Internal cracks in brick - render or fill and board?

[t5585]

Hi,

I've recently purchased a house and upon removing some hideous cladding and tiling it's come to light that the previous owners have very poorly knocked a new doorway in the back wall when they erected the conservatory. This has caused cracking in the bricks up into the bathroom. My builder (very old guy) has said that the bathroom needs rendering to fill the cracks. Is this the case? Or can i just fill the cracks and board over? Any other advice? My plastering quotes are double what I expected so we're trying to see what we can do ourselves and what we should leave to the professionals....

On a side note, the doorway is the best part of 30 years old so the house obviously hasn't fallen down in this time!! Nevertheless, it's looking like we might brick up the botched door way and go back to using the original one...

 

[KenGMac]

t5585, good evening.

Suggest you may want to have a look @ Helibar?

Possible your [very old guy] builder may want to have a look at them??

Ken

 

[t5585]

Thanks Ken!

 

[bobasd]

why not post photos of the cracks and the outside of the wall?
is there definite a lintel above the door - post a photo of that area inside the house.

 

[t5585]

These are the only images i have on my phone right now. First photos is the botched doorway... it has a metal lintel on the outside and the internal seems to be wood. (Perhaps the wooden part was the original lintel for the window that was there before they made it a doorway)

Second photo is the bathroom above and the last one is the external view. Sorry if it is not very clear.

Fyi, i had a homebuyers report done before purchase and none of this came up...

 

[bobasd]

hard to tell but the cracks dont look to wide, although on one skin the crack runs one way and the other crack runs the other way.
when the plaster is fully off more might be seen.

they look like movement cracks connected to the angle iron installation on the outer skin
and the maybe lack of a lintel on the inner skin.
theres not much brickwork above the openin but the floor joists are sitin on the inner skin.
is the floor level both ways?

can you see wall ties in the cavity?

ther probly wasnt anything for the surveyor to see.

 

[t5585]

hard to tell but the cracks dont look to wide, although on one skin the crack runs one way and the other crack runs the other way.
when the plaster is fully off more might be seen.

they look like movement cracks connected to the angle iron installation on the outer skin
and the maybe lack of a lintel on the inner skin.
theres not much brickwork above the openin but the floor joists are sitin on the inner skin.
is the floor level both ways?

can you see wall ties in the cavity?

ther probly wasnt anything for the surveyor to see.

I'll have to have a look when i'm next there whether there are wall ties and if the floor is level...

Any recommendations on what I should do? Does it need stabilising with helibar or similar or can we just bond the cracks with something?