Cracked plaster

CouponWoman

Well I thought I would appeal to anyone for help on here as to be honest I do not know what to do.

We bought a semi detached house a good few years ago. The house was built in the early 1960's and is of normal brick construction.

The person we bought it off was an elderly lady and she had only painted the walls since it had been built. For speed when we moved in we too painted the walls. The house needed a total makeover as it was very old fashioned.

Unfortunately we were never very good at diy so had to have people in to do the work for us. We did the most urgent things, new double glazing, re-wire, new bathroom, new central heating, burglar alarm etc.

Due to illness we have had to stop doing work on the house and are struggling to get going again.

Anyway a few months ago I noticed crackes in the plaster on most of the walls, some on the ceilings and even some around the door frames and skirting boards.

I have looked outside and there are no cracks at all in the bricks anywhere, and I don't believe its caused by subsidence.

What on earth can be wrong with the plaster.

If anyone can offer advice I would be really grateful.

McKneff

Just off the top of my head as I am no builder, but it could be the heat that is causing the cracks, coupled with the fact that
if it has had no double glazing for years, there will be a lot more heat contained in the house, add the new central heating.

But I am quite happy to be corrected by the experts.

CouponWoman

thanks McKneff - any advice is welcome

xx

doelani

No expert but....

This happened to us after we moved into an old house and installed DG and heating, cracks in every room lol Although our house is older than yours as was built in 1900 .

eco-friendly_2

Most of the cracks will be down to slight movement, common in most properties particulary around door frames and skirtings. You can fill the door frames etc, with this. You could use lining paper on your walls if the cracks are particulary bad.

eco-friendly_2

You will also need one of these

McKneff

If you use good quality lining paper ie 1800 or even 1200 you can put this up and paint over it or paper over it.

Not a big problem really

CouponWoman

Anyone got an idea how much a plasterer charges to take off the old plaster and then re plaster an average room

thanks

jcb208

CouponWoman wrote: »

Anyone got an idea how much a plasterer charges to take off the old plaster and then re plaster an average room

thanks

If the plaster is not blown there is no need to remove,tap the plaster all over the wall and see if the noise note changes as this will tell if its blown,other wise just rake out and fill cracksTo remove plaster to a complete room will be very messy and cost a lot of money as its labour intensive,also it may well damage plaster the other side of the wall

keith969

How big are the cracks? Some cracking is normal, especially if the walls have dried out due to better heating etc.

Replastering is a bit OTT, why not just fill the cracks with decorator's caulk?

CouponWoman

If you tap the plaster in some places it sounds hollow and in others sounds solid, so some replacement is needed.

The ceiling in the bedroom is pretty bad and has dropped a little in two places.

Its just the quanity of cracking that is worrying me, and the suddenness of it.

There were a few cracks in the plaster on the stairs and landing when we bought the house.

The surveryor said we should consult a builder about it. One builder said we needed a new ceiling and another said ignore it and do nothing. We cannot ignore it as it looks a right mess, it would be impossible to paper over the cracks in the ceiling, there are too many.

Some cracks we filled and others we just painted over and it wasn't too bad. We now want to wallpaper one room at a time but the cracking is quite a worry.


thanks everyone for your advice.