Cracks in walls of recently purchased house

jimmyboy82

Hi All
Just after a bit of advice, 2 days ago we completed on our house move. We had a homebuyers survey done on the property, in the report it stated of a couple of cracks in the upstairs part of the house, the surveyor had said that they look like they are of some age, and there was no evidence of them continually moving, and had scored the walls as a 1 with no risk. Ok, fair enough the house is a 1980's house with extension so yeah happy to continue, he didnt say that it needs any further investigation.  Now since moving in we have found quite a few cracks around the house, mostly around windows, there is one though which although isnt a wide crack it is probably 1 metre in length and I cant see how the surveyor missed it. This could of happened after the surveyor had visited the property. I think if all the cracks had been spotted we would of asked for a full structural survey to be done. So really I'm looking for a bit of advise of what to do next, ask the surveyor to come back and talk to him about the issues we have? Would the seller have to disclose the fact that new cracks have appeared after the surveyor had been? 

Doozergirl

Photos, please. 

All houses move, plaster shrinks and things get knocked.  The presence of cracks in a house is far from unusual.  

If they were worrisome cracks, your surveyor would have pointed them out.  

davidmcn

Cracks in what? The plaster? Or something structural? 

jimmyboy82

We have cracks in the internal walls, and some in the plaster

jimmyboy82

I'll grab some photos and upload them when I get back

jimmyboy82

so the first picture is the one the surveyor pointed out, and in his opinion was old and hadnt spread. The second one is only a few feet away upstairs, and I cant see how the surveyor would miss it, it's on the landing and you have to walk past it. I've also uploaded a smaller crack around the same area, which we have a few of those types of cracks around a few of the windows

staffie1

My first house was mid 80s build, and had a hairline crack in the wall above a door - probably just a bit shorter than that one on your landing. It was quite visible, and appeared about 2 years before I moved out. Don't know whether it was mentioned on my buyer's survey, but it was never mentioned to me. That was 6 years ago, and the house is still standing
80s houses tend to be brick-faced walls with plasterboard for the internal walls - what you can see is a crack in the plasterboard - not the wall itself.
Personally I would just redecorate and fill the cracks - there are some good products for this job, which are flexible and shouldn't re-crack.
The ones on the ceiling look to me like plaster shrinkage. I had them in the house I sold earlier this year. It was a 1930's semi which had had new ceilings in the last 6 years, so I suspect it was due to settlement.

FreeBear

staffie1 said: 80s houses tend to be brick-faced walls with plasterboard for the internal walls - what you can see is a crack in the plasterboard - not the wall itself.

Cracks in plasterboard generally follow the edges of the boards. So, straight line cracks horizontally & vertically. Diagonal & curved, more likely solid plaster. The rustic finish around the window suggests that there may have been some patching done - Possibly as a result of a replacement window being fitted ?

eidand

I don't understand, those things are visible to anyone. if you were so worried why did you not ask the surveyor specifically about every single one of them? Or you only worry AFTER you complete?
Surely you visited the property several times and you did see those cracks, right?

jimmyboy82

The windows are relatively new, and as you say could be the result of them being fitted. In terms of spotting the cracks, the one on the landing as far as I can remember wasnt there when we visited, but there could of been curtains in the way. Some of the others are in more obscure positions, and we didnt notice them on the visit, it's hard to take everything in, and I suppose that's why we pay a surveyor to take a closer look as it's easy to overlook stuff when looking at a few houses a day. 
I'm just abit on edge to whether the surveyor omitted them from the report, or they happened after the survey was done. As I previously said had they all been included, we would of asked for a full structural survey

Sistergold

The cracks are probably not new but once you move into your house you will most likely see more things that are wrong. It’s difficult for anyone to pickup every detail on a flying visit. The best is to repair the cracks and enjoy your house. The comforting thing is the house has been there for years and it’s likely to stand for long after we are all gone. 

Fill the cracks and try not to worry too much. In any case if it’s more serious you will know with time and you will have to deal with it then.