Cracks appearing in house - who do I call?

Jonesy88

Hi,

We purchased a property in Jan 2015, and had the homebuyers survey - everything was fine.

However over the last couple of weeks quite a few cracks have appeared in several 1st floor ceilings. Some are quite large but all thin. The house was recently plastered so at first I put it down to plaster cracks but it's really worrying me now. The house is approx 100 years old and a 3 bed semi.

Who should I call to assess the problem? Should I have a full structural survey so atleast issues could be identified or put my mind at rest, or do I need a builder/plasterer?

If I go down the survey route, who is the best qualified? Every firm on Google seems to have different qualifications!

Horizon81

I find that most houses do crack in the fashion you describe. The chances are that the last owner had the house plastered to hide the existing cracks. Now the plaster is fully drying the cracks are coming back. Are there any cracks visible on the brickwork outside?

EDIT - just saw the word ceilings. Forget about it. It happens.

martinthebandit

I would call in a trusted builder if I was worried.

If i didn't know any builders then a structural engineer would be my next port of call.

Although I don't think I would be worried to much by plaster cracks in a newly plastered ceiling in a 100 year old house.

Doozergirl

Have you been in the loft? The joists moving will often cause cracks.

If there's nothing corresponding in the walls, then I'd be hard pushed to think it was structural movement.

Jonesy88

Yes we have been in the loft - nothing obvious but the loft isn't head height so I can't say we've crawled into all of the corners. The house is an 'L' shape, forming a 'U' with the other semi so the loft and roof are a little bit more complicated.

There are 2 cracks which go onto walls. These are very thin and both times are above a door on the landing.

Trusted builders - I know a trusted plasterer/odd job man. Will ask him to look but I don't want to hang around waiting.

We are also having our chimneys repointed so will ask the builders to take a look, although I'm not sure how unbiased their opinion would be.

EssexExile

Jonesy88 wrote: »

Yes we have been in the loft - nothing obvious but the loft isn't head height so I can't say we've crawled into all of the corners.

I think Doozergirl means if you've been in the loft your weight on joists that are not designed to carry your weight may have caused them to move, creating the cracks. If Doozergirl didn't mean that, no doubt I'll be told off!

Marktheshark

The ceiling is a hanging feature.
It has no structural significance to the property.

chappers

martinthebandit wrote: »

I would call in a trusted builder if I was worried.

If i didn't know any builders then a structural engineer would be my next port of call.

Although I don't think I would be worried to much by plaster cracks in a newly plastered ceiling in a 100 year old house.

However if they've just skimmed over an old lath and plaster ceiling that was full of cracks then it won't be any better than what was there before and if it was in danger of coming down then it will still be in danger of coming down now.
Also if the ceiling wasn't prepared properly you may find that the new plaster just peels off.
Both scenarios will be hard to ascertain until they fail, you could give the ceiling a bit of a prod around the cracks and see if any of the plaster comes away, otherwise you'll really just have to trust to luck there won't be much you can tell just by looking .

tony6403

Are the cracks in straight lines? If so, it could be that plasterboard has been used without scrim over the joints.

rosie383

We have exactly the same problem in our property, a 1930's semi. The surveyor did mention a little bit of cracking in the bay window area but said it looked historic. Once we stripped wallpaper in those areas there are some cracks, about 3mm wide which were filled and papered over. Considering the papering looked as if it was done years ago, we aren't too worried. And all of the ceilings have hairline cracks some of which go down into the walls, but these haven't really worried us either. I hope we aren't wrong!

Jonesy88

Hi All,

Thank you so much for the comments.

As update from us - we've had someone out and they've confirmed it's a combination of movement from the change in temperature/general age, and a bodge job of plastering (probably over the lath and plaster).

Nothing to be worried too much about. As we get round to redecorating/light renovation we'll make the call whether to take the plaster off and go back to brick on a room by room basis.

Thanks again