Cracks in the wall a must-have?

talkingclock

Dear all,

within the last 3.5 years and (let me count...) eight different accomodations (it's not easy if you live 16yrs alone and then you have to share again...) there was not a single house without any cracks in at least one of the walls. I'm now in a just three year old apartment block and even there are cracks all over the place. The houses were from Georgean, built in the 20s and up to built just 3 years ago.

I wonder if this is a feature on irish houses or is emerald island sliding on a tectonic plate movement?

I wont even start to talk about the cardboard used as walls in recently built houses...

seamus

Depends on what you mean by cracks

Many new places will show small cracks around the edges - most notably around doorframes, or anywhere that plaster and wood were joined together. Wood expands and contracts as temperatures change, which is the main cause of these. I can only assume that as more and more wood is used in construction of new places (Easier to build with, cheaper to transport, cheaper to replace) that "settling" cracks become more apparent.

talkingclock

Im talking about a gap wide enough to put a credit card in. not just a thin fine line a few mm long...

Victor

Small, stable cracks are generally OK. Others, you get an engineer to look at.