DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

First time posting so hope I’m in the right place.

I’ve recently moved to an 80s build house, and when we moved in there were various wall cracks about the place, didn’t notice too much at the viewings but as pictures have come of walls etc, there were quite a few. Survey mentioned a couple but said they were benign.

A few months ago we had the artex ceilings skimmed (not boarded) and painted, and decorated a few rooms, filling cracks as we went.

Today, not only have cracks re appeared (both ones which were raked out/plastered or filled), but cracks we haven’t got to yet are getting worse.

Every room in the house has vertical wall cracking, where the freshly plastered ceiling meets the wall have cracked all around, ceilings that weren’t freshly plastered have the same issue, and cracks are creeping out from the edges of the ceilings.

Most wall cracks are vertical, some diagonal near doors (but not stepped), and one room is cracking horizontally above a long window.

We also see cracking along the seams of vaulted ceilings.

Structural engineer has been round and said there is no evidence of subsidence and the cracks he saw were down to changes in materials and that we had thermoblock which does crack.

In the integral garage with exposed block work, there is also cracking particularly in the wall corners.

The cracks we have aren’t settling and are getting worse, and because even freshly decorated walls/ceilings are cracking, I’m at my wits end trying to understand why this is happening and how we can possibly get on top of it.

Any help, advice or thoughts are much appreciated, particularly as this is causing a huge amount of stress and anxiety.

Hi brickingit,
From your description it sounds like you have internal walls built using aerated concrete blocks. If this is correct you may have to dryline the walls to overcome this problem. The junction between your freshly plastered ceilings and the walls is fairly typical where scrim is not used. Fitting coving may be the easiest solution.
Regards S

Thanks Stoneyboy for your reply. The problem I have is coving can’t be used at the wall/ceiling junction which are vaulted, and the cracks also go down the wall corners where 2 walls meet. Further, the ceiling cracks in some cases go along the ceiling itself (where we don’t have concrete blocks naturally).

So I’m at a loss how to deal with all of this and/or keep on top of it all?

Hi Brickingit,
I'm assuming you have plastered walls not dry lined ones. I'm also assuming that scrim was not used over the cracks where ceilings have been skimmed.
You could try applying scrim tape to every crack and then skim plastering. An alternative would be to cut out a 60mm band along the crack, in the finish plaster, apply scrim and make good. With your wall cracks, put your thumb flat over the crack and hit one side with your fist, If you can feel movement the crack will be right through the wall. You could try cutting out the mortar joins either side and using spiral reinforcing rods but the problem may just move sideways. All these methods will have limited success.
Your greatest chance of success is to dry line everywhere, you could use insulation backed boards to improve U values. Make sure joins are not located over cracks. If your property is actively moving you may still get cracks.
Sorry all bad news.
Regards S