Cracks in walls

catoutthebag

I moved into my place just over a year ago.

Got some painters in to psint the flat.

In places they hadn't done a thorough job.

Cracks weren't properly filled in, not sure if they did any sanding or if they put 2 coats of paint on.

These got worse over time in bedroom and hallway, which are adjacent to bathroom. The bathroom has a powerful extraction fan but I still leave the door open during showering (live on my own) for full ventilation, so steam will hit bedroom and hallway

The hallway was worst a year on. Flaking paint on each of the 3 sides, some patches worse than others , looked terrible. None were outside facing.

So I decided to get someome else in to paint. Bedroom and hallway were main issues, but as I'd had tiling done in bathroom and kitchen I got them to do whole flat.

I watched them properly sand it down, fill cracks and apply two -paint coats and they did a good job.

How ever, I have seen some tiny cracks appear in hallway...few days on. I fear it will turn into paint flaking and cracking and be an eye sore again.

Bedroom they filled in some long vertical cracks and they appear ok (hoping they don't open up). On the same side as these vertical cracks, there is a long is horizontal crack near the ceiling. This is not an outside wall. Annoyingly they could only fill and tidy it up as apparently the cracks are in the wall so would need to replaster it to fully eliminate. They did suggest coving for £25 to cover up these horizontal long cracks (which haven't spread or got worse as the wall is solid).

Back to the tiny hallway area. I contacted the painter and he said it sounds an issue with wall and I'd need to player or cross line the wall (no idea what the latter is)then repaint .

I am not diy inclined and I know my strengths and weaknesses.

So a bit annoyed that replaster was not suggested in first place given the state they saw them in in hallway and one bedroom wall.

I think they went down sanding and painting route as I'd mentioned the previous inexperience of the previous painters and that they'd used cheap paint (I supplied dulux this time).

So what are my options before I start chucking more cash away

1) hallway is tiny. It will take weeks or months til further cracks appear. I could leave it til it worsens and sort then

2) sort now. Replaster or cross line the walls?

3) bedroom - coving should eliminate the horizontal cracks without replaster. And the other vertical ones they seem to have sorted well...barely visible (I guess they could only be invisible by replaster? But I'm happy with result)

4) if further cracks appear on the one wall in bedroom I'll have to replaster but at the moment it's good.

So what to do next?

Should I have used bathroom paint in the hallway given its adjacent to bathroom and gets hit with steam about once a day?

Jonesya

Why do you leave the bathroom door open when showering?

If you close the door then the extractor fan will stop the steam getting out into the rest of the house and if you leave it running for a while after you've showered, again with the door closed, it will clear the steam from the bathroom.

catoutthebag

Because there are no windows. As with hot dinners I like hot showers. But the steam should not cause this?
Bedroom window is open all the time except night.
Extraction fan is on for half an hour after.

brightontraveller

Jonesya wrote: »

Why do you leave the bathroom door open when showering?

If you close the door then the extractor fan will stop the steam getting out into the rest of the house and if you leave it running for a while after you've showered, again with the door closed, it will clear the steam from the bathroom.

Fans don’t work in a vacuum very common mistake
I have seen this done so many times resulting in client thinking fan doesn't work sufficiently result they believe they need bigger and bigger fans ? Unfortunately they just don't grasp the basics for fan to suck air out of a room air has to come into that room to replace whats going out at a sufficient ratio e.g . 5l out 1l in fan appears to be not working , 5l out 5l in works.
In most cases leaving door open as alien as it sounds to most (alternately having sufficient air flow into room vents etc ) with fan running produces better result than closing door thus creating insufficient air flow into room,

If the wall is plaster board onto stud ( metal timber etc) variety of things can cause it. common are insufficient fasteners ( screws) for board onto stud or stud to substrate e.g. brick wall resulting in movement, if lines are between board joins they may have not used plasterboard scrim tape on joins or boards where to damp when put up/plastered resulting in poor scrim adhesion. ditto if boards dot and dabbed to wall. Alternately plastered wall is old cracks are appearing natural aging etc

Buildings do move throughout the year shrink expand etc if wall covering is incompatible with building construction e.g timber building expanding contracting at 5 mm plaster / plasterboard expanding contracting at 3 mm or vice versa cracks may eventually appear. Ideally find cause of movement or just Gyproc Easi-Fill cracks, or lining paper and repaint just skimming etc without identifying and remedying cause may well mean there back in the future.
cross line
http://www.propertydecorating.co.uk/blog/?p=44

Grenage

Keep the door closed, and have a means of air admittance; this can either be a vent - or more commonly, have the bathroom door 1cm shorter at the bottom.

Flaking paint is usually an adhesion problem, and often doesn't show up until some time after painting.