Hi All
Semi-detached built 1952. Finlock guttering. Rerendered 7 years ago because of damage caused by damp from gutters. New render now cracking, also small cracks in plaster inside (damp?) Also, a wide crack on an inside wall.
Should I be worried?
Rog
Define 'wide crack'? AFAIK, cracks
Sounds like it might be a structural problem, but its impossible to be sure from so little info. Most struc problems are not dangerous. If you get an expert to look at it you'll know where you stand.
Regards, NT
Many thanks :) One crack (on the internal wall only is 5 - 7 mm wide, but it's been there for many years.
Rog
If you tell a potential buyer they'll faint. Cracks of that size are very rarely a danger in practice. But it does mean the structure is weakened, since it is split. If it hasnt moved in years that shows stability, which is very much a good thing.
The official line would most likely be a 1 or 2 year investigation with repair work costing so many thousand. But most people simply mortar the crack up and leave it at that. I couldnt possibly advise you what to do :)
Regards, NT
"N. Thornton" wrote | The official line would most likely be a 1 or 2 year investigation | with repair work costing so many thousand. But most people simply | mortar the crack up and leave it at that. I couldnt possibly advise | you what to do :)
Stretchy rubber wallpaper is your friend! Now you no longer have to paste a whole wall! Just attach a small hook at each corner, cut the stretchy rubber wallpaper to approximate size, and stretch and fix into position! Parallelogram walls? No problem with stretchy rubber wallpaper! Widening cracks? No problem with stretchy rubber wallpaper!
Owain
In article , Owain writes
This is not quite as silly as it sounds. The Victorians built their houses to settle. They used lime mortar, which adjusts to settling, and anaglypta wallpaper which stretches over cracks. People were quite happy to fill cracks when the house moved a bit.
Then along came modern building techniques, where safety margins were cut, and the structural engineers didn't understand anything that hadn't got a kitemark on it. Coupled with surveyors didn't understand the old ways and you got a spasm of unnecessary underpinning. Then the insurers realised the whole thing was a waste of time and money, and went back to make do and mend, and a lot less disruption for the householder.
There's a web site that can explain all this better than I can. I think its on the building conservation website, but I can't find a link to it at the mo.
J.
Funny that.
I have precisely that (stretchy rubber wallpaper) over one wall of my flat (a party wall with a neighbouting flat), where the room is supported by a concrete lintel over a passageway. It's actually some kind of wierd composite which is 'rubbery' in feel with a textured surface.
From some comments made by my neighbour, I suspect (but can't prove) that a previous owner put it up to cover some cracks. What bothers me is that I now have no easy way to see if cracks are actually there, short of stripping this stuff off, and I can't monitor crack growth. Is there a gizmo that'll tell be about cracks under the wallpaper?
Given the (purpose built) flats have been up for about 30 years and show no obvious* signs of subsidence, I'm not too concerned. Just one concerned.
Sid
*The flats themselves look fine. There are some external staircases at right angles to the buildings which show bad subsidence, but I suspect they don't have the same foundations as the buildings, which are probably built on piles and/or a concrete raft. Similarly the pavements and walls around the flower beds look as through they want to grow up to be roller coasters. The survey before purchase (one step down from full structural) didn't mention any possible subsidence issues, and given how conservatively these things are worded, that gave me enough confidence to go ahead and buy.In article , S. Endon- Lee writes
Funny you should say that. We had a "Homebuyers' Survey" (since renamed a "Homebuyers' Report", and felt confident that as it said "If there is any need for further reports this will be highlighted by the surveyor", then everything must be all right as he hadn't asked for any further surveys (other than the usual ones - plumbing, timber and so on). He didn't even mention drains as all other surveys I've had have done. So those vertical cracks under the windows can't be a problem then, and the crack across the dining room ceiling must be long standing.
Luckily for us, as the report was commissioned by the Building Society (despite us having to pay for it) it was also used as the basis for our insurers, though they didn't feel inclined to chase the surveyor for the tens of thousands of pounds that it cost them, which means we weren't allowed to either.
J.
"S. Endon-Lee" wrote | > Stretchy rubber wallpaper is your friend! | Funny that. | I have precisely that ... | From some comments made by my neighbour, I suspect (but can't prove) | that a previous owner put it up to cover some cracks. What bothers me | is that I now have no easy way to see if cracks are actually there, | short of stripping this stuff off, and I can't monitor crack growth. | Is there a gizmo that'll tell be about cracks under the wallpaper?
If you fix tell-tales (crack monitors) into the wall with plugs and screws they'll react to the movement of the walls rather than just the plaster. That should alert you to big moving cracks.
This sounds all a bit optimistic to me. Btw I wonder what cost 10s of 1000s?
Regards, NT
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