Cracked plaster from a heating pipes

taker920

Hi all, just after a bit of advice. We had our living room plastered about 12 weeks ago and at the time the plasterer asked if we wanted our two radiator pipes which were running down the living room wall sunk into the wall.

No knowing much about it at the time and with the pipes being right in the middle of the longest wall we said yes. As you've probably guessed, we were sitting there last night with the heating on full and there was a loud crack where the new plaster has split from the top to the bottom of the wall, about 3m in length.

After doing some research it seems some sort of plastic casing is recommended if sinking heating pipes due to the constant contraction/expansion (why didn't I think of that before!).

I suppose my question is what would you do in this situation? Have I got any justification in getting the plasterer back to have a look at it?

At the moment I would say if you didn't know it was there you would need to look closely as it's only hairline at the moment (albeit 3m of hairline crack) and the sofa is in front of it but my concern is it will get worse as time goes on. Not to sure filling the crack will work if the problem of the pipe underneath remains.

Sorry for the long winded post!

macman

If it's hairline, just put some flexible filler in it.

aylesby

We had the same problem. Filled easily with Wicks decorator’s chalk which is cheap but the filler took the paint differently from the painted plaster and it’s very visible.

Is there anything better than the product I used as I would like to try again?

antilles

In-laws had the same problem, we used a bog standard tub of filler (from Wilkos I think), the kind that is ready mixed and comes with a spatula.

And yes you are right the pipes should be encased in some type of conduit as the heat will cause expansion of the plaster, eventually cracking it.

Wookey

Where the pipes lagged and covered with expanding metal before being plastered over?