Hairline cracks in walls

jj232000

Hi

Just looking for some advice. We moved into a house about 18 months ago. There were small hairline crack running horizontally along the walls in upstairs bedrooms close to the ceiling about a foot down.

We filled these when we first got keys and a painter pInted walls etc. Cracks have reappeared with an extra few.

Have read about online and it says maybe due to seasonal building heating up and cooling etc and may need to open cracks a bit wider to fill them.

Just wondering are these something to worry about or would they be just normal with the house warning up with fires and heating going etc. I've attach couple of photos maybe hard to see.

policarp

Is it a new build?

jj232000

policarp wrote: »

Is it a new build?

No was built about 15 years ago. Wasnt really lived in as far as I know. More of holiday home and people visiting family staying in it.

policarp

Horizontal cracks are not as serious as vertical ones.
Always a nuisance but normally not a structural problem.

jj232000

policarp wrote: »

Horizontal cracks are not as serious as vertical ones.
Always a nuisance but normally not a structural problem.

Thanks. I have been watching them for awhile and see to get bigger and smaller as house is warm or cold etc.

Johnthemanager

jj232000 wrote: »

Thanks. I have been watching them for awhile and see to get bigger and smaller as house is warm or cold etc.

Scrape them out and refill them with Polyfilla.

I can't stress enough that you have to scrape the cracks out before filling them, you need to run the edge of the scraper along them and brush out any dust before re filling them.

If you simply fill over the cracks as they are now, it'll be back again in a month or two.

jj232000

Johnthemanager wrote: »

Scrape them out and refill them with Polyfilla.

I can't stress enough that you have to scrape the cracks out before filling them, you need to run the edge of the scraper along them and brush out any dust before re filling them.

If you simply fill over the cracks as they are now, it'll be back again in a month or two.

I'll try that. I just filled over them when we moved in but all have reappeared.

I did scrape out one small part of one of the cracks (about a foot to test it) and filled with ronseal smooth finish filler but appears it might be reappearing again. I probably didn't scrape it out enough. Just used the edge of a 2" wall scraper to do it.

Johnthemanager

jj232000 wrote: »

I'll try that. I just filled over them when we moved in but all have reappeared.

I did scrape out one small part of one of the cracks (about a foot to test it) and filled with ronseal smooth finish filler but appears it might be reappearing again. I probably didn't scrape it out enough. Just used the edge of a 2" wall scraper to do it.

Get right into the crack, and when your filling it, don't try and fill it out in one go. Maybe 2or 3 attempts, leave it to dry fully between every coat of filler. If you apply the filler to heavily it will crack when dry.

jj232000

Johnthemanager wrote: »

Get right into the crack, and when your filling it, don't try and fill it out in one go. Maybe 2or 3 attempts, leave it to dry fully between every coat of filler. If you apply the filler to heavily it will crack when dry.

Thanks for the advice. I'll try that next time. If it expanding and contracting with heat, do I need to use a flexible filler?