Cracks in plaster/wall

youngrun

Hi

This has appeared in my house recently. dont know why . could it be rising damp? had some minor drains issues ie clogged earlier in year . What can I do ? In about six places on ground floor

Calahonda52

youngrun wrote: »

. What can I do ?

First thing is tell us a lot more about the house construction:
walls?
floors?
outside topography?
Plumbing: water, heating sewage?
rainwater downpipes?
pipework buried in floors or walls?
are pics inside or outside walls?
relationship of damp to where ur drains are?
is the carpet wet?
etc

youngrun

I have virtually no clue about some this so apologies if some replies look silly

Calahonda52 wrote: »

First thing is tell us a lot more about the house construction:
walls? brick ? Its a semi d in a standard housing estate constructed about 1982
floors? timber in hall/concrete elsewhere
outside topography? Driveway slopes down to house door . house set a few feet below street
Plumbing: water, heating sewage? No issues here bar some drains clogged at front and side. Oil fired CH. house can be a bit cold hard to heat
rainwater downpipes? Gutters leaking
pipework buried in floors or walls? No idea
are pics inside or outside walls? inside
relationship of damp to where ur drains are? Cracks All over ground floor of house so some close to front of house where drains are but not all
is the carpet wet? No
etc

Calahonda52

Are the wet walls all internal walls, in other words no part of the wet walls are outside walls?

youngrun

Calahonda52 wrote: »

Are the wet walls all internal walls, in other words no part of the wet walls are outside walls?

Hi walls not wet maybe damp and just plaster cracks I think
The walls affected are just internal walls

Calahonda52

Okay: two ideas, based on experience: [Driveway slopes down to house door . house set a few feet below street]
1: driving rain coming in under your front/back door and getting in under the flooring: unlightly as carpet is dry you say.
lift it up if u can to see.
2: burst pipe in pipes embedded in concrete floor and water trapped in concrete by plastic DPC underneath.

If heating system is open system then harder to find as u have a small header tank in attic that maybe just filling up.
if closed system then pressure loss in piping circuit will give clue, needing to top up heating system.
I know you say some of this may be beyond you, I disagree, but at least you have ideas to research.

youngrun

Calahonda52 wrote: »

Okay: two ideas, based on experience: [Driveway slopes down to house door . house set a few feet below street]
1: driving rain coming in under your front/back door and getting in under the flooring: unlightly as carpet is dry you say.
lift it up if u can to see.
2: burst pipe in pipes embedded in concrete floor and water trapped in concrete by plastic DPC underneath.

If heating system is open system then harder to find as u have a small header tank in attic that maybe just filling up.
if closed system then pressure loss in piping circuit will give clue, needing to top up heating system.
I know you say some of this may be beyond you, I disagree, but at least you have ideas to research.

Thanks for this
Re point one
No wet internal areas but over spring and winter rain got very close to doors due to drains not being able to manage and gutters spilling down so say three inches of rain formed up just below door level in gully in drive way -sloping driveway also caused this or helped pool of rain form
I am wondering now could this have seeped into house and bubbled up to crack plaster ?

Re the second point how would I check this ? Do I need to test heaters etc ? Or take up carpets
I guess in either case I should ask someone would this be a builder or plumbing specialist or should I attempt to re plaster walls and hope it never happens again ?

Calahonda52

re
should I attempt to re plaster walls and hope it never happens again ?

no way, waste of time and money.
On the contrary, consider scraping them out/off for a good look see

Another clue from your Hansel and Gretel breadcrumbs
floors? timber in hall/concrete elsewhere

so did area under suspended floor in hall flood: are these walls adjoining the suspended floor?

youngrun

Calahonda52 wrote: »

re
should I attempt to re plaster walls and hope it never happens again ?

no way, waste of time and money.
On the contrary, consider scraping them out/off for a good look see

Another clue from your Hansel and Gretel breadcrumbs
floors? timber in hall/concrete elsewhere

so did area under suspended floor in hall flood: are these walls adjoining the suspended floor?

No evidence of flooding or wetness inside house
Definitely a bit of a damp feeling only
I scraped some of the cracked plaster off and there is some flaking of plaster and wall underneath but not deep only one mm
I reckon there is eight internal walls in various rooms affected

Calahonda52

No evidence of flooding or wetness inside house

am talking about under the suspended timber floor.
How do you know?

youngrun

Calahonda52 wrote: »

No evidence of flooding or wetness inside house

am talking about under the suspended timber floor.
How do you know?

Ok, I dont know that for sure, just referring to internal surfaces . Do i need to take up part or how would i check this

youngrun

Also just to answer other point

so did area under suspended floor in hall flood: are these walls adjoining the suspended floor?

Of The affected walls some adjoin this floor some dont , random plaster cracks around half the ground floor is best way to describe the issue + all bar one small one are on internal walls

Safehands

youngrun wrote: »

Also just to answer other point

so did area under suspended floor in hall flood: are these walls adjoining the suspended floor?

