Crack in brickwork - is it a big problem?

[gairloch]

Hi all,

I have a utility room, off my kitchen, which is basically the rear portion of my garage. The outer most wall, which seems to be just single brick construction, has a crack in it. I should say that it is a painted brick finish in the room, no plaster or other covering on brick. When I say single brick, I mean it doesnt seem to have cavity in it, but it seems to be quite thick, about 6-7 inches.

This crack runs from the floor to about 3/4 the way up the wall. On the inside, I have removed the paint surrounding the crack, the crack doesn't appear to be too wide, 1mm or less in places. The crack is also seen from the outside of the wall, where the exisiting roughcast finish is also cracked in the same place, to the same height. Something I noticed, but dont know if it's terribly relevant, is that it isn't the mortar that is cracked, but the brick itself.

My question is, and I appreciate that you can't give a definite answer unless you were to see it, but is this usually a sign of a major problem, or is it fairly common to expect some form of settlement, or slight movement of garage/utility structure room, that would account for this, given its single brick construction. (House is approximately 30 yrs old).

Obviously, its not at the extent that I'm prepared to tear the whole wall down and rebuild etc, but I would like your thoughts on whether generally, it's acceptable to 'patch up' the crack?

If so, could anyone give me some idea on how to do this? I have looked at some polycell products which would seem to provide a solution for the interior wall. But the exterior wall, with the crack in the roughcast seems a bit more difficult. Would I be ok to fill this crack with exterior silicon or something, to prevent moisture getting in?

I may be worrying about nothing here, I guess a lot of houses have cracks in roughcast and in interior, but hidden behind paper etc, but just looking for some advice.

Any ideas/thoughts gratefully appreciated.

Just to refine my original post to this...

Is it acceptable to apply silicon into the crack on the exterior roughcast?


Thanks

 

[Richard C]

A single brick wall would be 4” thick without plaster but it could have some form of proprietary insulation applied to the inside. If the bricks are cracked there has been some serious movement there at some time but if the mortar isn’t cracked, it sounds as though it’s been re-pointed at some time. Depending on how long ago this was done, it may be a good sign in that there has been no further movement since.

Before you do anything drastic (like knocking down the wall!), you could try embedding some strips of glass or old ceramic tile across the crack every 4th mortar joint or so & just watch it for at least 12 months to see what happens. If they don’t break then you probably don’t have any problems. You can then rake back the roughcast finish about 9” either side of the crack, fill brickwork & fix some stout wire mesh to the wall & refinish the outside; this mesh helps bind the whole lot together &, hopefully, prevent it cracking again. Squidjing silicone sealer in it may work in the short term but it’s a bit of a bodge & isn’t really the answer. However, this would be a good temporary measure while you watch what happens to those pieces of glass!

 

[gairloch]

Good advice m8, will follow it.

Thanks for the reply