon. Now he has to pull it down.

A 1m-wide and 2m-deep crack has opened up in the ground under one corner of the house and he says it is only a matter of time before a condemned sign is hung on it. Cracks have opened up in the floor and the walls are sagging.

"I think it's going to have to be condemned. I can't see them being able to rebuild. It could take years to stabilise the area," said Everett.

It's the same next door, where Caroline and Malcolm Mehlhopt also face an uncertain future. When the earthquake struck, their first worry was that a tsunami might follow, so they headed to the hills.

But when they returned home they realised how badly their five-year-old home had fared.

The once-solid concrete foundation had shifted dramatically and the home was tilted at an awkward angle. A 10cm gap now separates the lounge doors from the patio and cracks are evident in nearly every room.

"The whole house has subsided," Caroline Mehlhopt said.

"You walk across the living room and it is like walking uphill. There is just so much structural damage. I hate to think about what lies ahead.

"All the houses in this area are damaged. They are either going to have to be knocked down or...I don't know what. How do you fix a concrete floor that has been pushed all out of shape?

"I'm trying to be strong but I know it is going to hit me soon."

- © Fairfax NZ News