Huge crack appears in wall - builders to blame?

bpk101

I just returned home from work to find a large (new) crack running wall to ceiling that the builders renovating the property look to be now repairing. Should i be worried?

The wall is a partition wall between entrance hallway and lounge, the crack looks pretty big to me:

http://bpkersey.com/images/IMG_8794.jpg
http://bpkersey.com/images/IMG_8795.jpg

There were problems this week with the ceiling in that room, when they started stripping off the wallpaper on the ceiling large chunks of lath and plaster came down with it so they put up a new plasterboards.
Could the ceiling issues have caused such a crack?

I'm just annoyed no one called to tell me about this crack appearing. Should they have?

:mad:

jhs14

When you say partition wall, do you mean a non-brick wall (ie stud wall etc)? In that case don't worry about the crack (as long as there are no other cracks in load bearing walls)

bpk101

jhs14 wrote: »

When you say partition wall, do you mean a non-brick wall (ie stud wall etc)? In that case don't worry about the crack (as long as there are no other cracks in load bearing walls)

Pretty sure it's a stud wall, no cracks anywhere else...

PasturesNew

If the wall's just a partition wall (so not holding anything important up) - and if the plaster on other parts has already decided to part company - then it might just be that all the jiggering about has made that wall's plaster to fail, due to age and the general banging about by builders.

So, I'd not worry about it at all and just put it down to "ah, must have been old and was about to go.... good job it happened while it can be fixed easily ... and it didn't wait until the work was finished before it blew".

Doozergirl

PasturesNew wrote: »

If the wall's just a partition wall (so not holding anything important up) - and if the plaster on other parts has already decided to part company - then it might just be that all the jiggering about has made that wall's plaster to fail, due to age and the general banging about by builders.

So, I'd not worry about it at all and just put it down to "ah, must have been old and was about to go.... good job it happened while it can be fixed easily ... and it didn't wait until the work was finished before it blew".

Erm, if it is this then that is the right attitude, but it needs to come off the wall! You're not going to get that wall straight and smooth anytime soon. If the fix to the wall has gone then it's a matter oftime before that whole lot shears off and hurts someone. Knock over the wall with your knuckles. Anything that sounds hollow has to come off.

The whole job gets curiouser and curiouser.

I'd want an explanation of what has happened and why it appears to be being bodged. It even looks like its moved since they half tried to coat it. And look at the line of the ceiling. Did you want it straight?

And no, I still can't get my head around the order work is being done in. Stripping wallpaper comes first. In every room. Before you start putting radiators on walls. Precisely because the plaster falls off old walls and it's likely to need remedial work.

If they were my builders, I'd sack them. Even if it's you that is project managing and instructing, it's wrong and as someone of experience, I'd be guiding you to do things right and pre-empt problems. This looks like am excercise in fire fighting. It can all be forseen though.

tonyh66

Lets be honest, judging by the other threads on here relating to this renovation, the builder must be turning up on a horse and wearing a Stetson, its a disaster zone.

pinkteapot

Their repair efforts look... interesting... in those photos.

You're builder isn't called AIMS, right?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2997163/Couple-s-dream-home-collapsed-rubble-botched-basement-dig-sending-eight-months-pregnant-fiancee-early-labour.html

Doozergirl

pinkteapot wrote: »

Their repair efforts look... interesting... in those photos.

You're builder isn't called AIMS, right?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2997163/Couple-s-dream-home-collapsed-rubble-botched-basement-dig-sending-eight-months-pregnant-fiancee-early-labour.html

:eek:

The lesson here is to ensure that your buildings insurance company is notified that work is going on. If you aren't living in the property, then you almost certainly need specialist insurance to cover renovations.

Also, check that the builder has not only public liability, but contractors all risk that covers in excess of the value of the contract. In that circumstance, the insurers could fight it out between each other over who was responsible for what, but between them would have paid.

I'm wondering what happened to the upstairs neighbours investment?! It had nothing to do with them at all.

We don't do basements!

bpk101

Granted - we're new to this renovation thing and i certainly don't post up threads every day relating to work we're happy with (maybe i should?!), just areas of concern as the project progresses and there hasn’t been that many to be fair.

The builders came through the FMB / Trustmark scheme (as recommended on this forum and elsewhere) and were selected out of 4 companies we interviewed based not on cost but the fact we found them easy to communicate with. I checked references (all good), visited live sites and met other clients (all good), all work is insurance backed and guaranteed (as well as being backed by the FMB) and we are paying stage payments as work progresses not in advance yada yada… i.e. we’ve done everything we can to protect ourselves against dodgy builders and I’m at a loss now to know what else more I can do or could have done.

Yes a crack has appeared and yes we’ve had ceiling trouble but the house is 150 years old and seen some pretty dodgy renovation work in the past. We had a pre-purcahse structural that deemed the house in good condition, just in need of refurbishment throughout.

The builders work has been limited to the following areas:

Roof – New Lead Flashing and parapet wall rendering and coping stones
Electrical – New consumer unit, sockets + switches installed throughout by certified Part P registered sparky. (New condition report issued)
Plumbing – New radiators throughout. (New Gas Certificate will be issued once the last few rads go up)
Walls and ceilings – repaired, plastered, skimmed and primed throughout, yes we’ve had complications due to their poor condition…
Joinery – New skirting, architraves, door liners and doors… yes 1 x skirting board was wonky
Floorboards – repaired, sanded and primed throughout

They had our bedroom finished ahead of the rest of house so we had somewhere to live (hence the 'strange order' that was noticed in other posts)… Our future ideas for a kitchen extension, loft extension and wood sash windows are ideas and will happen if/when we have the budget so don’t form part of this initial project and will not be handled by this build team who were employed to do the above works only. I haven’t let them near any structural works and won’t.

So – in desperate need of some advice i can use – should i get their work inspected by an independent structural engineer before they continue? Are there any means for me to protect myself by doing this whilst the job is still live?

What do you do in these situations?!

jhs14

None of the work you've just listed would have any structural effects (assuming your builders aren't swinging sledgehammers around the place) so no need to get a structural engineer in - but I would do so if you consider any work involving the loft conversion.

For what it's worth I wouldn't say the work looks that bad - presumably the builders are working under your direction/budget and while some of the work (ie suspended celing) is a quick fix rather than the proper job, there's nothing dangerous or particularly bodged about it. But I agree the order seems a bit odd, unless you're doing it because you have to live there while the work goes on (explaining why heating/electrics was sorted out first)

Doozergirl

The way you've been talking about future projects, Inwas goven the impression they're all definite. And previous posts also suggest you weren't moving in for a while. This is slightly different info to me and explains my confusion.

It does end up more expensive if you're not doing things quite in the right order. If your builder is prepared to suck it up, then okay, but it isn't okay to patch over that plaster as a form of sucking up extra expenditure elsewhere. Your quote is pretty cheap, considering the actual state of the walls (which could be anticipated) and I would not be happy with plaster patching in a house of that age, for fear of paying twice.

Budgeting in the right places is important. I'm looking after a £500k renovation of a home and the TRVs aren't as expensive as yours. It's not great if there's corner/cost cutting going on in vital places that aren't so easily accessible at a later date.

The FMB does not provide 'backing' per say, but it does have a dispute resolution service which is helpful if you are prepared to abide by an ajudicator's decision. Trustmark means that the builder is capable of providing an insurance backed warranty. It does not automatically mean that you are getting one and I don't see the price in your quote. He has to call Build Assure for aquotation himself based on the contract price and length of warranty, which is why I would expect to see it as a separate item. How long is your warranty for? If plaster is patched, it's pretty hard to warranty.