HELP: Advice/Help on Wall Cracks & Windows

donaleire

Apologies for the length of my post....

I hope I am posting this in the right category, I am looking for some advice on what would cause the cracking evident in the photos. I bought a 4 bed house in the midlands countryside just over a year and half ago and it was over 400k. My budget is now very tight and there is little room for upgrades or retrofits after mortgage. It is a 1970s two storey house and has had a good few problems since i moved in already with water pumps, electrics and wells which were costly. However the primary problem ive found is the heating of the house. At times the oil has been on 12 or 13hrs in a day to heat it up and within an hour of turning it off the heat escapes. The attic had been insulated prior to me buying the house and it appears the walls have some unknown amount of pumped insulation. I believe the primary area letting in air is the windows and the suspended wooden floors on ground floor. I have found multiple items covered in mould in my wardrobe and we had mould mites in the house recently also. I had left shoes and other items under my bed and they were covered in mould and had to be thrown away. The windows in the house are roughly twenty five years old and double glazed but they seem to be installed unusually. The old wooden frame was left and there is a whole in each window where the sash window would have been. I was away recently for a few days and came back to cracks going the whole way around the internal walls of the house on the 2nd floor. Every room has the cracks. I am wondering if this is caused by cold air getting in or if its unrelated? Im wondering if the space in window is letting all the cold air in?

I'm wondering if im kidding myself that there is a cheap solution? What should I do next to resolve the issue? The house is very cold, can see my breath when the oil isn't on during winter..

MicktheMan

Define cheap...

I would start with a proper / thorough assessment and take it from there.

You are likely loosing your heat at a rate of knots because of very poor airtightness and then this is affecting your ventilation efficiency resulting in excessive internal moisture causing the mould to thrive on natural substances such as leather. The assessment will get to the bottom of this and give you a roadmap to get it sorted.

donaleire

Thanks for this, What sort of assessment should I be looking for? Is there a particular type?

MicktheMan

Below is an example of a type of assessment which may be suitable. There are others / other types, but whatever you decide make sure the surveyor is experienced in getting to the bottom of whats going on and how to adequately address.

Because there is an interaction between heat loss, ventilation and moisture load when it comes to these types of issues in a house, the surveys I do entail initially monitoring the internal environment for a period of time and then following that up with a full heat loss and moisture survey to help identify the main issues for the homeowner to address. Rarely is there a single issue but rather a number of inter-related issues resulting in what you are experiencing and many of the issues are relatively easy to sort out once you understand what is at play. I generally refer to them as damp & heat loss surveys.