What does that crack in your home mean? Chartered Surveyor Kate Farrar takes a look into why buildings crack.
We are frequently contacted by homeowners worried about cracking in their buildings. Happily, rather than confirming their worst fears, we are often able to put people’s minds at ease as in most cases the stability of the building is not threatened.
Older buildings often display settlement cracks. Settlement is a downwards movement caused by the self-weight of the building compressing the soil beneath its foundations. The heavier, unbroken sections of wall settle at a greater rate than the parts that contain openings and this typically results in vertical cracks between those parts. Settlement usually occurs in the early life of a building or extension and the movement is finite.
All buildings are subjected to thermal movement, which is where the various materials incorporated into a building expand and contract in response to changes in the conditions of temperature and humidity. Brick, concrete, steel, wood, vinyl and plastic all respond differently to these conditions; this causes stresses that result in cracks.
Shrinkage is another common cause of cracking. Many materials are incorporated into a building wet and will shrink and crack as they dry. If not controlled by good site practice, rapid drying shrinkage can cause quite pronounced and alarming cracks.
If you are concerned about cracking in your home, contact Woodward Chartered Surveyors and hopefully we can provide reassurance. We offer individual Structural Investigations as well as full Level 3 Building Surveys.
On a recent visit to discover why someone's timber floor was beginning to "dip" Chartered Surveyor Douglas Snell found a chain of unhappy events everyone should be wary of. Read More >>
Our Chartered Surveyors often see houses where only part of a chimney has been removed, often just the ground floor or ground and first floor, remaining only in the loft.
Homeowners rarely go to the cost of scaffold to remove the chimney above the roof, or may not be able to if it is shared with a neighbour. So if you are only part removing a chimney, what do you need to be wary of?
