Defective lintels or subsidence?

Nothing to do with your photos. I asked the biker how he can state that there is subsidence from those limited photos, and how he could state that there is subsidence in the absence of no internal cracking in the same place as any external cracks - which is indicative of foundation movement (aka subsidence).

Oh ok, sorry. Where the crack is below the window there's a big radiator on the other side and wallpapered around so it's hard to tell if they are on the inside too. I think there are some but I don't think they follow the same pattern. There's so many hairline cracks in this house we haven't really been taking notice when decorating etc.

What's the best thing to do now?
 
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If you had a metal lintel it should support the bottom of the bricks. It looks more like a softer DPC material which was put over the inner concrete lintel and under the brickwork to stop any water running down the cavity and inside the house.
Replacing the timber with plastic can cause cracking above.

So it would be something else causing the crack below? The window does seem to very slightly dip in the centre. From the photos does it look like we haven't got a metal lintel or would you not be able to tell?

Sorry. I feel stupid but I haven't got a clue :)
 
From the photos it looks like there isn't.
Thanks,

So where the survey says they may need repair or replacing... really they need installing?

Is it more cost effective to wait until we can afford the new windows and get it all done at the same time or is it the longer we wait the more damage and more expensive?
There's cracks all along the top of the windows internally too so i'm assuming we're also wasting a lot of money in heat?
 
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Aside from the cracks issue:

Your pics show an air brick just below ground level thats blocked with soil.
Clean out that air brick - and then search and find and clean out all the air bricks around the house.
The ground level should be below the air bricks - and 150mm below the DPC.
I cant see the DPC line - perhaps its behind the black cable?

There's a very thick mortar bed just above the air brick.
Someone had miscalculated when setting out - its bad practice to have such thick mortar beds but the bed doesn't show any signs of instability or pressure.

Your cavity wall appears to have been injected with Cavity Wall Insulation - presumably the whole house was injected with CWI?

Edit: just noticed your wall tie reference. So the regular pattern of white circles are wall-tie positions?
What exactly happened with the wall ties?



FWIW: your neighbour has the same replacement window frames - do they have any crack issues?
I doubt that you are wasting heat.
 
Aside from the cracks issue:

Your pics show an air brick just below ground level thats blocked with soil.
Clean out that air brick - and then search and find and clean out all the air bricks around the house.
The ground level should be below the air bricks - and 150mm below the DPC.
I cant see the DPC line - perhaps its behind the black cable?

There's a very thick mortar bed just above the air brick.
Someone had miscalculated when setting out - its bad practice to have such thick mortar beds but the bed doesn't show any signs of instability or pressure.

Your cavity wall appears to have been injected with Cavity Wall Insulation - presumably the whole house was injected with CWI?

FWIW: your neighbour has the same replacement window frames - do they have any crack issues?
I doubt that you are wasting heat.


Hi Vinn,

Thanks for your reply. There's nothing behind the black cable. I thought the thick mortar above the air brick was where the dpc was?

I'm really confused how you knew the cavity wall had been done but yes I think the whole house. However when we first moved in we were hounded by companies wanting to do CWI for us as apparently it showed on a national register as not being done and they didn't believe us that it had. The previous owner was very hands on and his sons were builders so if they did it themselves or not we don't know. They built the garage (with asbestos roof), conservatory (without permission), all the fitted wardrobes, hung every photo with huge nails which has left us with holes and crumbling plaster in most walls and the stupid thing for the pond pump which I'll post in a minute...

As far as I'm aware she hasn't got any issues with cracks that we can obviously see from our side. But then ours aren't easy to see unless you're looking for them. Her pointing is much better and more recent so I don't know if that has made a difference.

We were told in the survey that the dpc was bridged and I was going to post a new thread in relation to this but since you're here I'll pick your brains if you don't mind... It said bridged but didn't say where. But basically could be any of the following (all pictured)... The conservatory, stupid pond thing which seems to have its only blood foundations! or decking... or like you said just the ground in general.

