House purchase with crack in brick

stuart45

The.brickwork probably dropped when the frame and lintel were put in. It's not unknown for this to happen.

stuart45

Looking closely at the photos the job looks a bit of a bodge. A house built in 82 would probably have had Catnic lintels. They should have used a Catnic instead of concrete. It should have a cavity tray, but might not as there are no weepholes. 
There was probably a frame that lined up with the one above, but for some reason the new one has been moved about 3/4 of a brick over.
The newer brickwork at the jamb looks rough. 
If you get an engineer in ask him if he thinks there is a tray in.

saliarka

As i mentioned, all houses in the street build like that and they all got some sort of cracks in the bricks, was wondering can it be problems with foundations? Here is photo of near house

Section62

stuart45 said:

Looking closely at the photos the job looks a bit of a bodge. A house built in 82 would probably have had Catnic lintels. They should have used a Catnic instead of concrete. It should have a cavity tray, but might not as there are no weepholes. 
There was probably a frame that lined up with the one above, but for some reason the new one has been moved about 3/4 of a brick over.
The newer brickwork at the jamb looks rough. 
If you get an engineer in ask him if he thinks there is a tray in.

The different mortar colours and workstyles make me think more than one person has had a go at fixing this. If the concrete lintel was added as a repair, then I'd have doubts about the standard of that repair given the choice of lintel and the bearings.

If you look closely at the sat cables above the doors, there is a thin black line in the mortar join extending about a brick and 3/4 to the left of the door - is that an original or added attempt at a bituminous DPC/tray?

The neighbour's house also has cracking and repair work over what looks like a flat roof (extension?).  Is that also the result of enlarging an opening (e.g. for the extension) - or with the OP's cracking as well does it point to a more fundamental problem with the building?  Definitely one that a SE needs to have a good look over.


I'm also curious about the soil pipe. not just that it looks like it could be asbestos, but also that whatever it is doesn't look consistent with a 1982 build.  The neighbour's 1st floor window ledge also looks like it is possibly formed from sloping tiles. Plus there's the drainage hopper and big old high-level air brick.

I'd date it to around late 50's to 60's rather than 1982.... unless the designer/builder was very conservative in their choices of materials and techniques.  1962 would make a lot more sense.

Edit: with the additional photo there is clearly a significant problem in the area.

Section62

saliarka said:

As i mentioned, all houses in the street build like that and they all got some sort of cracks in the bricks, was wondering can it be problems with foundations? Here is photo of near house

Is this in a mining area?

The houses look a lot older than 1982, and the style appears to be local authority or NCB.

There's a lot more going on than just brickwork dropping due to bad installation of windows and doors.

Who told you it was built in 1982?

stuart45

Another issue could be that the bricks look like they are Calcium Silicate rather than clay, although you can't be sure from a photo.
This type of brick suffers from shrinkage cracking, and needs more movement joints than clay bricks. I can't see any in the photos. The band of brickwork between the frames is normally the longest unbroken run, so this is the place where you normally find the most cracks.
Section 62, I did wonder about the different coloured mortar over the top of the lintel, but thought it might be that they finished pinning up the next day after putting some at the back the day before and then removing the strongboys.
Now you mention those points it does point to being much older than 82.

FreeBear

Section62 said: There's a lot more going on than just brickwork dropping due to bad installation of windows and doors.

If it were cracking from poor installation of doors/windows, I would expect it to only affect one or two houses, and the cracks starting at the upper corners of the openings. Cracks starting at the base of the window should be a warning sign - There is one below the RH ground floor window. Certainly movement occurring, and more than just "settlement".

saliarka

Section62 said:

saliarka said:

As i mentioned, all houses in the street build like that and they all got some sort of cracks in the bricks, was wondering can it be problems with foundations? Here is photo of near house

Is this in a mining area?

The houses look a lot older than 1982, and the style appears to be local authority or NCB.

There's a lot more going on than just brickwork dropping due to bad installation of windows and doors.

Who told you it was built in 1982?

No, is not mining area. I might got it wrong when was it built, saw on previous owners land registry papers 1982, but it might be older.

saliarka

Should i look for structural engineer or do a building survey?

stuart45

A building survey will cover more of the house in general, an SE will just look at the cause of the cracking. The surveyor will probably recommend you get an SE in for the cracks anyway.
Don't suppose you noticed whether the cracks went through the DPC. They look to be an equal gap rather than wider at the top or bottom which is often a sign of foundation problems.