Hairline cracks on various corners

kakolukia91

Hi,

Hope everyone is doing well.

Was wondering if someone can help me figure out if some hairline cracks in my house are normal or something I should get someone to look at.

Below are three images of three different parts of the house where there are cracks. The first is in the corner of a wall, the second is in the corner of the staircase, and the final one is at the top of a room's window. To me they look like plaster cracks rather than anything serious, but honestly not too sure as I'm terrible with this kind of thing

joe90mitch

The staircase one looks like where the caulk has cracked that joins the wall to the stringer (the piece of wood that runs alongside your stairs). Decorators caulk is useful but it will just crack in time.

When you're next painting you can use a utility knife/ paint scraper and get the old caulk off and recaulk it. Certainly nothing to worry about.

I reckon the others aren't big issues, others will probably comment knowing what's caused them

kakolukia91

joe90mitch said:

The staircase one looks like where the caulk has cracked that joins the wall to the stringer (the piece of wood that runs alongside your stairs). Decorators caulk is useful but it will just crack in time.

When you're next painting you can use a utility knife/ paint scraper and get the old caulk off and recaulk it. Certainly nothing to worry about.

I reckon the others aren't big issues, others will probably comment knowing what's caused them

Thanks for the info, appreciate it.

Doozergirl

It's just plaster shrinkage in the corner of the walls.  Nothing to worry about. 

The stairs is caused by the movement of the stairs.  

kdotdotdotdot

Are the cracks new?  How old is the house?

Smithy99

If it helps, we've had lots of similar cracks appear over the last year. I was very paranoid about it, but I've noticed my mums house is the same this year too. 

twopenny

When  I had a 1920's house these and other areas were a regular occurrence. It was historical and I was used to them appearing.

Is this a fairly new house to you?

If you've been there some years and never seen this before then you may be concerned. But they do look like the usual expansion/contraction cracks.

Rosa_Damascena

Completely normal and as a previous poster said, builder's caulk is your friend in such times.