Cracks on wall painting

[asalcedo]

I moved into my house a couple of years ago.

Over the last few weeks I have noticed several cracks on the interio wall painting. I am almost positive they were not there before.

They are in different rooms, but the most obvious ones are on one sid of the property, on the top floor and the floor below.

The cracks are mainly horizontal, 1-2 milimeters wide and 2-5 meter long.

How do I identify the cause?

Many possibilities occur to me:

1. Paint contracting due to the dry central heating air.
2. Weight and vibrations of washing machine plus dryer nearby
3. Small non-important movement of the building
4. Serious structural fault

The house was built in 1926, wooden joist floors. The top two floors d show some settlement in a different part of the house (about 7-8 cm dro over 5 meters of floor) that apparently stopped long time ago. Th property was painted to a good standard about 6 years ago.

Other than that, the house seems to be in quite good condition.

Regards,

Antoni

-- asalcedo

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Since the cracks are horizontal you could almost rule out it's foundation movement? as most foundation cracks appear verticaly or vertically zigzaged up the wall.

Could be anything from the plaster if new? being dried out with a blower instead of naturally drying, heat directed at the newly plastered wall does make the plaster crack particulary if it's a thin coat(skim).

Plaster boarded walls tend to show up cracks if the gaps have no matting to conceal the gaps before plastering.

-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

[Andy]

Sounds a bit like my house, 1939, one wall probably dropped an inch over that time and skewed the doorframes on that side of the house. I've just finished replacing 5 bricks on the outer skin that were cracked in half by the movement - previous owners were content with putting mastic in the crack!

I've had some wall/ceiling interface cracks open up this autumn, a bit perturbing but it's difficult to ascertain the cause. I am suspicious of the fine warm autumn we have had, in that it may have caused some change in the soil ( my brother's house has cracks that are seasonal, so it does happen ).

If your cracks are horizontal, perhaps your roof truss restraints are relaxing: the roof then spreads outwards under its own weight and takes the wall with it. This leads to horizontal cracks as part of the wall tilts out with the roof movement, whilst lower parts remain upright. Usually visible near the roofline though AFAIK.

Otherwise, the thing I would do is keep an eye on things. In fact make notes or glue a tell-tale in position. The usual culprits to look for are trees near the house, and burst sewers or water mains. Another potential problem is to do with cavity wall ties failing, and the cavity wall leafs are then too slender to remain stable in some cases, so bulging can occur, which might cause visible cracking. I imagine the test for hat would be to inspect inside the cavities witha camera or check the profile of the inner/outer walls to see if they are flat or bulged.

All things to consider anyway, but probably the only practical thing you can do is watch and keep notes for a year or three and see if this problem is progressive.

Just my opinion,

Andy.

[Rob Morley]

1. Cables under the plaster.

[asalcedo]

Thank you for your comments.

Ruling out foundation movement is comforting. Thanks.

The plaster is not new. I don't think it has been changed for at leas

10 years.

And, no, there are no cables underneath.

The most obvious crack is located along the middle of the coving in th celing on one side of the building.

The next most obvious crack is located on the floor above, on the sam side but further along, not on the same vertical, along the union o the vertical wall and the sloping wall formed by the roof.

Thanks,

Antonio

Does old plaster just show up age in this manner

-- asalcedo

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Rob Morley wrote: [snip]

?

-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite