Hi,
I'm new to this but any help would be appreciated.
I recently purchased a house (build 70's or early 80's) and on the survey it came up that there was a vertical crack above one of the windows (starting from the corner (of a concrete boot lintel) and running up a couple of feet. I rang the surveyor and after a long conversation he said that although this was unusual, he did not believe it was as a result of movement and in his opinion would be due to thermal expansion of the bricks.
A friend (who had a similar issue) also mentioned that it could be where they've replaced the windows with double-glazing and disturbed the lintel in the process.
The crack is pretty small (Hairline) but just recently (after being in the house about 18 months), I'm sure that another brick has cracked above the others. The crack it's self definitely doesn't appear to have got any wider.
I guess the question is whether this is anything to worry about and the most likely reason for the crack. Also, whether getting a builder in to replace the bricks would actually make it look worse?
Thanks,
I'm new to this but any help would be appreciated.
I recently purchased a house (build 70's or early 80's) and on the survey it came up that there was a vertical crack above one of the windows (starting from the corner (of a concrete boot lintel) and running up a couple of feet. I rang the surveyor and after a long conversation he said that although this was unusual, he did not believe it was as a result of movement and in his opinion would be due to thermal expansion of the bricks.
A friend (who had a similar issue) also mentioned that it could be where they've replaced the windows with double-glazing and disturbed the lintel in the process.
The crack is pretty small (Hairline) but just recently (after being in the house about 18 months), I'm sure that another brick has cracked above the others. The crack it's self definitely doesn't appear to have got any wider.
I guess the question is whether this is anything to worry about and the most likely reason for the crack. Also, whether getting a builder in to replace the bricks would actually make it look worse?
Thanks,