Cracks reappearing in all walls

tonyh66

Santosda wrote: »

Thanks Tony. Possible for you to give me an estimate how much it would cost to work on the solution.

your talking hundreds rather than thousands, outside looks fine no major cracks or split bricks. So its not as bad as it looks.
As stuart45 says, a bricky would be capable of doing it, just make sure he gets some proper support on that lintel instead of the carp thats there at the minute.

that

Guys, do you not think there is anything going on here about these two photos?
https://imgur.com/h3jN3ZK
https://imgur.com/wOL0d1C

Santosda

All the houses in the street have similar brickwork. There are tiny little cracks on the bricks on all outside walls of the houses

stuart45

It's quite common on long runs of brickwork to have thermal cracks. They should stop at the DPC.
Nowadays on clay brickwork the max would be 12metres without a movement joint.
Any longer would need a gap with slip ties joining the brickwork.
Brickwork expands in the heat and cracks at night when it cools and contracts,

EachPenny

stuart45 wrote: »

It's quite common on long runs of brickwork to have thermal cracks. They should stop at the DPC.

The internal cracking on the blockwork doesn't look thermal though.

I'm suspicious about the whole set-up the external pictures suggest the property is around 1960's ex-Council (e.g. concrete gutters), yet the blockwork surely has to be late 1970's (from appearance I'd put it as late 80's/early 90's).

The lintel was supported by less than an inch (more by the plaster than by brick), which made me wonder if it is a case of a dodgy window company opening up the window openings. But the blockwork is too extensive to be just relating to window replacement. It doesn't seem credible that that lintel and the quality of the blockwork would be something a council officer would allow during the original construction.

That makes me think the blockwork has been added by a DIY'er to what was perhaps originally a solid-wall property. The photo showing the 'repair' to the lintel support indicates there is a cavity (filled with polystyrene?) but there is no evidence of tying or DPM between the inner and outer leaves.

Rather than spending more money on cosmetic repairs the OP needs to find out exactly what the blockwork wall is. Does it have any structural function, or is it just an attempt to reduce damp/heatloss?

And most importantly, if it has been added after the original construction, then what is it supported by? Because based on the quality of the blockwork I'm not expecting whoever built it to have dug down and put in proper foundations... if I'm right about it being a bodge job the chances are it is sitting on top of a suspended floor/floor slab which has sunk relative to the external wall and it is this causing the large internal cracks to appear.

Once the OP has figured out the history of the walls, and what is going on, they can work out the best repair strategy.... and from the evidence of the photos and my suspicion the blockwork is a DIY bodge rather than structural, the best way forward might be to get rid of the bodged walls completely and have it replaced with correctly installed (and insulated) dry lining.

A professional who understands structures - rather than a plasterer doing cosmetic repairs - is what is needed here.

Santosda

Yes I feel the same, the house is all messed up. Since I'm first timer buyer I dint have any clue about the concrete and these ex council houses. And that I should have done a in depth survey before buying the property. Now since cannot go on past and cannot undo things. And looking at the current scenario with finance is it possible to take aid of insurance?
Thanks

stuart45

EachPenny wrote: »

The internal cracking on the blockwork doesn't look thermal though.
.

It wouldn't be thermal. Thermalite are well known to suffer from shrinkage cracking. This is why many builders either don't use them or other AAC blocks but prefer concrete or Fibrolite etc
When using AAC blocks nowadays a lot of builders are putting reinforcment in some of the bed joints as well as using a slightly weaker mix.
When they do crack it's often by or under the frames where the wall is weaker, or in the corners where the wall is pulling away from the corner, but the end is held back.
The blockwork looks typical of the standard back then. CoW's were usually not too worried about internal blockwork.
When I first started as an apprentice in the mid 60's most of the houses I worked on had brick inner skins, although AAC blocks were starting to be used. In the early 70's they became really popular as the U values were lowered from 1.7 to 1.0.
I think the OP needs to talk to some of the neighbours and find out if they have had the same issues.

stuart45

EachPenny wrote: »

The internal cracking on the blockwork doesn't look thermal though.

I'm suspicious about the whole set-up the external pictures suggest the property is around 1960's ex-Council (e.g. concrete gutters), yet the blockwork surely has to be late 1970's (from appearance I'd put it as late 80's/early 90's).

The lintel was supported by less than an inch (more by the plaster than by brick), which made me wonder if it is a case of a dodgy window company opening up the window openings. But the blockwork is too extensive to be just relating to window replacement. It doesn't seem credible that that lintel and the quality of the blockwork would be something a council officer would allow during the original construction.

That makes me think the blockwork has been added by a DIY'er to what was perhaps originally a solid-wall property. The photo showing the 'repair' to the lintel support indicates there is a cavity (filled with polystyrene?) but there is no evidence of tying or DPM between the inner and outer leaves.

Rather than spending more money on cosmetic repairs the OP needs to find out exactly what the blockwork wall is. Does it have any structural function, or is it just an attempt to reduce damp/heatloss?

And most importantly, if it has been added after the original construction, then what is it supported by? Because based on the quality of the blockwork I'm not expecting whoever built it to have dug down and put in proper foundations... if I'm right about it being a bodge job the chances are it is sitting on top of a suspended floor/floor slab which has sunk relative to the external wall and it is this causing the large internal cracks to appear.

Once the OP has figured out the history of the walls, and what is going on, they can work out the best repair strategy.... and from the evidence of the photos and my suspicion the blockwork is a DIY bodge rather than structural, the best way forward might be to get rid of the bodged walls completely and have it replaced with correctly installed (and insulated) dry lining.

A professional who understands structures - rather than a plasterer doing cosmetic repairs - is what is needed here.

That's an interesting theory. I must admit that never crossed my mind, although having another look I still think it's the original blockwork. The bearing for the lintel looks like it was soldiers which came away when the plaster was knocked off. It looks like there has been a vertical DPC in the jamb, which came away with the bricks.

Santosda

Hello everyone .. thank you for all your opinions and views. It's so much info I'm gathering of which I had no clue able. Today I got to meet my left hand side neighbour for the first time, he lives alone and I seldom get to see him. He showed me his house today as his house also have similar cracks like mine all over.

stuart45

Glad you are not alone with your cracked walls. Does not surprise me that the other houses have similar problems.
I know it's too late now, but if you had got in someone experienced in these properties they probably would have told you do a bit of filling and not worry too much.
When people find cracks in their walls it causes panic with thoughts of subsidence, but in most cases it
is something much simpler.