Mysterious creases on wall

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Meike Mueller

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Hi there, we had our lounge decorated about a year ago by a professional (or so we thought) and now there are a couple of areas on the walls that look creased, with the creases getting bigger over time. One area is in the bay window and there could potentially be moisture coming in from the outside (green wall in pic), however the other crease is effectively on an internal wall where water damage would be unlikely (white wall in pic). On the internal wall, we also noticed a weird pattern starting to come through along the creases (zoom in on white wall pic), which we thought could be the tape that was used when decorating to cover up any cracks. Is it possible the tape has come loose or is this in fact damp related?
 

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These are a typical sign that you have foundation movement as the crack moves the wallpaper creases. May not be but it could be
 
Possibly old cracks in the plaster that weren't filled properly before papering?
 
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It's 99% cracks in the wall. Also the tape effect looks to me like the plasterboard joining tape which is a mesh tape used between boards. It looks like some has been used to bond the cracks.
The cracks themselves are in the usual places I see which is underneath the window frames. A lot of the time these are on bay windows!
Do you have any of the paper left? It may be worth stripping and doing that but again but dig out the cracks before filling them and sanding smooth.
 
Hi, thanks for the responses so far. Sorry should have mentioned that this is a plastered wall, no wallpaper anywhere. I believe the crease on the white wall where the mesh is coming through would have been a crack that was covered up initially. Is this essentially a decorating error and relatively easy & cheap to get fixed?

As for the creases on the green wall in the bay - the plaster there was blown previously but we didn't have the wall skimmed before renovating as we were told this wasn't needed. It may not be that visible in the picture, but they aren't cracks as such (unless there are cracks underneath?), the lines are essentially raised and a bit springy when pushed down. So whatever is underneath is hollow.
 
Hmm, no wallpaper. In that case there must be cracks underneath that have been filled on top. It's always the bay windows, to do with house movements and the weight of the windows.
Do you still have some of the paint? If you Stanley knife through those bubbles I'm almost certainly you will find a crack in the wall underneath. You need to break away any of the loose stuff and al ost invert a V into the wall where the crack is. Rake it out good. Then fill the crack in. It may take a couple of fills and you should end up with the filler slightly proud of the wall. When fully dry, sand down level with the wall. You can then repaint. I'd probably undercoat the filler first myself before the main colour.
If you do this and the cracks come back it will most likely be a house movement problem.
As for the other wall my head can't distinguish the size of the picture. Is that a whole wall?
 
Thank you. Is the blown plaster a major issue in repairing? i.e. would a section of the wall need re-skimming for a more permanent fix? We still have the paint.

Re crease on the white wall, it starts just under the cornice and finishes somewhere below the picture rail. It started off relatively small and has been increasing in size, but it's not the entire wall yet thankfully. Would either of these issues need to be tackled urgently in your view? And are we relatively sure it's not caused by damp?
 
Are you 100% that there is no lining paper on it? It can often look just like a plastered wall.
I dont think its damp. More likely air in the crack. Damp normally shows as a colour change or spots of mould!
Sorry, i have no clue about the structures being ok. If ut helps it happens in almost all houses I go in with a bay window.
Out of interest, was any of this visible before the painter came? Did the painter fill the gaps?
 
It looks to me as if there is definitely paper under the paint, if not wall paper, then lining paper and the surface under it has moved.
 
Interesting! I have no idea to be honest... I guess it's possible there is lining paper.

To answer your question @Chivas69 , those lines weren't visible before the renovation about 1 year ago, I don't remember any cracks in those places either but perhaps they had been filled in. There must have been a crack where the mesh is showing now though as otherwise it wouldn't have been taped up?

I'm just glad it's not likely to be damp as that is the worst!
 
Yes, very unlikely.
It does look exactly like paper has bubbled, hence all the replies mentioning the paper. I don't think plaster would bubble, it would just crack again. Wet it and see if it goes soft!
 
you can often work out loose plaster by drumming/tapping the wall with something hard and smooth like a wooden hammer handle or a plastic scewdriver handle
 
Interestingly, I just noticed creases like this on the party wall in the lounge. It's weird as the effect is much like air bubbles in paper but I don't think the wall was papered since I have raked out some cracks elsewhere.

It is a new build so it could be settlement in my case. I am having flooring in a few days so I will have to leave it anyway even though it really annoys me.

It is weird as you normally expect cracks to just crack the paint. Maybe a combination of cracks and bad prep before painting.
 
whats happening outside looks like a corner. Id be looking at drainage, downpipes, movement
 
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