Cracks in walls - "normal" movement or not ?

Coffeandcake · Postby **Coffeandcake** » Wed Jun 17, 2015 4:50 pm

Hello - we have some hair line cracks in some of our walls - understand with these Victorian houses in this area that there is some degree of normal movement but one in particular seems a bit more expansive than some of the others (which are normally patched up and painted over when we decorate).

Can anyone advise who would be best to come and check and see whether we have a bigger problem than I am hoping this is ? A surveyor ??

Thanks so much !

Seb · Postby **Seb** » Wed Jun 17, 2015 4:59 pm

Jensen Tyrell

5, Chestnut Grove, London SW12 8JA
020 8673 3084

They did our work ages ago and were friendly and reliable.

kiwimummy · Postby **kiwimummy** » Wed Jun 17, 2015 5:14 pm

Try Andrew Dust Structural Engineers: http://www.andrewdust.co.uk/

I found a good Telegraph article on this.

http://www.independent.co.uk/money/crac ... 66696.html

Quote from the article:

"The BRE has drawn up a classification of subsidence damage with recommendations for action. These are set out in a useful layman's guide, Has Your House Got Cracks? by TJ Freeman, GS Littlejohn and RMC Driscoll (published with The Institution of Civil Engineers, price pounds 9.95.) Category 0 means hairline cracks causing cosmetic damage only. If you are unfortunate enough to have cracks wider than 25mm, or the walls lean badly, the windows break and roof timbers lose their bearing, your house is in category 5 and may even fall down.

Category 2 signals the time to take action. This is when you have several cracks at least 3mm wide, possibly on the inside only, that do not close up in winter. The solution for this fairly minor damage could be as simple as pruning or removing thirsty trees. Trees are at least partly responsible for about 80 per cent of all clay soil subsidence claims. No tree should be planted nearer than 5m to a house, and willows should be at least 40m away. But pause before you reach for the axe. Removing trees may cause more problems than it solves."

LP73 · Postby **LP73** » Wed Jun 17, 2015 11:03 pm

Properties in the area are built on clay so there is a lot of movement.
Where are the cracks? How big are they? Where do they start and finish?
I'm asking as we had large cracks on the house we bought and had two surveys done, a normal survey and then we had a structural survey to check out the cracks.
If in doubt get a surveyor around but be prepared that they may wish to do some quite intrusive investigative work if you wish to know 100%