Cracking

Independent Surveyors

If you have any problems in relation to cracking please phone us on free phone 0800 298 5424 for a friendly chat.

We are experienced, professional independent building Surveyors who are knowledgeable in carrying out structural surveys on all types, styles and eras of buildings. If you are moving house or having any property issues then an independent Surveyor can help provide a comprehensive survey report on a building whether that be residential or commercial.

In our building surveys and structural surveys the circles and ovals are a scheme that we use to highlight property problem areas so that you are not left wondering what the property problem is. In addition to this if the survey photographs do not we believe explain the property problem enough together with our survey report we also add in one of our own survey sketches like this one shown to the right.

Our Executive Summaries make things simple

Our Good, Bad & Ugly Surveys!

Furthermore we would also like to introduce to you what we call our Good, Bad and Ugly survey which is a building survey, sometimes known as a structural survey, and is something that we have developed over many years, in fact several decades. We have listened to feedback from our clients and amended and altered our surveys to make them easy to read and describe issues clearly. The key factor we believe is that our surveys are easy to understand in plain English.

The property is a 1920’s built semi-detached property. Its construction is:

A pitched roof clad with a concrete tile

The walls have a painted render finish

The windows are plastic double glazed

Fascias and soffits boards are painted timber

Gutters and downpipes are cast iron and plastic

Question and answer session with the homeowner

We then had a general chat with the homeowner and a specific one about the cracks and about the history of the property. This, combined with our general knowledge of 1920’s properties, brought us to a conclusion, but before we give you that let us explain a bit more about the thought process.

The thought process behind the survey conclusion

1920’s buildings or around the war year buildings had many characteristics, one of which is that there was a limited supply of tradesmen at the time and that materials were rationed. Defects in both are common and often houses were built in, what we would term as, a lightweight style, utilising the minimums due to the rationing that existed. Since that time there have also been major alterations and additions in most houses, the first relating to how the property is heated. Originally in years gone by the heating would have been via coal fires so there were coal store houses, and also over the years central heating has been added to properties, which had meant that floorboards have needed to be lifted and cut into to run the pipes, etc. This means that construction that was already lightweight may in addition have been cut into, causing further problems.

Characteristics of older properties

There are many other, what we would term as, characteristics of this age of construction that we could mention but we hope these examples give you an indication of the type of things that surveyors look for. However, in this instance due to the way the cracking was being formed pointed to there being problems around the windows. This was confirmed when we did what we refer to as a property timeline.

Plastic double glazed replacement windows

The original timber windows had been replaced with plastic double glazed windows and whilst this had benefits on the thermal properties and acoustics, (as they had some noise issues too), they certainly did not help the structure. This is because the properties original timber windows (as we did check they were timber windows previously) also had structural properties, which meant in part they supported the structure. They were also flexible and moved with the structure as it moved throughout the year, because all properties of this age have some element of movement.

These two factors meant that the building adjusted over the different seasons and therefore the cracking didn’t occur. With the new plastic windows that are much more rigid the wall and the render couldn’t move as much and therefore cracked and this is the hairline cracking that the owners was getting concerned about. In this case it was just surface cracking.

Action required with the property issue

We would recommend that the surface cracks are sealed with a filler that allows for movement (a hard filler would simply fall out sooner or later) and then redecorate. We also recommend that one of the cracks is opened up and the render hacked off, just to check that it doesn’t carry on through the brickwork beneath.