Cracks in Mortar between bricks

[JamieB3009]

Hi all,

I have recently purchased my first house and so have quite a limited knowledge with respect to buildings etc. at this stage.

Whilst walking and looking round my house recently, i have noticed a number of areas where there appears to be small hairline cracks running through the mortar between the bricks. None of the bricks themselves are cracked and it appears that there are no cracks below the damp proof course either. The first I noticed were around french doors/windows as shown below;

I also appear to have some of these cracks at the corners of the house also as per the below pictures. Again, the DPC bricks below seem ok.

The front of the house has a box bay window fitted, and cracks are evident there as well. There is a larger crack in one corner of the bay as per the first photo below, followed by thinner cracks that run across the full width of the bay, approx 1-2 courses below the bottom of the UPVC frame;

Finally, the front wall of my garage also appears to have the same hairline cracks in the mortar for the six or seven courses below the top of the garage door level. Below this the wall seems ok. This front wall is double skin brick, the side and back walls having breeze block on the inside. The area in the close up is to the right of the garage door in the second picture below.

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Does anyone have any ideas what may be causing this? I am a little concerned that i have structural issues now. I had a homebuyer report done when i purchased last year but this showed nothing. Admittedly, i didnt notice them until last week. Ive had a look along the length of the walls etc. and all still seems square. There arent any cracks inside the house? Is this something that i should be worried about? What remedial action would be recommended? Is this normal or a defect in the building? The house is about 20 years old now. I am worried i will suffer a lot of expense or this will degrade further.

Thank you.

 

[Mobo_14]

I wouldn’t get yourself too worked up about hairline cracks like that.

It could be caused by a number of things but looking at your pictures they seem pretty insignificant.

I doubt you have serious structural issues such as subsidence

 

[^woody^]

Is this something that i should be worried about?

Do you mean like worried after you shelled out a few hundred grand or worried before?

Anyway it's not structural, but mortar shrinkage for one of several possible reasons.

 

[JamieB3009]

Thanks. Ive already spent the money last october!! Worried the house has something wrong with it, given the survey report didnt highlight it and i didnt notice until last week.

What could cause that sort of cracking? Is it common? Are any remedial works recommended?

 

[Mobo_14]

Could be caused by a cold winter, by the mortar mix being too strong or too weak in parts or the mortar drying out too quick if it was built on a hot day etc these are just some suggestions

you could have it raked out and re-pointed but it would probably stand out more than the hairline cracks unless you opted to do the full lot.

I’d put it to the back of yer mind and no worry about it

 

[^woody^]

mortar shrinkage

What could cause that sort of cracking?

 

[Johnny Allround]

Hi JamieB, most properties have a element of motion every day mainly caused by traffic movement and inevitably cracks and movements occur in a building. The main cause of mortar loosening on roofs for instance.Doesn’t look like anything significant to worry about though. Hope this helps.

 

[johnny2007]

By the colour that mortar looks quite a hard mix, so as suggested this could be one of the reasons.