Cracking on internal wall where house meets "archway ro

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Hi,

Should I be concerned about the below or is it cosmetic???

We live in an 11 year old house, one of the bedrooms is built over an archway, underneath these "archway rooms" is a shared driveway for us and next door, next door is a mirror image of our house so their archway room meets ours in the middle. I assume this archway is supported by RSJs or similar running between the walls of the two houses.

We bought the house just under 2 years ago, had the homebuyers report done and surveyor said any internal cracking was cosmetic and to fill before decorating. We painted the hall, stairs and landing about 5 months ago and I repaired any cracks before doing it, one ran most of the way down the stairs near where the moulding met the wall and the other was in the plasterboard landing wall about 5cm from the "archway room" door. The crack near the door frame was still slightly evident under the new paint about a week after painting but I put it down to a bad job by me with the filler knife. About a month ago the crack going down the stairs started to appear again, and then this morning all the old cracks have properly reopened seemingly at the same time. The cracks are quite narrow, so narrow that they are hard to measure accurately, probably somewhere between 0.3-0.5mm. The crack near the door frame seems to be where a hollow part of the wall meets a more solid part.

I am a bit concerned as they all appear to have opened up again after filling and all have become much more obvious this morning so is something still moving, or is it just a fact of life that once this sort of crack happens it will keep opening especially with the freezing cold weather at the moment?

Any info or opinions are appreciated.

Thanks,
Tom
 
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I had wondered about moisture but there are no other symptoms of damp, the pointing on the outside of the wall in reasonably good repair so how would it be getting in? How could I test for it?
 
I had wondered about moisture but there are no other symptoms of damp, the pointing on the outside of the wall in reasonably good repair so how would it be getting in? How could I test for it?

You can get a moisture / damp detector.

Can you take a picture? and post on the forum?
 
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Hopefully this link to a photo will work...


//www.diynot.com/network/tyewbrey/albums/

One thing I should also point out is that if you tap the wall to the left of this crack in a lot of places it sounds more solid, although it does still sound hollow in some parts, if you tap to the right it sounds hollow like stud wall all the way down. The crack seems to be exactly on the dividing line.
 
to me it looks like a joint,
I think the wall has been dry lined with plasterboard.
The joint has not been covered with the plaster tape and the opeing and closing of the door is causing the cracks...
 
That makes sense I guess, and it is pasterboard underneath, I just find it odd how it has opened up along with the one down the stairs so much more noticably, I said today as I didn't notice is last night, but it could have been happening for the last few days I suppose. Would the cold weather and having the central heating on a lot have speeded up the problem?
 
That makes sense I guess, and it is pasterboard underneath, I just find it odd how it has opened up along with the one down the stairs so much more noticably, I said today as I didn't notice is last night, but it could have been happening for the last few days I suppose. Would the cold weather and having the central heating on a lot have speeded up the problem?


Well, I guess you could take the plasterboard off and take a look!

or have a look under the floor at foundations.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Plast...al_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item4a85ce0698

You need something like this, so maybe sand down and sick this one and then replaster.

more wear and tear downstairs!
 
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Straight cracks like those are normally board joints or joints of two dissimilar materials and the crack is due to shrinkage.

It would only be of concern of it got a lot wider

Once filled there is still a risk of it re-cracking, but that would be common. I doubt there is any need to take of the boards for further investigation - you can see all you need to see now
 
Thanks both, that has put my mind at ease that it is nothing serious but just a case of a bad join in the boards.
 

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