Of The affected walls some adjoin this floor some dont , random plaster cracks around half the ground floor is best way to describe the issue + all bar one small one are on internal walls

Hi youngrun. Interesting problem. Calohonda has asked all the right questions. One thing that intrigues me, you say all these problems are only on interior walls, so the inside face of the exterior walls, like the bedroom, kitchen or living room are all dry?

youngrun

Hi safehands . The problem is either on interior walls ie kitchen to living room , utlity room to kitchen, bathroom to hall, or on wall to next door house. Very small crack inside face of side wall of house but minor compared to others

Safehands

youngrun wrote: »

Hi safehands . The problem is either on interior walls ie kitchen to living room , utlity room to kitchen, bathroom to hall, or on wall to next door house. Very small crack inside face of side wall of house but minor compared to others

So none are on an outside wall. What type of heating do you have? Are there rads anywhere near the affected areas. How long have you had this problem? Have you underfloor heating?

youngrun

yes none on outside wall
Oil fired CH
Have had some problems with airlocking of boiler
Some are near rads some not 50/50
All are plaster/paint/bubbling cracks
No underfloor heating
This happened about a month back. these literally just appeared one day when I came home from work.

Safehands

youngrun wrote: »

yes none on outside wall
Oil fired CH
Have had some problems with airlocking of boiler
Some are near rads some not 50/50
All are plaster/paint/bubbling cracks
No underfloor heating
This happened about a month back. these literally just appeared one day when I came home from work.

I don't think this has anything to do with outside rainwater. If it had, your outside walls would be affected more than the inside walls. I suspect you have a leak in your heating pipes which is causing this problem. Check to see if any of the rads or the pipes going to them, have any obvious leaks, they probably won't. Then I'd contact a plumber to investigate the heating system. Are the pipes buried in the concrete floor? This problem may have been happening a lot longer than two months and only became obvious lately when the level of moisture built up. You need to sort it before your wooden floor becomes affected.

youngrun

Safehands wrote: »

I don't think this has anything to do with outside rainwater. If it had, your outside walls would be affected more than the inside walls. I suspect you have a leak in your heating pipes which is causing this problem. Check to see if any of the rads or the pipes going to them, have any obvious leaks, they probably won't. Then I'd contact a plumber to investigate the heating system. Are the pipes buried in the concrete floor? This problem may have been happening a lot longer than two months and only became obvious lately when the level of moisture built up. You need to sort it before your wooden floor becomes affected.

Ok thats very helpful

Dont think there is any obvious leaks
I guess they are buried in floors but will get a plumber to check the whole thing out is that best ?
Re the moisture build up do you think what happened is that water/rain got into internal walls via heating /pipes leak/crack ??
or a leak in heating system and oil is the problem ?

Is this a big job to check out and fix do you think

thanks

Safehands

youngrun wrote: »

Ok thats very helpful

Dont think there is any obvious leaks
I guess they are buried in floors but will get a plumber to check the whole thing out is that best ?
Re the moisture build up do you think what happened is that water/rain got into internal walls via heating /pipes leak/crack ??
or a leak in heating system and oil is the problem ?
Is this a big job to check out and fix do you think
thanks

No, I don't think this is a issue associted with rain at all. Oil is not a problem, I believe this is most likely water coming from your pipes somewhere in the middle of the house. I don't have any idea how complicated it will be to fix. It just depends on what a plumber finds. If the pipes are buried it may be tricky to fix. A good plumber is your first port of call. He will be a professional and he will be able to help you. Do keep us posted though, it's an interesting problem.

youngrun

So have had a plumber in doing various checks the last couple of weeks when i can, eliminating bit by bit the options like mains leak, heating leak etc ..one of the thing we are left with as a v strong possibility is next door renovation works which have somehow caused a leak into my side of the semi d block.. what would that mean I wonder ...

Safehands

youngrun wrote: »

So have had a plumber in doing various checks the last couple of weeks when i can, eliminating bit by bit the options like mains leak, heating leak etc ..one of the thing we are left with as a v strong possibility is next door renovation works which have somehow caused a leak into my side of the semi d block.. what would that mean I wonder ...

Does this problem coincide with the work next door starting? What type of extension are they building? Have you checked with them to see if they have had any leaks with pipes etc? If you can establish that their work has caused your problem, that will be good to know. I don't know if you want to tell them about your issue, that's up to you. But if their leaks have been resolved, a dehumidifier should sort out any residual damp in your house. You will have to find out what the situation is next door. Its unlikely but possible they don't know about this leak.

youngrun

Safehands wrote: »

Does this problem coincide with the work next door starting? What type of extension are they building? Have you checked with them to see if they have had any leaks with pipes etc? If you can establish that their work has caused your problem, that will be good to know. I don't know if you want to tell them about your issue, that's up to you. But if their leaks have been resolved, a dehumidifier should sort out any residual damp in your house. You will have to find out what the situation is next door. Its unlikely but possible they don't know about this leak.

Yes pretty much same time
Cracks in plaster appeared a couple of times I spotted a few in main hall first then by adjoining wall couple days later
they were refitting bathrooms etc judging by what is out back garden
New people there and Never said anything to me about doing works I guess that's the way of the world these days !!

Safehands

youngrun wrote: »

Yes pretty much same time
Cracks in plaster appeared a couple of times I spotted a few in main hall first then by adjoining wall couple days later
they were refitting bathrooms etc judging by what is out back garden
New people there and Never said anything to me about doing works I guess that's the way of the world these days !!

I think you are going to have to talk to them. I agree with you that this is a very likely cause. They will probably be mortified that they have caused this hassle for you. I'd hire a dehumidifier and dry the place out. Hopefully that will be the end of it