Anyone a Structural Engineer/Surveyor?

[M@tt]

After a bit of advice

We live in a very old house circa 1800 however over the past month or 2 i've really noticed a lot of cracks appearing in the plasterwork.

The house was done up a good number of years ago (replastered etc) and we've been in it for just over 3 years and in that time nothing has really happened but i've definitely noticed these cracks appearing and getting bigger over the past couple of months

I'm just unsure what to do about it?? i could understand if it were fresh plaster drying out, but its not. I don't know whether its maybe related to the bloody cold weather we had?

I don't trust builders having been bitten twice and just wary of getting someone in whose just going to say oh yeah you need xyz and charge me a **** load for probably some unnecessary work.

I've taken a few pics here if they're of any use to someone

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v230/meb97me/Cracking Plaster/

 

[Shox Dr]

Have you taken any trees down around the house

 

[M@tt]

nope no trees near the house

 

[drjim]

Or built any garages that have affected drainage?

 

[Jammy James]

I am no structural engineer or builder but i have heard a few words of advice from my dad: that if it is not visible the otherside or in another wall running parralle to the one in the photo it probaly isnt structural. I have lived in two old houses one world war two and one 1880s the one i live in know. the first one had cracks throughout.

 

[mike os]

any pics outside?

what is the construction?

what was it plastered with?

 

[M@tt]

hmm I guess that a possibility although the base of the garage had drainage underneath it and it's a fair way from the house

 

[Jammy James]

is it the other side of the wall as well

 

[M@tt]

the cracks definitely seem to be more prevalent on one side of the house and mainly upstairs.

The house has solid stone exterior walls ~600mm thick!
i think the upstairs rooms have been partitioned with standard studwork and plaster board although the ceilings are actually the original wattle and dawb(or what ever the proper term is) style plaster.

 

[M@tt]

our bedroom wall is the other side of the bathroom wall and both have cracks along the top. You can see the gap between the original caulking and the ceiling

 

[Shox Dr]

Did you decorate when you first moved in, ie you filled in the "old" cracks, and you've just forgotten about them. I only ask as the paint looks in good condition

 

[M@tt]

We did give it a lick of paint the other year but the cracks weren't there for definite

 

[Shox Dr]

We did give it a lick of paint the other year but the cracks weren't there for definite

Get a torch and have a look in the crack and see if you can see past paint residue

 

[pedrobedro]

The cracks from the door jamb corner to the wall look just like some in a house we looked at. We could not get a mortgage on it as the surveyor put it down to subsidence. Has the door been getting awkward to open and close? Has the wall always been there or has it been put in after and does it go into the floor above?

 

[M@tt]

actually the door has started sticking recently i put it down to the having the heating on and the frame swelling/changing slightly

i think a visit from a structural engineer might be in order

 

[drjim]

I've got a few similar but smaller cracks in my house. Built 1937 on a clay soil which means there is water everywhere - puddles under the floor when it is wet, flower beds around the lawns become moats when it rains. Doubt the ground has changed since 1937.

The cracks actually appear to be where there is a transition between solid walls and partitions, maybe you have the same. None of our doors fit the frames any more.

 

[brightspark]

chisel a bit of the plaster back round the cracks and see if anythings happening behind .eg brick movement cracks . tap on the plaster across the wall see if its hollow and loose .refill and paint cracks and monitor it over a years period for movement . the roof spread on my house cracking the brickwork and plaster over a 100 years i re pointed and plastered. its been ok since

 

[Weldinator]

actually the door has started sticking recently i put it down to the having the heating on and the frame swelling/changing slightly

i think a visit from a structural engineer might be in order

Water and cold makes wood swell like a wooden front door does in winter, heat retracts wood.

 

[Pete.]

I lived in a stone built house when I was a lad, same 600mm thick walls. It was built on a hillside and years after we moved out it was abandoned because it had started to slip-away at the front.

I think you're right to worry about those cracks, especially since they have appeared quickly. You might have to have the whole house under-pinned. Time for professional help.

 

[TechnicAl]

I live in Rotherham. I see you are in Sheffield. Theres a fair chance its mining subsidence. South Yorks is famous for it, some say its hollow underneath.