Cracks. Should I be worried?

[Logan1981]

Hello, this may or may not be the right place to ask this question but here goes.

We've been in this house since May 2008. When we moved in I noticed a few hairline cracks in the paint/plaster on some walls. For example there is a hairline crack in the dining room, on the wall that partitions with the kitchen. The radiator is on this wall. Dining room side the crack is right down the middle, starting about a foot from ceiling and all the way to the floor.

This one has concerned me too much as it doesn't look too severe. However, since about October/November 2008 I began to notice some more cracks, severe looking ones, along the stair case, landing and kitchen walls.



These three images are from the staircase where the cracks are VERY prominent. In some areas you can see a few millimetres difference where one part of the crack stands proud of the other half of it.



This is on the same wall but on the landing, along the top of the wall, where it meets the ceiling.



Again, these are on the same wall, but this time in the kitchen and again where the wall meets the ceiling.

I am concerned about these, but I'm not sure what has caused them or what I can do about them, or whether I need to take action or not?

Since we've moved in the only thing we've done that might be worth mentioning is having cavity wall insulation. Now when the guys did this, the house felt like it was under attack! The amount of drilling and vibration from the drilling, plus the filling, was quite intense.

But other then that, we've barely pinned a picture on the wall.

Would be very grateful for your advice and input.

Many thanks
Chris

 

[Richard C]

I don’t think you need to be worried abut the cracks structurally; they aren’t that bad & look like normal shrinkage but why they’ve appeared since you moved in last year & what’s caused them? The paint all looks a bit fresh & quiet a coarse texture, is there evidence of the property being “tarted up” before selling? It may be there has been some quick filling or re-plastering done & the preps been skimped so it hasn’t lasted & the first winters worth of central heating will always bring them out. It could be down to the activities of the cavity wall folks, anything that causes bad vibration in the walls is going to cause the plaster to crack.

The stair stringer is typical of where the woodwork has been glossed but whoever did it has also skinned paint over the wall & then emulsioned over it. The gloss will pull the weaker emulsion paint with it when it shrinks, hence the wiggly cracks up the wall & if you dig it out, you’ll probably find it’s mostly the paint that pulled away from the wall. The vertical crack on the dining wall may need more work depending on weather it just the plaster or the blocks (if that’s what you have) that have cracked but you don’t show any pics. it’s also difficult to asses from photos! I wouldn’t worry too much, certainly not before spring/summer as this will give it all a chance to settle down.

 

[Logan1981]

Thanks for the reply Richard, much appreciated. I had suspected it was shrinkage as it only seemed to appear when the real cold weather set in. One other thing I forgot to mention as well was that we had central heating problems as well and had to get the system power flushed. So again, may be a contributing factor to the cracking plaster/paint.

The house was definitely tarted up for the sale, so I would think you're right about your suspicions and it makes perfect sense to me.

I think I will continue to monitor it after we're out of the cold snap and into some warmer weather.

I know the photographs aren't great, but was the best way to give some idea of what I'm talking about! Here's some of the vertical crack in the dining room:



First image is just below the radiator, you can see the crack continuing from the radiator to where the skirting board is.

Second image is the crack continuing from top of radiator to the dado rail.

Third image, hard to capture the crack there, but you can just make out it continues up the wall.

The crack starts thin and gets bigger as it reaches the bottom.

Thanks again for all your comments.

 

[Richard C]

Again, I don’t think it’s anything to worry about but it may take a bit more work to rectify properly. I’m assuming it’s a block wall with conventional base & finish coat plaster so remove a little plaster either side of the crack near the bottom to have a look at the blocks underneath; looking at the pics, I reakon the blocks will be cracked as well. Do the same above the radiator & above the dado rail but it’s probably safe to assume the clockwork is cracked all the way up. Is there a coinciding crack on the other side of the wall?

If the blocks are cracked, the only possible chance you have of a lasting repair is to reinforce it. Remove the plaster & expose the blocks around 200mm either side of the crack & fix a full width continuous strip of stainless steel reinforcing mesh to the block work over the crack - I use galvanised plasterboard screws. Plaster over the repair area, working it well into the mesh & fill out level with the surrounding wall; I prefer to use a sand/cement render mix for this but I’ve been told Bonding plaster will work equally as well. Tape the join with reinforcing tape, PVA prep & re-skim the entire wall; don’t attempt to try & blend it in, you will almost certainly see it. In my experience, this gives a very high success rate but there can be no guarantee it won’t crack again if the wall is still moving around.

If the blocks are not cracked, you should be able to repair it by widening the crack a little & using a flexible, fine filler.

 

[ashers]

I have the same issue with my stairs, have used flexible polyfiller to fill the cracks, repainted and as soon as winter comes they reappear.

How do you fill these cracks for good?

 

[noseall]

How do you fill these cracks for good?

Kindly ask Mother Nature to to stop what she has been doing for billions of years perhaps?

Your stairs are made of wood and your home environment is going to experience changes in moisture content and temperature variations, so live with it.

Either that or build a new set of stairs out of space age plastic.....

 

[ashers]

Very constructive, NOT!

 

[noseall]

Very constructive, NOT!

Sorry if the truth is not what you expected. Did you want me to lie and say that there is a wonder filler that is a magical panacea for all things wood?

 

[ashers]

Very constructive, NOT!

Sorry if the truth is not what you expected. Did you want me to lie and say that there is a wonder filler that is a magical panacea for all things wood?

Was looking for someone to say - you need to repair the stringers in the stairs, have you tried using x product, etc.

 

[roy c]

Deleted !!