Cracks in the house

[tiggerkid]

We have some cracks in our house, which are mostly cracked mortar with some in brickwork.

Surveyor said some metal bars need to be inserted to stop them from going further. Had 2 builders around and both said metal bars aren't required and mortar just needs repointing. Some mortar is quite old, bricks below DPC level are in somewhat poor condition but nothing wrong with them as such. Cracks in the brickwork are mostly (I believe) due to previous owners changing windows and installers not being very careful when ripping out old windows. None of the cracks can be seen from inside and no change occurred in the last 6 months.

Does anyone have any experience with this or similar issues? Should I be worried and do we need metal bars or as builders suggest it's sufficient to have some repointing work done?

Thanks in advance.

You need to get a structural engineer to have a look as they are the only ones qualified to say whether the cracks are superficial or potentially dangerous.

You can find one here: www.istructe.org/finding-a-structural-engineer/find-an-engineer

Both may be correct but neither are qualified to say! ChablisChic is correct and a structural engineer is qualified to tell you what needs to be done.

Do you have buildings insurance? if so, call them and you should be ale to get a survey done, plus any necessary work done through them. I'm in a similar position atm but I think mine is collapsed drains again at least, I hope it's that as subsidence claims have a big excess! Last time, it was all done through my insurance.