Crack

[James travers]

Hello. Noticed a crack along kitchen. Should I be worried ? 

[George]

Keep an eye on it. Ideally get a tell tale and measure it.

[joe90]

Not uncommon on additional walls, separate foundations, not tied in etc, just fill it with flexible mastic to stop damp entering it.

[SteamyTea]

Is the house in Ealing, and is it owned by a young lady.

[Mr Punter]

40 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Is the house in Ealing, and is it owned by a young lady.

 

It may be worth checking the ceiling for unusual staining.

[SteamyTea]

@Carrerahill, @Mr Punter

 

We really need to grow up, these are serious times.

[Pocster]

I clicked on this thread for 2 reasons 

 

‘ crack ‘ means drugs or ‘crack’ means …. 

[James travers]

thank you. The buildings aren’t tied in 

[Gus Potter]

Often you see this type of cracking. The cracks down the wall seem to be of uniform width.. suggests at the outset shrinkage say of concrete blocks / render rather than settlement. If it was settlement then often the crack wiil be of a different width top to botom, not always, but that is a common feature.

 

But .. where the roof meets the existing wall the crack seems to continue in the existing elevation? That raises a few questions as you would not expect to see this.

 

@James traversPost more photos if you wish of what you have round about and if you have been slapping out walls... doing the open plan thing..

 

I wonder.. if you have an old house and slapped though to make the opening to an extension with good solid founds ..have the existing walls settled as you have added load locally to the old bits of wall either side of the slapping when you put say a beam in.. Look really closely at the crack and try and figure out what has moved down or up relative to the other interface. Look at the rest of the house wall and put your "Columbo" hat on. Have you had a really dry spell and the old building has dropped a bit more than the new extension?

 

Don't always assume that the new extension is moving.. a good extension with "well" designed found tends not to.. but add load to an old found and the existing wall locally loaded for example by a beam over a slapping could well move a lot more than you think.. start at 15- 25mm for a shallow footed old building found in certain types of ground (clay) a bit less on sand / negligble on rock !

 

Help ma boab you may ask 15 -25mm .. but old buildings move a lot! That kind of movement is well outside say NHBC / BC tolerances but old houses are a living thing. If you build a modern extension with stiff founds that stays still these kind of cracks occur as the old building is moving about relative to your solid extension. Don't always assume that your new extension is the problem. It can be that it (extension) stays still and it's the house that moves up and down.

 

And there is the rub.. BC want an extension built to be bomb proof with no account as to how you marry this into an old structure that moves up and down with the weather as it further ages.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ferdinand]

On 17/08/2022 at 14:41, SteamyTea said:

@Carrerahill, @Mr Punter

 

We really need to grow up, these are serious times.

 

Unattainable aspirations are an interesting concept.

 

My ambition is never to grow up 🙃.

 

@James travers there is some good advice between the childish games so far here.

 

One question not asked - what is the timing? Has this developed during the current hot spell (!), or have you noticed this before? Heatwaves can cause these things to develop or become more prominent - in London it could be something with the ground moving if clay, or trees sucking up water and drying it out even more. Your thoughts on that?

Does the crack reach right to the ground?

Ferdinand

[joe90]

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

My ambition is never to grow up 🙃.

+1 🤡

[Johnnyt]

There appears to be a drain adjacent to the wall.

If broken, possible culprit?

[saveasteading]

23 hours ago, Gus Potter said:

Help ma boab

Jings, crivvens, cheesy peep, that is a thorough answer.

 

On 17/08/2022 at 19:14, James travers said:

The buildings aren’t tied in 

 

James, re the crack in the original wall, is that a simple crack, or has the wall moved outwards at the crack? There appears to be a shadow under it.

 

I am thinking Gus is right, and the extension is on deep footings whereas the original is on shallow. Normally the building might rise and fall several mm and nobody would know, but the extension is causing a stress point.

The positive thought  is that it may return to place as the ground gets wet again over the winter, and rises.

[Gus Potter]

On 20/08/2022 at 01:19, saveasteading said:

I am thinking Gus is right,

Maybe aye, maybe naw!

 

@James traversIt would be help to know what the inside looks like. Can you see any cracking from the inside?

 

To be able diagnose something like this you need to gather a lot of info. If I was doing this I would start by looking at the whole house and the houses round about (if you do have close neighbours) to see if the main house and the other houses are showing signs of movement. Also, I would look at the terrain, generic type of ground and so on and anything else I can see or suspect.. its a long list!

 

Often what you do here is to get a feel for the place and try and work out what it can't be. Then work out what it could be and start to focus in more detail on that. It all sounds awfully complex but you want to make sure you have checked and ruled out say mining or a bit of weak ground strata that if you miss it will be a major clanger.

 

Once you know you have ruled out certain things you can then say.. yes this is a localised problem and ask.. what could it be?

On 20/08/2022 at 01:19, saveasteading said:

or has the wall moved outwards at the crack?

That is a good place to start and can reveal more about what kind of movement is taking place.

 

It's a fascinating thing to deal with.. unless it is your own house!

 

The main thing is not to panic, once you understand what is causing the cracking you can then decide.. do we just leave it to settle down / monitor and repair the crack after a year or so.. or will it get worse, if so what can we do to mitigate this.

 

 

 

 

 

[James travers]

This is the other side. Just noticed in the hot weather. I’m in Yorkshire. The kitchen has one crack inside. 

[James travers]

The cracks do not go to the ground.