We've got an outbuilding - block-built, single-leaf, '70s or early '80s - which we're doing up at the moment. It's recently had the old, sloping and rough, concrete floor broken up and a new one poured.
Doing that, though, one part of wall has developed some serious-looking cracks. It's not a long section, maybe 1.5m, between door and corner. The door frame goes all the way up to a heavy wooden lintel which runs most of the length of that side of the building - so there's no tie between this bit of wall and the rest of that side, just to the corner.
The cracking's showing in the internal plaster, top and bottom, and the external render, bottom - the wood is visible externally, so the render ends where the cracking would show.
The bottom line follows the DPC. The top line follows the top of the blockwork. The guys who were breaking the concrete up reckoned they could see the wall moving, but it "feels" solid. There's no cracking within plaster or render of the main body of the wall.
What's the best way to deal with this? Seems there's three basic routes...
- Ignore. It'll be fine...
- Remove as much of the old mortar as possible and repoint. Will it being the DPC line make it more difficult?
- Take the wall down and rebuild it, supporting the timber (and, obviously, the roof) in the process.
Cosmetics are relatively unimportant. The outside of the wall's going to get re-rendered anyway, and the inside is going to be lined.