Cracks in Chimney Breast - What to do?

paye

if your worried about the cracks you can buy something called a 'tell tale' it an instrument used by building surveyors to monitor both vertical or horizontal cracks. you screw this guage over the crack and check it every few weeks to see if the cracks have got wider. If they have then you need to bring in a professional to check it out. You don't want your chimney stack crashing down 4 in the morning. Just a thought maybe the steel beam supporting something of your loft conversion if you have one.

http://www.survequip.com/Standard-TellTale-CrackMonitor/

chris_m

diable wrote: »

Old houses crack, may just need repointing so use it to your advantage.

Repointing is the brickwork equivalent of grouting - replacing the surface covering of the existing mortar between the bricks. It's not normally the solution when the bricks themselves have cracked

Seanymph

I was told by a surveyor that when the mortar cracks not to worry - when it goes through bricks to worry.

Personally I'd pay for a structural. But then I'm naturally cautious.

middlecat

Seanymph wrote: »

I was told by a surveyor that when the mortar cracks not to worry - when it goes through bricks to worry.

Personally I'd pay for a structural. But then I'm naturally cautious.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Based on what I can see in the photo, I think the cracks have actually gone through the bricks.

paye - I still have a chance to get out of the deal if the problem is serious, so a tell tale will take too long to tell me what I need to know.

Slinky

Why not pay for a structural survey and knock the cost of that off your offer? A few hundred quid on a full survey could save you thousands. Given the house is 110 years old I would never have gone for anything less in the first place personally.

chris_m

middlecat wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Based on what I can see in the photo, I think the cracks have actually gone through the bricks.

That's what I thought too - not all of them, most of the cracking is on the mortar joints but it certainly looked to me that it had gone through the middle of some bricks.
That is, of course, only on the visible surface. For full peace of mind, a structural survey would be advisable.

tbs624

Ask the vendor to meet half the costs of a structural engineer's report.

Suzy_M

The rafters appear to be sitting on the brickwork.

The pattern of the cracks and what appears to be a large gap where the horizontal timber meets the rafter makes me wonder if the roof is shifting away from the house.

Possible causes of this could be a botched attic conversion (e.g. purlins removed or otherwise compromised, purlin struts/props removed) or if re-roofed the new materials were heavier than the old and no additional support was used.

If the roof has shifted it could have been easily concealed by the plasterboard on the inside and fascias and soffits outside.

In these circumstance I'd definitely go for a structural engineer - and if there is a problem get the rest of the house checked out just as thoroughly.

poppysarah

middlecat wrote: »

I thought the paperwork for the steel beam was going to be the stumbling block as the surveyor indicated that there were no cracks, hence no structural issues in his report. I guess the cracks may now proved to be the bigger problem!

He didn't mention the cracks in his report?

Ask him to go back and look again!
(Or find a different surveyor)

middlecat

tbs624 wrote: »

Ask the vendor to meet half the costs of a structural engineer's report.

I think it's unlikely that the vendor will want to contribute to a report that would potentially lead to the buyer asking for a discount! I think I will have to bear the cost myself.