A guide to wall cracks in your property
No one likes to see cracks appearing in their walls, and this is one of the reasons that property owners in the buy to let market take out landlord insurance. Most cracks will be just surface disturbances of the plaster which are caused by the property expanding and contracting naturally.
New homes can have problems with cracks during the early months of occupation as the home settles in. Mostly these cracks are harmless and they can simply be decorated over.
Do I need to worry?
A crack itself is a visible symptom of what may be a possible problem; a crack is not the problem itself. The seriousness of a crack in the wall depends on the material used on the walls. For example, plasterboard walls are often subject to hairline cracking at the point where the sheets of plasterboard have been butted up to each other too tightly.
This can be fixed quite easily by making the joints a little bit wider and then filling in the space with some soft plaster. A more serious crack, for example one in a wall that has been filled more than once, but keeps coming back could be a serious problem.
The causes of hairline cracks in walls
Likely causes of cracks include shrinkage of wall materials, expansion, and corrosion, environmental stresses such as nearby trains, faulty design, bad quality materials and weather effects.
If a single one crack appears in the property measuring more than 5mm wide, it is a good idea to get some professional advice. Inform the landlord if the property is rented.
A lot of cracks turn out to be nothing to worry about but it is a good idea to monitor them for signs of growth. In the age of digital cameras this is quite easy, take a picture at regular intervals, and then compare the latest picture with the first. This could come in handy if an insurance claim is needed.
A worse case scenario would be a crack appearing suddenly and rapidly getting bigger; it may even progress to the outside of the home. If this happens speak to a chartered surveyor because almost certainly it will be that the foundations are moving.
Another reason for cracks appearing may be because of loft conversions which can cause stresses on a home if the work is not carried out professionally. If a luxury bathroom is installed in a loft for example, all the necessary fixtures and fittings plus the weight of water in the bath will add to the burden on the building structure. A professional tradesman should take this into account when drawing up plans for the work.