old house - cracks and blown plaster advice pls.

[suavegit]

Hi all,

Our house was built in 1900 ish and was totally replastered before we moved in by previous owner.

For the last couple of years small hairline cracks appearing on alot of walls and today noticed i have alot of blown plaster on one of my living room walls as well. The wall behind is fine.

Lime has been used in (mortar?) bricks and earth floor underneath front room...no solid foundation.

My question is are the cracks and blown plaster likely to be due to movement or something else and what options have i got to remedy.

Thanks for any help in advance

 

[joe-90]

If the outside walls are fine then it is just bad prep on the part of the plasterer. You can probably patch it.

 

[suavegit]

Presumably though if plasters blown in front room then if badly prepped it could obviously blow elsewhere.....

I'd be prepared to rip wall back to bare bones if it would mean sorting all the niggly bits like the cracking, although that would mean some fairly largish walls.

I know a couple of plasterers but not overly well, if wall were back to brickwork what prep work should be done so i'm in the know, as have heard different things i.e lime in render/plaster? etc. or am i doomed to patch for ever and a day due to the house being old.

 

[joe-90]

Don't go looking for problems. If it literally falls off the wall then patch it, otherwise leave it.

 

[suavegit]

Totally agree with you but its more the blown plaster thast annoying me as it sent hairline cracks off like a spiders web, and bellying out above rad.

 

[joe-90]

Well just deal with the stuff over the rads then. Once it's stable you won't get any further cracking.

 

[roughcaster]

If the cracks are like a "spiders web", that's a sure sign the skim has blown. Rub the backs of your fingernails over the wall and you'll hear all the blown areas of skim,, that's all due to bad prep.

 

[suavegit]

Def blown about a metre by mwtre patch. You can hear it whilst knocking sounds a little hollow if you like. Wouldnt be my thing but is it fairly simple to knock blown patch out and render then skim?? Or better to remove a bigger section...wouldnt attempt skim etc. Myself. Get a pro in.

 

[1john]

Removing blown plaster is easy, bolster and hammer, beware though that once you start knocking blown lime mortar off of walls you will be chasing your tail until your orifices are full of dust and you have bare walls. when that happens its time to insulate and plasterboard imo.