Horizontal cracks in Walls

misschoo

Hi everyone my tenant just emailed me some photos of horizontal cracks in the interior walls in the apartment with some mould at each end. This apartment is 9 years old & he said they started about a year ago but have gotten worse over the last while (& only telling me now!). The fact that they are horizontal worries me as I heard that this is worse than vertical as it means it's structural? I am going to get him a dehumidifier to try to help the mould but I don't know what to do or who to contact about this - management company? Would home bond cover it?

Can anyone advise me - thanks.

meercat

any chance of bigger pics?

misschoo

Apologies - I'm having problems with silverlight - hope this is better

meercat

think you need more professional help here
structural engineer perhaps

homebond are useless btw

Victor

Moved from Accommodation & Property.

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I wouldn't panic over the horizontal cracks only. I would be more concerned about the larger cracks and the diagonal / zig-zag cracks. 9 year old buildings don't suddenly develop cracks without a new cause (one could understand cracks in very new or very old buildings). Such a cause would be something like a leaky drain causing damage to the foundations or a flooded roof damaging a parapet or severe cold weather.

Is there a photo of the wall below the air vent? Where in the building is the apartment? Bottom / first / near top / top floor? Is there damage to other apartments / common areas or to the outside of the building? Where (approximately) is the building and was there any extreme events recently - vehicle collision, flood, etc.

I would raise this as soon as is reasonable with the management company / agent and demand a proper inspection.

This would need to be assessed properly in the next few weeks. If it gets worse, especially if it gets worse suddenly, it needs same / next day assessment.

misschoo

The apartment is 2nd floor (ground - 1st - 2nd) with nothing above it - so top. Yes if it was within a year or so of being built I would say settlement cracks but at this stage it worries me. My tenant says he has seen these cracks throughout the building (common areas etc & building next door) so I'm wondering should I contact the management company first & see what they say. There is a river nearby but no flooding to date & no extreme events that I'm aware of or been made aware of. He didn't mention anything below the vent & I did ask him where there any cracks anywhere else.

Thanks for your replies. I'm very worried

exaisle

Did you check the vents to see if they had been blocked with newspaper?
Many tenants seem to do this to "keep the heat in"....but it ends up causing condensation and ultimately dampness and mould....

Victor

Straight to management company.

My strong suspicion is a dodgy parapet, e.g.a blocked rain water outlet and a build up of water, possibly combined with freezing weather. The building insurance should cover it.

Images of parapets:
http://www.builderbill-diy-help.com/parapet.html
http://chestofbooks.com/architecture/Building-Construction-V3/48-Parapet-Gutters.html
http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/inpr/bude/himu/codemo/codemo_016.cfm

misschoo

exaisle wrote: »

Did you check the vents to see if they had been blocked with newspaper?
Many tenants seem to do this to "keep the heat in"....but it ends up causing condensation and ultimately dampness and mould....

I asked him about that - he said no - there felt like there was a lot of moisture in the air but no condensation at all on the walls. Vents are open. His girlfriend is due a baby in a few months so I need to get cracking on this.

archtech

Cracks look consistent with the wall and wall plate junction of different materials, assuming you have a traditional pitched roof, however without a site inspection it is hard to confirm.

misschoo

Victor - excuse my ignorance - if this is the case do I go through the management company to get this fixed or do I put a claim through the building insurance myself? I understand that I will have to get a structural engineer to review it first or would the management company sort this? Sorry - I know that you are speculating on answers as to the mgt co here - I'm so fricking stressed!

misschoo

This is the front of the building - I'm at the top

muffler

As posted above by archtech its quite apparent that the main crack running just below the ceiling is at the wallplate/wall junction. There is also a crack on an internal wall at the same level.

I have my suspicions but please note that our forum charter doesn't allow discussion on structural elements. I would suggest that you engage a structural engineer to investigate further.

There's no problem with discussing the ventilation issue here.

Victor

I'm confused as to what happened there. Any high winds?

misschoo wrote: »

Victor - excuse my ignorance - if this is the case do I go through the management company to get this fixed

Go to the management company. It is their roof, their wall, their insurance policy and their job. However, you need to make sure they do their job - you have that responsibility to your tenants.

misschoo

Thanks everyone for your posts & comments - I hope I didn't say or ask anything I shouldn't have - I was just very stressed about it when I got the call & didn't know what to do - so I appreciate your input. Murphy's Law is me

misschoo

Victor wrote: »

I'm confused as to what happened there. Any high winds?Go to the management company. It is their roof, their wall, their insurance policy and their job. However, you need to make sure they do their job - you have that responsibility to your tenants.

Nothing that I've been made aware of Victor - I'll definitely be following it up & will let all know how I get on. Thanks again.