Long and jagged cracks appearing in the walls - can anyone advise?
Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2020 8:13 pm
Hi everyone
I purchased my first ever house around 4 years ago. It's an old house, built (I believe) around the 1930s.
I first noticed the odd crack around 2-3 years ago. These mainly followed the borders of the ceiling or were in the corner of the walls. I wasn't too concerned about them and just put them down to general settling of the house, changes in temperature etc.
A couple of days ago, however, I noticed some long (although very thin) jagged cracks, extending from the border of the ceiling down into the wall itself. I've uploaded photographs of the cracks to an image hosting site and posted the links because (because I could not figure out how to upload them to the forum directly, unfortunately!). I've also added a few photographs of the older cracks in the corners of the wall, the ones that have been there for a while.
Should I now begin to worry about subsidence, or are these still sufficiently small to justify my continuing to ignore them?
If the cracks do require further investigation, is a structural engineer the right way to go? How much is a visit from one of these likely to set me back?
Should I tell my home insurer, or are they likely to increase my insurance premium? I see a lot of people cautioning against informing the insurer, but there's not much out there explaining why.
If the cracks are not anything to worry about, what do you recommend for covering them up? I am not very DIY savvy, so any suggestions are welcome!
Thanks!!
Dan
https://ibb.co/894jy4b
https://ibb.co/PsL3Fk6
https://ibb.co/qMvGfNC
https://ibb.co/s9PQznY
https://ibb.co/zGKMYyj
https://ibb.co/mv4ctS1
https://ibb.co/zfm1ywH
https://ibb.co/tzszcjw
I purchased my first ever house around 4 years ago. It's an old house, built (I believe) around the 1930s.
I first noticed the odd crack around 2-3 years ago. These mainly followed the borders of the ceiling or were in the corner of the walls. I wasn't too concerned about them and just put them down to general settling of the house, changes in temperature etc.
A couple of days ago, however, I noticed some long (although very thin) jagged cracks, extending from the border of the ceiling down into the wall itself. I've uploaded photographs of the cracks to an image hosting site and posted the links because (because I could not figure out how to upload them to the forum directly, unfortunately!). I've also added a few photographs of the older cracks in the corners of the wall, the ones that have been there for a while.
Should I now begin to worry about subsidence, or are these still sufficiently small to justify my continuing to ignore them?
If the cracks do require further investigation, is a structural engineer the right way to go? How much is a visit from one of these likely to set me back?
Should I tell my home insurer, or are they likely to increase my insurance premium? I see a lot of people cautioning against informing the insurer, but there's not much out there explaining why.
If the cracks are not anything to worry about, what do you recommend for covering them up? I am not very DIY savvy, so any suggestions are welcome!
Thanks!!
Dan
https://ibb.co/894jy4b
https://ibb.co/PsL3Fk6
https://ibb.co/qMvGfNC
https://ibb.co/s9PQznY
https://ibb.co/zGKMYyj
https://ibb.co/mv4ctS1
https://ibb.co/zfm1ywH
https://ibb.co/tzszcjw