Hello, it's been a while since I posted on here! Sorry - this is a longish post. After ten+ years of renovation I proudly declared our 1920's build terraced house "finished" in summer last year.
However, having had a good look around, it would seem that my satisfaction will be short lived, due to the emerging issue of cracks in plaster.
Background
When we bought this house in 2005, it hadn't had a thing done to it for decades. It is a solid brick built property, with lath & plaster ceilings, lime plaster internally and timber-framed airbrick walls to the upper floor. We swiftly gutted out as much as we could and set about renovation, starting with a full rewire - this put a lot of stress on the place (chasing out, chiselling etc). We also had a job done to re-tie the inner & outer brickwork with anchor bolts (another lot of heavy work involving hilti SDS drilling).
This resulted in a lot of damage to what was already tired and in many cases blown plaster. Not a problem, I think, and remove as much of the loose stuff as I can then re-fill the holes with browning. Every room was then skimmed by a professional. In some cases the ceilings were re-boarded, in other cases they weren't.
Current state of walls
I don't have any pictures yet, but in almost every room there are cracks present in parts of the plaster. Some of these coincide with features such as in the kitchen there is an RSJ supporting the bathroom wall - there is a crack in the plaster emanating from the corner of the plasterboard 'box' around this RSJ. Other lines seem to coincide with wiring chases, some are random in nature (such as in one ceiling where a crack has appeared that coincides with nothing). Some coincide with further 'blown' lime plaster behind them.
So..........
Given that the house is some 90 years old, surely it must have 'settled' by now, therefore my dilemma is "what is causing these cracks" so that I can fix them for good. Whereever I can I have always applied scrim over joins and feathered edges together to avoid 'steps' - but the walls & ceilings have still cracked.
Does anyone have any experience like this and/or any advice to offer before I either start a load of repair work or go completely insane?
Thanks
However, having had a good look around, it would seem that my satisfaction will be short lived, due to the emerging issue of cracks in plaster.
Background
When we bought this house in 2005, it hadn't had a thing done to it for decades. It is a solid brick built property, with lath & plaster ceilings, lime plaster internally and timber-framed airbrick walls to the upper floor. We swiftly gutted out as much as we could and set about renovation, starting with a full rewire - this put a lot of stress on the place (chasing out, chiselling etc). We also had a job done to re-tie the inner & outer brickwork with anchor bolts (another lot of heavy work involving hilti SDS drilling).
This resulted in a lot of damage to what was already tired and in many cases blown plaster. Not a problem, I think, and remove as much of the loose stuff as I can then re-fill the holes with browning. Every room was then skimmed by a professional. In some cases the ceilings were re-boarded, in other cases they weren't.
Current state of walls
I don't have any pictures yet, but in almost every room there are cracks present in parts of the plaster. Some of these coincide with features such as in the kitchen there is an RSJ supporting the bathroom wall - there is a crack in the plaster emanating from the corner of the plasterboard 'box' around this RSJ. Other lines seem to coincide with wiring chases, some are random in nature (such as in one ceiling where a crack has appeared that coincides with nothing). Some coincide with further 'blown' lime plaster behind them.
So..........
Given that the house is some 90 years old, surely it must have 'settled' by now, therefore my dilemma is "what is causing these cracks" so that I can fix them for good. Whereever I can I have always applied scrim over joins and feathered edges together to avoid 'steps' - but the walls & ceilings have still cracked.
Does anyone have any experience like this and/or any advice to offer before I either start a load of repair work or go completely insane?
Thanks
