Cracks reappearing in all walls

Santosda

Yes Stuart , you are right. I wish I had called the right person but sadly wasn't aware and sure who would be the right person to do the job. Went on Facebook and called the plasterer who had very good reviews from many people. I only hope the problem is not major.

EachPenny

Santosda wrote: »

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.

When you say 'all over' do you mean all the internal walls, or only the walls at the front and back of the house like the pictures you've posted suggest?

I don't think I could see any of your pictures showing cracks on walls where there were rooms on both sides of the wall - it looks like only the front and back walls in your case.

Also, do you know the year your house was built? You should have seen this information when you purchased it, and used it for getting house insurance quotes.

stuart45

I find it difficult to put a proper picture together in my head of all of the walls and cracking in relation to the floor layout.
Is it only on the ground floor where the walls have been hacked, and what about the party walls.
I would guess it could be a 70's build. Pretty sure they were still using Finlock gutters then.

Santosda

Hi,
The cracks are in all three bedroom outside facing walls and living room front side. And now I can see it's showing cracks thru the wallpaper of left hand side party wall and also some on chimney in living room. I'm uploading the photos.

Santosda

https://postimg.cc/gallery/12p39wdum/

Near chimney and party wall

stuart45

Thanks for the extra photos Santosda.
Can you tell us the age of the property and what area you live in?

Santosda

Ya, sorry missed to write earlier. It was built in 1965 and I'm in Swindon park north area.

Santosda

And the roof guttering is concrete

EachPenny

stuart45 wrote: »

I find it difficult to put a proper picture together in my head of all of the walls and cracking in relation to the floor layout.
Is it only on the ground floor where the walls have been hacked, and what about the party walls.
I would guess it could be a 70's build. Pretty sure they were still using Finlock gutters then.

I've not been able to find a definitive answer on when AAC blocks came into use in the UK, but I'm struggling to think a Borough Architect's department would be specifying them in the mid-1960's... if the inner leaf isn't commons or dense concrete then I'd expect to find something like extruded clay units, breeze/cinder, or leca. The blocks in the OP's pictures just don't look right for mid-1960's.

Also, although some dodgy work would have got past the CoW, I also struggle with the idea anyone working for the Borough Architect would specify a lintel which had less than an inch or so of end bearing. They would have been ordered and delivered to site (in bulk) specified at the correct lengths. A rogue brickie might have used the wrong one and installed it incorrectly, but if they had, with the weight of the floor, walls (and roof?) above, you'd have expected problems to develop soon after and for the council (or Development Corporation?) to have needed to deal with it under their ownership.

The OP's further information suggests it is the external walls where there is a problem, apart from in the area around the fireplace. I'm not sure what the white construction in his picture actually is, but it again (along with the fireplace?) might be something added after the original build.

The neighbour having similar problems could be that the council organised renovation work at a later date, by which time standards had slipped. A lot of 1980's/90's "energy efficiency" type work was shockingly badly done, primarily because the councils were working on getting boxes ticked, rather than quality of workmanship.

I still think it needs the right professional to take a look and advise. For the OP the worst case scenario is for a surveyor to pick up these problems in a survey when he comes to sell, at which time the cost of getting the work done and/or loss of a sale could be far more than getting it done at his leisure now, or in the next year or so.

stuart45

AAC blocks were used in the 60's(you might have to take my word on that one) although not nearly as much as the 70's on.
I think the lintel had more bearing than an inch, but the brickwork at the top of the reveal has come away.
Being a mid terrace I think they would only have replaced the inner skin, and not the partition walls as well, which also look like AAC blocks.
I expect we will we never find out what has really happened.
Reading back through the posts, the OP says that their were no cracks until the repairs started, which seems a bit odd as what repairs would be needed if there were no cracks to start with.