Cracked Exterior wall

[DarkNRG]

Hi all,

I live in a two bed end terraced house built in the 1930s.

yesterday I had the cavity walls insulated. It was when i inspected the work I noticed a vertical crack in the wall at the front of my house. The crack starts from just under the upstairs window and goes straight down to the ground floor window. The width of the crack is a few millimetres it's right in the middle of the house. I've checked inside the house there is a small crack inside but i think the inside crack is due to the plaster strinkage (internal walls were re-plastered last year).

How do you think this occurred? should i just repair it or should i get a structural engineer to look at it first?

Any advise would be great.

Thanks

Ken

 

[r896neo]

A crack which is found both inside and out can suggest something more sinister, is the interior crack in exactly the same place? what makes you think its shrinkage?

 

[^woody^]

Vertical cracks of even width between windows are not normally anything to worry about, normally shrinkage related

 

[DarkNRG]

A crack which is found both inside and out can suggest something more sinister, is the interior crack in exactly the same place? what makes you think its shrinkage?

I've now taken some pictures. The inside crack is hairline and only about 5 inches long. it's about 5-6 inches away from the posistion of the outside crack. That's why I think it's plaster shrinkage please see pictures below:

Outside Crack

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• DarkNRG
• 3 Feb 2011
• 1

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• DarkNRG
• 3 Feb 2011
• 1

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• DarkNRG
• 3 Feb 2011
• 1

Inside Crack

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• DarkNRG
• 3 Feb 2011
• 1

What do you guys think??

 

[r896neo]

Ok, if the interior crack is only that long then i wouldn't worry about it. If the crack on the inside mirrored the one on the outside in terms of length and course it would be a little more worth monitoring.

 

[DarkNRG]

Ok.. i guess i'll monitor it for 6 months, if nothing changes then i'll probabily claim insurance.

 

[^woody^]

Check your insurance, as the excess might be more than the repair is worth, and then you highlight the property as having a structural crack (and claim) which can raise your risk and premium

You may be better off just filling the crack with some clear silicone now to keep the weather out, as any other repair may stand out quite a bit unless you go to great trouble and expense to blend the whole lot in