Just bought house, found cracks in wall... NOT HAPPY

shar46y

Loving ruggedtoast's comment - I suppose that could be considered a bright side :rotfl:

poppysarah wrote: »

The surveyor might have no legal duty to you if you didn't pay for the survey...

Did you see a copy of it?

edit:
Go and look through the paperwork and see if you have a copy. If you do then have a read and see what it says.

We did pay for a full structural survey and the only movement mentioned was 'historic'. As well as the written report, we also had a long chat with the surveyor and he didn't say anything about cracks all over the place.

tyllwyd

My guess is that if the surveyor didn't mention cracks, he probably saw them and thought that they were not significant. I take it these are hairline cracks?

What is the plaster like in the house? It might be that the plaster is old and failing and that is why it is cracking - if the problem is replastering rather than structural work, that's not anywhere near so bad. Or if when the RSJ was put in, they patched the plaster, the cracks might be shrinkage.

shar46y

I think the plaster in the main reception room at least is fairly new, dating from when the whole house was renovated and rewired in 2003. Most of the cracks are hairline, but some are definitely bigger/wider.

G_M

You may have a problem; but there again you may not.

Frankly, a load of speculation from a bunch of non-professionals like us (albeit with various degrees of experience), but who have not even seen the property, is about as helpful as.... well, I can't think of a good end to the sentance right now but you get the idea!

You are clealy worried. Get a professional to look and comment. Either your original surveyor, and/or the vendor's structural engineer, and/or soeone completely new and impartial. You'll need to pay the latter two.

shar46y

Just to update the thread... we contacted the original surveyor, and their regional manager came out to have a look at the house! He is confident that the cracks are nothing to worry about, most likely being shrinkage cracks. :j

Thanks to everyone for your good advice:beer:

DON79

shar46y wrote: »

Just to update the thread... we contacted the original surveyor, and their regional manager came out to have a look at the house! He is confident that the cracks are nothing to worry about, most likely being shrinkage cracks. :j

Thanks to everyone for your good advice:beer:

Sounds good but I would be tempted to get a second independent opinion also...

I have a suspicious nature lol! I would consider whether the regional manager is there to "convince" you nothing is wrong so they are not faced with a potentially hefty bill/costs...

Sorry!

dizziblonde

ruggedtoast wrote: »

You probably shouldnt panic. If two surveys gave it a clean bill recently its unlikely that much has changed since then. You do notice a lot more wrong when you buy somewhere, because you have all the time in the world to look at things.

I drove hubby crackers (no pun intended) finding cracks everywhere after we bought our house. He thenceforth banned me from watching stuff like Help My House Is Falling Down and told me to quit panicking. They were, I now rationally conclude - cracks because the plasterwork in this place is pants and on our endless list of things to do - and they ain't got any bigger so I promised I'd only keep on worrying when if they ever did.

neverdespairgirl

the house I lived in from the ages of 5 to 15 had two massive cracks on the back wall.

However, they were exactly the same when we moved in and when we left. They'd been caused by a bomb dropping a bit further along the street, in 1941, and were fine.

shar46y

DON79 wrote: »

Sounds good but I would be tempted to get a second independent opinion also...

I have a suspicious nature lol! I would consider whether the regional manager is there to "convince" you nothing is wrong so they are not faced with a potentially hefty bill/costs...

Sorry!

The thought did cross my mind too...

We did also have the overseeing structural engineers' report, they are a totally separate organisation (and very well-established) so would consider them an independent opinion.

And as the guy said, if anything did go wrong, it would be his neck (and the whole company) on the line! They will be following up in writing so we have something to pursue if there are further problems.

Fingers crossed

themull1

You can get glass rods that screw across cracks, and if there is any movement the glass will crack, i saw it probably on help my house is falling down!! My house is 1950's and there are cracks in the walls and ceilings inside, been there for years, but havent moved.