advice please

[gav28]

Hi All

I have recently noticed a few cracks in my house and as normal, you see one and then you look for more.

I bought the house 18 months ago and knocked down a wall to make a bigger kitchen. The wall itself was double skinned thermal block, i installed 2 x 7ft katnik (not sure if that spelt right) This was boxed off and have had no problems until now.

I noticed a small crack running up the length of the stairs, this is right along the edge of the stairs and step hight. The crack is on the same wall i installed the supports in, just the other side of an adjacent wall.

Off the kitchen is a garage, there are cracks in the wall (again thermal block) which seem to go from around 6 / 7 ft high through the line of the ceiling. After closer inspection it appears that the ceiling/wall joints are cracked too. I have looed in the loft space and the plasterboard is still tight to the woodwork above.

Do i need to worry about this? i know i should have an engineers round to see it in person but are there any checks that i can do or anything in particular i need to look out for? Around the are that i installed the supports there is no cracking etc...

Any advice gratefully received, last thing i need is to have to knock down half of the house?

Thanks

Gav

 

[hotrod]

I have looed in the loft space

You dirty boy

Put some photos up of the cracks if you've got them gav and we'll be able to give you a more informed decision.

 

[^woody^]

Seems like thermal cracking - which a few people are getting right now after having the heating on full blast

 

[Static]

How wide are the cracks?

 

[gav28]

The cracks themselves range from hairline cracks to 3mm at there max. i'll see if i can get some pictures up. I friend of my partners came round (he is in contruction) he said it was nothing to worry about and the crack up the stairs was nothing to do with the wall i knocked down, maybe a certain degree of settling. Would it still be settling 18 months after the work?

Another friend of mine says it could be because there was no wall ties installed when the wall was built? would this cause a problem?

Thanks for replying and for any advice given.

Ta

Gav

 

[^woody^]

Another friend of mine says it could be because there was no wall ties installed when the wall was built? would this cause a problem?

Of course it could cause a problem, but what is the basis for this friend's statement? Is he qualified in anything remotely to do with building or just remote controlling the TV building programmes?

Of a list of 100 possible causes, lack of wall ties would be 106