Super Plastering job :(

magnethead

Hi,
I was wondering if you could give an opinion no my friends plastering job he had done for him,
the guy put a 25mm sand and cement layer onto a block wall during last winter, when the days were pure wet.
A week later he came along and skimmed the walls off.....I'm thinking that wasn't near enough time for the sand+cement to dry out and this has caused the cracks in the skim coat, would that be right?

sydthebeat

on very first glance, then dont look like plastering drying cracks to me, they look like settlement cracks.

the window cill one is a classic.

the middle picture, id need to see the whole dwelling

the top picture is again a classic settlement crack with joists moving different to walls, and a vertical crack coming down to an opening

James Forde

Should one worry about settlement cracks?

Anything to remedy them

Gumbo

James Forde wrote: »

Should one worry about settlement cracks?

Anything to remedy them

No harsh decisions.
Place Tell tails and monitor over a period of time. Check more regular at the beginning to ensure they are not actively moving. Allow for seasonal differences and report.

Engage a Structural Engineer to carry out the above.

magnethead

ok, that's good advise, I should add, the house was built 10 years ago(walls windows and roof), and my mate came back from Oz to finish it off for his family. So the settlement thing should be long over

He did, knock a wall to open his Kitchen/sitting room, and stick a RSJ where the wall was......Maybe that starts the settlement problem again? I'll double check where exactly these cracks are happening in relation to that gap his spanned.

He said when he was knocking the wall, it was solid as hell, which gave him hope when he filled the outside walls with expanding foam, because he was ucertain how many wall ties had being used.

I'll come back to you on this.

sydthebeat

magnethead wrote: »

ok, that's good advise, I should add, the house was built 10 years ago(walls windows and roof), and my mate came back from Oz to finish it off for his family. So the settlement thing should be long over

He did, knock a wall to open his Kitchen/sitting room, and stick a RSJ where the wall was......Maybe that starts the settlement problem again? I'll double check where exactly these cracks are happening in relation to that gap his spanned.

He said when he was knocking the wall, it was solid as hell, which gave him hope when he filled the outside walls with expanding foam, because he was ucertain how many wall ties had being used.

I'll come back to you on this.

:eek:

could explain the middle pic !!!

Gumbo

magnethead wrote: »

ok, that's good advise, I should add, the house was built 10 years ago(walls windows and roof), and my mate came back from Oz to finish it off for his family. So the settlement thing should be long over

He did, knock a wall to open his Kitchen/sitting room, and stick a RSJ where the wall was......Maybe that starts the settlement problem again? I'll double check where exactly these cracks are happening in relation to that gap his spanned.

He said when he was knocking the wall, it was solid as hell, which gave him hope when he filled the outside walls with expanding foam, because he was ucertain how many wall ties had being used.

I'll come back to you on this.

Think your friend needs to contact an Expanding Engineer

magnethead

yeah, he only sent on these, but he says there are cracks everywhere, especially where the chases were cut out of the block, he doesn't know if mesh was used there or not.... Good call on the expanding foam ......I'd guess that the wall ties are on the light side, knowing who built the shell.
I'll pop over to him some night and get some more pics....

on a side note: mutil-tasking this thread, I saw this BOOM estate where there was horrible cracks all over the gable end of a building, especially around the edges, could this have being avoided by using a stop bead or not?
OR could it have being a 'cheap' render?

kingbhome

magnethead wrote: »

yeah, he only sent on these, but he says there are cracks everywhere, especially where the chases were cut out of the block, he doesn't know if mesh was used there or not.... Good call on the expanding foam ......I'd guess that the wall ties are on the light side, knowing who built the shell.
I'll pop over to him some night and get some more pics....

on a side note: mutil-tasking this thread, I saw this BOOM estate where there was horrible cracks all over the gable end of a building, especially around the edges, could this have being avoided by using a stop bead or not?
OR could it have being a 'cheap' render?

Stop beads are handy but so is running a bit of timber and working to it like this pic. In the OP, that isnt the plasterers fault. Cracks dont appear like that if it is unless it became boast.