Cracks in ceilings

calleyw

We bought a 3 bed property back in March of last year. Anway we found a few cracks in the artex ceilings. Thought nothing of them.

I was not sure why they should be there but it looks like there has been very little done in the way in maintance done on the house for years.

Anway so far there are huge cracks and it is peeling away from the ceiling in the bathroom. Can only assume this is due to the dampness of the room and the fact that the window was never opened.

There where some cracks in the ceiling in the kitchen and when where having the central heating fitted the fitter said looks like water damage. Not sure how as the cracks are below the back bedroom.

There are few other cracks in a couple of other rooms. Today thought we better put up a new smoke alarm down stairs. I was looking at the ceiling and can see another crack. Now this has happened since we have moved in. As I painted the ceiling about 2 months ago.

This house was built in 1978 should I be worried. The flat I owned before this house was built in 1980 and there was no cracks in the ceiling. Or is it just a case of really crap ceiling job that has been done all over the house.

Yours

Calley

Boohbah

If the house has been neglected, and you've recently installed central heating, this will cause cracking to appear in the ceilings & woodwork, can also cause doors to warp.

I would suggest racking out these cracks throughly and filling with Polly filler, and see how it go's.

The cracks could be down to poor workmanship in the first place of course!

Rhino666

It's a 1980's house so all ceilings would be plasterboard. If the cracks are in the plasterboard, they should only be very fine with normal settlement and without peripheral staining. Water damage is usually obvious in as much as there is obvious staining and the plasterboard loses its shape, dropping and cracking. Apart from the obvious burst pipes, there are many other causes of water damage to ceilings - small leaks from radiator valves, central heating pipes, sinks, seals around showers and baths, etc.

I have just had a number of my ceilings plaster skimmed to cover historic damage. Once the cause of the damage has been cured, it is relatively inexpensive to get a ceiling skimmed with plaster. Artex removal is not as difficult as it looks either.

uncle_buck_3

If the house was built any time around the 80’s its probably just poor workmanship & nothing major to worry about except what else did they cut corners on!

RedOnRed

Our house was built at exactly the same time and it too has loads of ceiling cracks. When we moved in there were alarming cracks all over the ceilings which the surveyor disregarded at just cosmetic.

We've found the only way to resolve them is by having them professionally artexed, with the joints properly taped up.

It's a bit of a shame as we prefer smooth ceilings, but all of the ceilings we've had plastered the cracks have reappeared.