Cracks

Irishder

Hi all,
I bought a house in 2006 and lately i have noticed a lot of cracks both inside and outside of the house. The ones inside the house never really bothered me as i tought these were just settling cracks and were the nature of a timber framed house. However the ones outside really have me worried. I have attached some pictures and i hoping some tradesmen here may shed some light on this for me.


Thanks

Tigger

Is that where the ceiling meets the wall ?
Is it an external wall
The joists have just settled
Call an engineer if your worried but it's probably fine

makeorbrake

Irishder wrote: »

I have attached some pictures

Just one (internal) pic attached?

custom_build

The cracks are caused but the timber frame shrinking and are very typical of timber frame bought from Irish providers. From the photo provided I would say there is nothing to be concerned about.

TheBlock

Sorry to be bearer of potentially bad news but if I where you I'd start looking into Pyrite heave. I purchased in 2003 and had the very same problem. Very nasty to get remediation and I hope for your sake you purchased from a Builder who is still solvent and trading. Are you in an estate of sorts?

Was the Fill used in the foundation purchased from a quary in North County Dublin?

Signs of Pryite heave include.

Uneven Floors. Do your Floors bow? Are the Raised in the centre?
Cracking on Internal party wall as the floor raises the plasterborad begings to Crack.
Internal Doors Sticking as the floor lifts.
Some external Craking in Brick/Block Work. As the Pyrite expands it pushes against the block work causing cracking.

It may not be this but the image you attached looks awfully like what I experienced.

CreepingDeath

I'm not a tradesman, but is that an upstairs room ? When people walk around in the attic, they can put pressure on the ceiling below.

My wife has a house in Louth, a timber framed house approx 10 years old. I saw cracks in the pebble dashing at the back of the house and got a local structural engineer came around for €70 or so to check it out. Any engineer who does "snag lists" would probably check it out.

He wasn't at all concerned about the external cracks, said hypothetically if any water gets in it will drop down the cavity in the cavity blocks. Never gets to the inside walls of the house.

Irishder

Sorry for the delay in getting back.to answer some of the questions:

- This is a 3 bed semi in an estate
- House was purchased off of a builder, who is still solvent.

I have contacted homebond and the builder. Homebond sent out a form and i have returned it. The builder has not responded as of yet.

One other issue that concerns me is that when we flush the downstairs toilet we can get a smell of sewerage in the room directly in front of it at the front of the house, really starting to get worried now.

Couple of questions, does house insurance cover this? Is the builder still liable, house bought in august 2006. Is homebond the way to go?

Some more pics

makeorbrake

Are these not just settlement cracks?

seamusk84

Wouldn't worry about the cracks, those are definitely just the house settling. I know as I own a 30 year old timber framed house.
In fact you see small cracks like that in most of the houses in this estate, and I know they are structurally sound.

I would be more concerned about the sewerage smell. The pipes are not sealed 100% if you get a smell. there is some leakage. That is actually a major health hazard. Get on to a plumber is my advice.

Sala

Homebond usually lasts 10 years for structural defects so i would keep the pressure on them to assess it as if you bought in 2006 house is probably only covered until 2015/16. I know nothing about cracking sorry, hope it's nothing.