Buying a house with a crack in the wall, serious? (Picture)

princeofpounds

Not only is there the line all the way up it looks like there have been further repairs done near the front, can see long lines of vertical mortar.

Maybe you are joking, but I think the line all the way up is actually cable. Would be a very well behaved crack!

The mortar near the front is the crack.

Given it spans the height of the building and it is clearly more than a slender crack in places then definitely worth looking at. The mortar patching it up looks relatively fresh to me, although it might just have been tidied up at some stage.

jacko74

The cement 'repairs' look very fresh and certainly don't look like they've been there since the 1970's.

maninthestreet

princeofpounds wrote: »

Maybe you are joking, but I think the line all the way up is actually cable. Would be a very well behaved crack!

.

Indeed - that 'crack' is just too staight and plumb.
However, I would say that has house been subject to neglect - the guttering appears to have a lawn in it!

bryanb

Looking at the mortar near the front wall it appears to have been repaired all the way up.
Buy another house!

DaftyDuck

Any more pictures of other aspects of the house? Is it detached, or is another one joined at the other end? Extreme bottom right - is that concrete drive, or....

Oh, to add to my post #11, there's also water penetration behind the gutter that's damaged the fascia/soffit and the mortar up there - and quite possibly damaged the main wall as well. It's not just a "clean the gutter" job up there!

You asked " Would I buy?" No, probably not, unless the price was quite exceptional, or the view stunning. It'd have to have some strong redeeming feature to be worth the hassle.

G_M

Is it on a hill? Looks like the ground drops away behind the gate......

Smi1er

That's bad. Real bad. Others have said to get a SE report but to be honest I wouldn't bother unless the house is cheap (as in auction cheap). Poor repairs in the past means you'll have to do the job properly and IMHO isn't worth the risk in case you discover further issues.


Walk away. No, I mean run away. And fast!

ruggedtoast

paulrn_2

It is clear that the whole front wall has either been repaired or extended the bricks do not line up and you can see the keying. I would want to know a lot more, but to be honest I think I would walk away

Leon_W

I have a theory.


The front elevation is a later addition to the house. In all likelihood it was single skin and a new front elevation was built to maybe form a cavity between the two. This has become detached from the property due to movement. If you enlarge the photo and look at the crack it follows a definite pattern where it has been keyed into the gable end.


One big clue would be the depth of the sills.


My own house has been constructed in a similar fashion. Single skin Red brick (1880ish) very cheap but no thermal qualities whatsoever. Later it was faced with random stone to the front elevation, wall tied and joined to the gable end in a similar fashion with gable end rendered.


Just a theory, and no, I wouldn't buy it either !