Crack in my ceiling and wall

[Caz6]

We're renovating a very dated 1970s house and removed an artificial beam (it was wood on all sides and hollow in the middle) which revealed a big straight crack in the ceiling. The crack itself isn't that wide but one side of it has dropped by 3-5mm. This seems to have cracked the plaster on the walls at either end of the ceiling crack, on one side (outer wall) a zig zag crack goes right down to the floor and on the other side (inner wall) it's a straight crack about 15cm along the corner where the ceiling meets the wall.

The position of it is we have a L shaped lounge diner and this artificial beam was between the lounge and the dining room - we intend to put in double doors/similar.

When the house was surveyed it wasn't visible as the crack was behing the wooden beam and wall cracks were behing wall paper and a stone cladded wall.

Do I need professional opinion on it or just a plasterer or decorator to cover it up? Might it get worse? I don't want it to buckle the interior doors we intend to put in.

 

[Richard C]

Nice of the previous owners to “hide” it like that. Bit uneasy about the extent of the cracks & the fact that the ceiling has dropped, can you post some pictures?
Do you know if the previous occupants knocked down an internal wall to make the room “L” shaped?
Does the floor feel unduly springy upstairs?
Do you have any corresponding cracks on the outside brickwork?

 

[Caz6]

Thanks for the reply. I've added some pictures below which should give you a better idea of the issue.
The previous occupants didn't knock a wall down, the room has always been L-shaped (we have a copy of the original plans from when the house was built). I can see from the plans that there should be a supporting beam in the ceiling at this point. No springyness upstairs and can't see any cracks on the outside.
As mentioned, our main concern is the fact that we plan to put a double door in this position to divide the room.

View media item 9630You need to rotate this picture clockwise to see it properly.

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[Caz6]

Just bumping this back up in the hope some one will take a look at the pictures I've uploaded and give me their informed view on the crack.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Richard C]

Just bumping this back up in the hope some one will take a look at the pictures I've uploaded and give me their informed view on the crack.

Thanks in advance.

Oh dear, sorry your repley seems to have slipped through my net; will have a look later.

 

[Richard C]

I’m wondering if the ceiling crack is actually a crack at all; difficult to see from the photos but there seems to be no trace of tape or Jute scrim on the join & it looks as is the ceiling boards may have been just butted together on the joist rough filled & then covered over with the artificial beam. If the ceiling doesn’t flex unduly when someone springs up & down on it above, it’s just a question of sorting out why the boards are at different levels; are the boards tight against the joist/ceiling beam each side? Can you push the boards upwards at all? Are there 2 joists bolted together & one is lower than the other? Is there a joist/ceiling beam actually underneath the join?

I don’t think the crack in the wall is anything to worry about; I’ve seen & repaired far worse. If it’s just the plaster that’s cracked, you should be able to rake out & fill it successfully but if the block work behind is cracked, the plaster will need to be taken back either side, the wall behind reinforced with SS mesh & the repair re-plastered.

The crack between the wall & the ceiling at the other side (?) has happened because the ceiling board has moved upwards. Again, it doesn’t look serious &once you sort out why the ceiling boards are at different levels against that ceiling joist/beam.

 

[joe-90]

Doesn't look structural to me. Just fill it and off you go. Whenever you take down old boarding etc you get loads of these cracks.