Because of all this I wouldn't know where any other airbricks are. There's one on the inside of the dining room (other side where the chimney breast is on the gable end) not sure if it goes into the chimney breast but it had been blocked up for a long time. We had that wall replastered because there was water dripping down it and have left it open and the wall seems to have stayed dry since. Again not shown in the survey. The building next to the decking with the hose on is an external utility joined to the back of the house with no access inside.
The white door which looks like there's dpc showing or i'm assuming that's what the black thing is and where the dog is standing next to is the conservatory and how it joins to the house.

Sorry I know the photos look a mess. It's all getting removed but we're getting there slowly one step at a time!

Thanks again.
 

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Hi Vinn,

Thanks for your reply. There's nothing behind the black cable. I thought the thick mortar above the air brick was where the dpc wall is
Probably is, could be 2 courses of slate or they just needed to bump up.
Bridging means the mortar covers the DPC material which isn't a big problem. CWI leaves drill holes, usually at the base of a perp and the bed joint.
 
Edit: just noticed your wall tie reference. So the regular pattern of white circles are wall-tie positions?
What exactly happened with the wall ties?


I've no idea. The survey came back to say houses in the area are well known to have wall tie failure.
Apparently it was checked and all was fine but we never saw any proof of this just took the estate agents word and the fact the mortgage company were still happy to lend. The previous owners said someone had been to put a camera in the wall but we didn't see any other evidence of it.
I know now we were stupid to just take people's word for it etc but we were 24 and 22 year old first time buyers and trusted them to tell us what we needed to know :-/
 
Probably not in an area of shrinkable clay which can affect foundations. Long runs of brickwork sometimes crack as they expand and contract near the frames which are the weak spots in the wall. This is due to moisture and thermal movement. It usually stops at the DPC. If it goes below it may indicate a foundation problem.
Next door has been repointed so it may not show the cracks.
 
I can now see the DPC in a number of your pics, and it appears to be well above the ground - however, your ground levels appear to alter dramatically as you go around the house. So its possible that the DPC is bridged here and there.
Bridging is to be avoided, even in a cavity wall.
Bridging can also occur inside the cavity due to debris build-up. Is there any damp inside the house at skirting level?
And in a 1959 house of your type there would be no slate in the DPC.
The conservatory DPC is doing its job.

Wall tie inspection is best done from various points and different heights using a camera or boroscope in the cavity.
There's a brick with newish mortar low and left, near the ivy, where the only inspection on that wall was possibly made - post #5, pic2.
The brick was removed for the inspection.

However, if there is CWI then it could be blocking your air bricks inside the cavity. Have a look. It would also pay you to inspect the condition of the joists tails in the sub-area wall pockets.

The air bricks that I'm referring to are below floor level and allow through ventilation of all suspended floors.
You should have air bricks every 1.5m to 2m according to Regs.

The circle pattern doesn't fit the profile for CWI so I guess that someone somehow determined that thats where new wall ties needed fitting or replacing.

As you recognise, the deck and garden are probably bridging the DPC, and the wall is being soaked with splash near the hose bib.

At some stage you should open up the chimney breast flue and have the flue swept, and the stack examined for weathering. The redundant flue should be vented bottom & top.
Go and examine the chimney breast in the loft for leaks or minor structural movement.

You have a knock-through at the deck - is there a nib of brickwork supporting the right hand bearing of the lintel, or does the lintel go into the chimney breast cheek?
 
Probably not in an area of shrinkable clay which can affect foundations. Long runs of brickwork sometimes crack as they expand and contract near the frames which are the weak spots in the wall. This is due to moisture and thermal movement. It usually stops at the DPC. If it goes below it may indicate a foundation problem.
Next door has been repointed so it may not show the cracks.


Thanks,
It didn't say anything about it on the survey however saying that on the other end of our village is clay pits which google says was a former clay extraction site. It did say we're in a mining area and we had to pay for a mining check.

Are the cracks going through the centre of the bricks anything to worry about? If it was structural is it likely next door would have these?

Just been thinking, the pond lining is leaking and has been for a while. It starts about 4 meters from the side of our house and about 1.5m diameter. When it's been dry the level drops about 20-30cm but then refills and maintains its level when it rains frequently. Could this be causing an issue or is it no different than if the rain that's refilling it was to fall?
 
And in a 1959 house of your type there would be no slate in the DPC.
There are a few houses like that round here built in the 60's with slate DPC's. It is still allowed although nobody I know uses it.
 

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