Cracks above and below bay window

TheProfessional

Hi all

We bought our house 6 months ago and the surveyor picked some cracks up and said they just needed pointing repair. They are above and below the bay window at the front of the house.

 They are diagonal and are in the mortar rather than brick. No signs of anything inside the front room.

The windows are not new to my knowledge.

I could have them repointed like suggested by the surveyor but I'm not sure if I should get a structural engineer out first to confirm it isn't movement. How do they do that?

Any thoughts? Thank you

stuart45

It is movement, but it may have stopped now. Point it up and see how it goes. Bays are well known for often having foundations too shallow compared to the house.

TheProfessional

Ok thanks Stuart. I'll get repointed and see what happens. If they reappear telling me it's still moving, does supporting the bay then mean 'subsidence' and underpinning?

stuart45

It depends how bad it gets. With a lot of movement the arches will start to fail as the abutments move away, but there is quite a long way to go yet. If it gets worse get an SE in.

TheProfessional

Thanks. Fingers crossed it is stable!

FreeBear

Check your mortar - Drop a sample in to some vinegar, and see if it fizzes. If it does, you (probably) have a lime mortar and it will be fairly easy to rake out. Ideally, you want to repoint using the same type of mortar.

TheProfessional

Thanks will have a look. The house was 1930. The survey did say the render on the top half of the house was cement

stuart45

Cement was starting to become more popular around that time. It was often gauged into the lime mortar to begin with. Yours looks like it's been repointed at some point. 

FreeBear

TheProfessional said: The house was 1930. The survey did say the render on the top half of the house was cement

I was going to take a punt on 1920-30... Judging by the corbelling, I'd suspect the upper half is solid brick ?

TheProfessional

I can't answer that definitely. I'm quite sure the bottom half is cavity but not sure on the top. 

stuart45

It was quite common in that period to have a hybrid cavity ground floor, solid upper floor rendered/tile hung etc. Generally good solid houses built in that period.  There was a theory that some builders didn't totally trust the strength of a cavity for the whole house.