Cracks in plaster - advice sought.

[stroker_ace]

Hi,

I wonder if anyone has experienced (or could advise on) the following.

Last summer my sister had the lounge of her Semi re-plastered.

Just after Christmas I noticed a diagonal crack had appeared in the plaster on the party wall around 1mm in width and wider at the top than the bottom.

It has also cracked the coving at the top of the room.

I examined the wall in the eaves above the ceiling where the cracked plaster is located and have noticed that there seems to be a lot of mortar missing (In places I can see right into the wall cavity).

The damaged area had been obscured by hardboard so I assume the previous owner knew about these cracks and decided to hide them.......

The house is built on clay soil.

Should we be overly concerned here or should I just repair the cracked plaster and monitor the situation?

I am concerned that the plaster crack has occured over a short (3 month) period.

Cheers.

L

[Phil L]

Eaves? - on a party wall? Also is her lounge upstairs or is it a single storey building or an extension?

The surveyor should have spotted it, the previous owner has 'got away with it'

Repairing it won't solve anything, it sounds like a case of severe subsidence to me, especially since the coving has cracked too, if it had just been the plaster it could have been put down to shrinkage.

Me too but more details are required before a proper opinion can be given;

How old is the house?

how many storeys is it?

Has next door got an extension, or does your sister have an extension built on the elevation towards which the crack has formed? - the reason I ask this is because some years ago a relative had an extension built and it 'dragged' the house over, by about half an inch, there were cracks everywhere because the extension sunk and took the back of the house with it, obviously the cracks were not in the back walls of the house but the side walls IYSWIM.

Does your sister have buildings insurance? - she may need it.

[stroker_ace]

The house was build c. 1960.is a two storeys however the upstairs is a dormer type construction and projects vertically frrom the roof.

The 'upstairs' cracks are on the party wall of the small roof section below the upstair dormer room.

If the original surveyor should have spotted the damage would there be any recourse on them?

[Phil L]

So the cracks are downstairs? Are theye any upstairs cracks above the downstairs ones?

Highly unlikely, they have contracts which gets them out of almost everything, plus as you say, they've only appeared since it was bought.

Any chance of a picture? - you can upload it to:

hosting, no sign ups or registrations)

I cannot visualise what you are talking about...

[dg]

The property is a chalet type house then?

the time of the purchase, and if as you say they were hidden by hardboard, then how is a surveyor supposed to see them? It is not common practice to remove fixed wall boarding.

Cracks do not equal subsidence, and buildings move during the seasons quite normally. It could be due to one of a number of possible causes.

I would suggest monitoring it over several months or even a year before filling. If it gets more than 10mm in a short time then seek a professional opinion.

dg

[Lawrie]

I suppose it is a bit like a chalet, yes.

Here is an ASCII art diagram - to view switch to the fixed font option at the top of the page.

It is drawn looking looking towards the shard party wall

U | \ p | \ s | Loft \ Roof t | \ a | \ i | Cracks\ r | in \ s | Mortar\

--------------------\ Ceiling void |

--------------------| / | / Cracks | / in | / plaster | | | |

--------------------- |F| |o| |o| |t| |i| |n| |g|

Cheers

L.

[The Natural Philosopher]

The bit marked 'footing' is sinking, dropping the front wall.

Underpin it, cut down localised trees, or live with it and fill the cracks..

[dg]

Or the bit to the left of the footing is lifting, or the footing has moved out slightly, or the one leaf of the party wall has moved, or the roof and dormer has spread, or the external wall has rotated .....

Or it may just close back up in the future.

Its no good underpinning, cutting down trees, repairing cracks etc, untill the actual cause has been determined, only then can the correct remedial action (if any) be done.

Have you asked the neighbours if the crack is on their side of the wall too?

dg

[Phil L]

please see the thread 'all these posts without context' and follow the advice given for google groups users, you are (inadvertently) removing all context and making threads difficult to follow, considering you are a Blueyonder customer you have free news access anyway ....just create a news account in Outlook Express>tools>accounts>news>create account news address: news.text.blueyonder.co.uk

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