Plasteing Cracking Above Doors/Windows (Pics included)

[lummocks]

Hiya peeps, my house in the last 5 years has slowly been getting worse, always above the doors and windows and in some places presumbably on joints between boards, I've managed to patch it up in places but i'd really like to get to the bottom of why this is happening and a way of fixing it properly as in some parts of the house I want to wall paper and don't want to just go over the top of it. (hopefully this is not being caused by subsidance

The house is around 15 years old, there is evidence in other rooms up and down that this has happened before.

Along side and above the front door, obviously this area is subject to the most stress most often. (i'd like to know if I was top rip the plaseterboard down, if needed what structure I'd be faced with underneath) This is also starting to happen on the other side of the door.

Also in the conservatory (built around 7 years ago)

You can just see some evidence in one of the upstairs bedrooms above the window (which I just filled and painted over )

Thanks in advance

 

[Paulboy]

Looks like a bit of movement, where in the uk are you?

 

[lummocks]

Somerset

And worried now....!

 

[noseall]

those cracks are as normal as the cracks in 50% of the properties in the uk.

 

[Richard C]

I’ve seen (& got here!) a lot worse than that; it doesn’t look like anything other than minor movement. Difficult to tell without seeing it but the first pic is interesting as the way the line runs down the side of the door, it almost looks like the reveal has been lined with timber & plastered directly over! That definitely looks like plaster board in the 2nd pic, is it at the top of the same door as in the 1st pic?

Are the walls block & plaster or have they need dry lined? Are they stud walls? This will dictate how you repair them!

 

[lummocks]

The second pic is the top of the first pic yeah, not sure if they are stud walls, I think most of the walls are drylined (if thats the method where they dab the stuff and stick the bored to it!) But this around the door feels/sounds too hollow.

 

[Richard C]

To deal with the dark walls first; no way for me to of know what you have but concrete lintels are notorious for showing cracks over the doors or windows where the meet the block work & with conventional plaster, the cracks usually track diagonally from the corners or follow the outline of the lintel. Am I right in saying the 3rd & 4th pics are the wall inside the conservatory & on an outside wall? External walls can be stud boarded rather than dot & dabbed but in either case, as the cracks go straight up from the corners, I’m inclined to think that whoever dry lined the wall boarded up to the edge of the vertical reveals each side & then patched in a lump of PB over the top reveal. The joint line above will be where most of the stress is concentrated & it’s just cracks along the board joints. Presumably it was tapped before plastering but it looks as if the cracks may be following joint lines in the PB each side. Filling will probably crack again & the only solution likely to success would be to reinforce & re-skim or cut the PB back either side, let in a new wider section, reinforce & then re-skim; any such repair is more than likely to be visible unless the whole wall is skimmed.

In the case of the last pic (upstairs?) if the walls are plaster over blocks, I would remove the plaster around 200mm either side of the crack, reinforce with stainless steel mesh, repair with render base & skim over.

Looking at the pics. of the door again, I can just see an outline of something in the top l/h corner which looks to be the same width as the crack, is it the same the other side? As I said in my original post, it looks like some form of lining, I can’t see how deep the door reveal is but is it just the original timber door liner & someone has simply not re-fitted the architrave moulding around the door opening which would cover the join! Or perhaps it’s a packing strip let in when a new door was fitted! Is it an original door opening? Was there originally a window next to it which may explain the hollow sound! Whatever has been done, you will never stop the vertical crack down the side of the door reappearing, the only solution would be to either fit an architrave or remover the door & whatever that liner is, refinish the reveal properly then re-plaster/board & skim.

Much of this is speculation from a distance of course & if your unsure about what’s there or your plastering skills, I would advise you call someone in to asses exactly what you’ve got.