Cracks in plaster

collywollys

   
Good afternoon,
I'll try to keep this short. We noticed the wallpaper ripping away in our main front bedroom so decided to strip it away. Above are the images of what we uncovered. We rent of a housing association so informed them about it and after an inspection a job was raised for a plasterer to come and fix it. Plasterer came a couple of weeks later and after starting the job informed me that he would need to go back to the HA for further investigation. 




These are the pictures of what he discovered after hacking away the old plaster.


After a few weeks of chasing them up to see what they are going to do i have been told that a plasterer job is being raised again to sort this out. 
I am a little concerned about this but going from the images, can any of you good people say if just plastering over it is going to be sufficient or not ?

Doozergirl

That's movement.  

A surveyor or structural engineer should have a look before fixing it.  What's on the other side of that wall?  Any cracking anywhere else?   Any walls removed etc downstairs? 

FreeBear

Minor cracks is often regarded as gaps up to 5mm wide in the mortar joints. You have at least one brick that is broken in half, and the cracking is fairly recent - Evidence of this is in the gypsum plaster over a much older layer of lime plaster. This is all pointing towards a serious issue developing that needs to be fixed before slapping plaster on the walls. At a minimum, most of the plaster needs to be removed and the wall repointed. Depending on the root cause, some helibars (crack stitching) may need to be installed and then the whole lot replastered. Fortunately, being a rental property, the housing association will have to pick up the repair bill and may have to rehouse you whilst the work is being carried out.

Start writing letters rather than phoning them.

collywollys

Doozergirl said:

That's movement.  

A surveyor or structural engineer should have a look before fixing it.  What's on the other side of that wall?  Any cracking anywhere else?   Any walls removed etc downstairs? 

The housing inspector is coming back next week to take another look after I insisted, not sure if he's a structural engineer/ surveyor though. According to my latest chat with customer services, he seems confident from the pictures received that it just needs plastering over. 
This wall joins on to next-door if that helps. We do have a number of cracks nearby and in another bedroom but not sure, I will show them to him when he comes again. 
Many thanks for taking the time to respond.

weeg

That needs more than plastering over. As Doozer says, that's movement, and the cause needs found and fixed.

collywollys

FreeBear said:

Minor cracks is often regarded as gaps up to 5mm wide in the mortar joints. You have at least one brick that is broken in half, and the cracking is fairly recent - Evidence of this is in the gypsum plaster over a much older layer of lime plaster. This is all pointing towards a serious issue developing that needs to be fixed before slapping plaster on the walls. At a minimum, most of the plaster needs to be removed and the wall repointed. Depending on the root cause, some helibars (crack stitching) may need to be installed and then the whole lot replastered. Fortunately, being a rental property, the housing association will have to pick up the repair bill and may have to rehouse you whilst the work is being carried out.

Start writing letters rather than phoning them.

Many thanks for your reply FreeBear.
I am no expert when it comes to this but it has been my request to the HA that at least someone with the relevant expertise comes out to take a look and tell us if its serious or not. Like I said in my last post, i am not sure of the inspectors expertise and he may well be right in his conclusions.

Doozergirl

Please let us know how you get on.  

FreeBear

collywollys said: I am no expert when it comes to this but it has been my request to the HA that at least someone with the relevant expertise comes out to take a look and tell us if its serious or not. Like I said in my last post, i am not sure of the inspectors expertise and he may well be right in his conclusions.

You could always ask what qualifications the "inspector" holds.

collywollys

FreeBear said:

collywollys said: I am no expert when it comes to this but it has been my request to the HA that at least someone with the relevant expertise comes out to take a look and tell us if its serious or not. Like I said in my last post, i am not sure of the inspectors expertise and he may well be right in his conclusions.

You could always ask what qualifications the "inspector" holds.

Haha, I will be this time, thanks.

collywollys

weeg said:

That needs more than plastering over. As Doozer says, that's movement, and the cause needs found and fixed.

Doozergirl said:

That's movement.  

A surveyor or structural engineer should have a look before fixing it.  What's on the other side of that wall?  Any cracking anywhere else?   Any walls removed etc downstairs? 

These are a the cracks in and around the main crack. These do seem to have become more pronounced but might just be me being paranoid.

These ones below are from another of the bedrooms upstairs that I'll be showing him as well. Not sure if they are linked but does seem a bit strange.

stuart45

Is that the party wall next to the external wall?  In terraced houses the external flank sometimes moves out due to roof spread making cracks in the party wall.