Cracks in New Properties

lovelldr

Hi guys.

Just wondering if any of you could give us some advice about this.

We're buying a new property, and should hopefully soon be completing. The house is being built by a small local builder. We went to look at the show home of another development in the area (by a larger developer in the East Midlands, beginning with J and ending in N), and looking at their property, there are a large amount of cracks in the walls. Now looking through our property, touch wood, we have been unable to see any cracks in there at all. I know that they started building the property at around feb time. But this is the same time as when the other developer started building theirs. The other developer is renowned for building houses with solid internal walls. The house we are buying has plasterboard walls with the bricks in between.

Now hopefully, the reason we haven't seen any cracks in the new property is because there aren't likely to be any. But i'm just curious as to if anyone can help us with whether it's likely that there will or won't?! Is it because of the way the walls are made? Or is it that it has been better built? Or is it just that we're lucky they haven't shown yet, but are likely to show in the future?

Thinking back, I know that when we went to look at homes built by other developers which were a couple of years old, there was a fair number of cracks in them. So it could just be the time span???

Any advice greatly appreciated

TIA

David

dmg24

Settlement cracks in the walls of new homes are inevitable, whoever built it or how they built it.

You get used to them ... I've even given mine names! x

adr0ck

unfortuantly settlement cracks are more common nowadays due to the type of blocks used......(for insulation purposes...the blocks are weaker than the mortar holding them together hence more prone to cracks)

are you sure the builders used bricks instead of blocks as this would be a very expensive way to build ...however it would be less prone to cracking.........

kit

If they are big enough to fit a £ coin (on its side!) in it then worry!

settlement crack are part and parcel of new houses now - you will get them. Just leave them there for a while, let the house settle a bit and then fill. Buying a flexible filler may help too.

lovelldr

Thanks for the comments guys. Looks like we'll just have to wait for it to happen then hehe.

adr0ck wrote:

are you sure the builders used bricks instead of blocks as this would be a very expensive way to build ...however it would be less prone to cracking.........

Probably was breeze block, can't remember now. Was such a long time ago we saw em building it...

itsakidsworld

Cracks are normal in new build. Sizes vary depending on construction and how quickly they get built ( which is normally very quick!!). These days builders use as few solid internal walls as possible, which are normally load bearing walls which carry the next floor, which in turns gives the house more movement.

The wood they use is the problem as it is very young wood and has been grown fast for the purpose of build. This creates bigger cracks than using good, 100 year old reclaimed wood which hardly anybody uses ( we do ).

If the postman stops using the letter box and starts using one of the cracks then, yes, you have a problem ( and even bigger if its an A4 letter!!):D

plane_boy2000

We brought out new house last April and have had hardly any cracks, but I think we have just been lucky. The builder told us to keep the windows open in bathrooms and kitchen and to not keep turning the heating up and down i.e. to try and keep the temperature steady rather that big rise / drops as this would reduce cracking. They also told us that anything you could fit a pound coin in they would fix, but otherwise it was "normal" and my problem!

lovelldr

Thanks for all the good advice guys. Hopefully will be like you plane_boy! Guess time will tell...