Cracks in walls after heatwave

[laurenmay19]

Has anyone experience more cracks in walls/existing cracks getting larger since the heatwave?
Is there anything to be concerned about?
Thinking of using polyfiller and painting over but thinking might be an ongoing issue and might look more and more messy in the long run!

For reference we live in a period property. While there has always been a few cracks here and there they are now spreading right across the wall/have gotten much thicker!

I’d not be worried about the hairline cracks in the second picture, probably just blown plaster.

The wide vertical crack in the first picture looks a bit more concerning. Can you fit the edge of a pound coin in it?

Thanks for your response minipie.
It’s just about the same or just under the thickness of a £1 coin - we just tried!
We took a picture through the gap also and can see the plasterboard beyond.

We can pollyfiller but do you think this could this be a more serious structural issue that we should be worried about?

Thanks!

hi, the ground drying up outside your house in the heat is probably causing this.. as it will shrink and period properties do not have deep foundations so are prone to movement. What might help is watering the front or back lawn and that should replenish the soil and minimize any further cracks, but it would have to be quite a substantial amount of water given the extreme heat we've had.. and we are about to get a hose ban! We have the same problem.. wallpaper helps disguise the cracks but if it is too far gone if might be worth talking to a structural engineer.. good luck!

Thanks @OnceUponSometime !

I am so glad you posted this as we are also in a period property and this crack has appeared after the heat wave.
I have been worried the house is going to fall down

Our plasterer said if a room is too warm it means the plaster cracks more - so could just be that rather than a structural issue

Are there cracks in the same direction in similar place on the outside? And do they go all the way down to the ground?
If they start at the foundations that's worrying, but if they just are isolated it's not so bad.
Also if they close up after rain it's not so bad but if they just get wider and wider that's an issue.

If you're in the south, you're on clay soil and you're going to get shrink-swell movement. This past winter and summer have been super dry, so it's more pronounced. In a wet winter, they close up. I have a tonne of cracks in plaster and two windows that are hard to shut without pushing the casement up a bit.

Not really anything you can do about it, so I just moved on to something else to obsess over.

Get a ruler and pencil and mark a 1 inch line to keep an eye on the crack - you’ll soon know if it gets bigger

It takes a lot for a brick built house to fall down @Bells1976 - there's a Sarah Beeny series called Help, My House is Falling Down and there was an episode about subsidence and heave which, if you can find it, you might find reassuring.

Thank you. I will have a watch.

The first picture with the wide crack - I would get a surveyor out to look at that. We just had someone to review something on our house, it was £200.

Yes the hot weather is causing problems like this - I would check as your house is a valuable asset.

We live in a period property too and have had major cracks appear. I'm going to get a surveyor out as I'm now worried as found more over the past few days. Our appear to be to do with extremely dry foundations.. ☹️

Our house is old and has cracks all over it. My insurance company sent a surveyor round and his report concluded that it was just seasonal movement and nothing to worry about.