What is this? Pics attached

[Teisen1990]

Morning all,

I'm hoping to utilise the wisdom of those on this board far more knowledgeable than myself. I bought my first house a year ago and without a landlord or knowledgeable family to ask I'm not sure about a few things.
The house is about 130 years old for context and generally in good repair. In 2 of the upstairs rooms there are cracks that look like they are in the paint. They seem to have got abit worse in the past year but not dramatically. Most are on a wall which has outside on the other side but some also go along a wall which has my neighbours house on it. I had the gutters cleared a month ago in case that made a difference and the man who did it said they were overflowing with leaves so not much good but I'm not sure if that would have caused this given its also on this internal only wall too.

Does anyone know what has caused it and what I do about it? Do I just paint over it or does it need something like replastering?

Really sorry if it's a dumb question, I'm completely new to home ownership and still figuring it out!🙈

They don't look wet they look like polyfilla? If the house is old it will be moving/settling and with the very dry weather it may be it. What did the survey say?

Agree it with pp most likely causes of new cracks appearing in a house of this age (which should have finished any selling by now) is leaks or badly-done previous repair. Leaks can sometimes be difficult to track down as they don't always manifest at source, sometimes water can track along to different point before it makes an appearance. So isn't necessarily immediately above (i.e. Roof leak could run along a truss at roof point further along before it makes its way down this wall)

Selling =settling

It was like this when I moved in during July 2021 but has appeared to get a little worse.

I'll check the survey now, from memory It might have said something about rendering but I wasn't sure what that meant.

When the gutters were cleaned last month I asked them to have a little look and they couldn't spot anything that might be causing a leak from outside.

I'll be climbing into the attic again today for another look as suggested

The pressure in the boiler does go down and needs topping up every 6-8 ish months - then again the boiler is 20 years old so I naively assumed that was normal

From the survey it says of the inside walls 'Internal walls and partitions are a mixture of solid and lightweight construction. They are partly dry lined internally. Minor cracking was noted to some walls and some cracks have been filled. While not thought to be of structural significance, minor repairs Will be required.'

And of the outside walls 'the walls are a combination of solid and cavity masonry construction, finished with render. The rendered wall surfaces appear in basically satisfactory repair, although subject to some cracking and loss of key in some areas. This is due to shrinkage and general deterioration of the render material. Damaged render can cause dampness and these areas will need to be made good prior to the next redecoration.'

I'm hoping this means something to you- if so please explain to me like I'm 5 what to do next 🙈

It does all sound like fairly standard for a house that 130 years old.!

First I would order a damp meter, then check the loft for anything obvious, then check the outside and roof (perhaps with binoculars). If you have cracks in the render it's possible rain could track through to the inside on the solid walls

Solid walls - One skin of brickwork, usually 9" thick that need painted render on outside to stop rain seeping through

Cavity walls - Two single skins of brick walls, with a cavity in between to stop rain/damp from getting inside.

Or it could be what a PP mentioned....the previous owners have put something into the cracks to cover them up, but that is now deteriorating/or has attracted damp/dirt and looks like it's damp. A damp meter will tell you for certain.

it sounds ok to me nothing scary and surveyors tend to cover their backs in my experience. The rendering means the outside of the walls, so to me it sounds like the surveyor was saying to fix the outside (either patch up or re-render)before the inside, otherwise anything you do on the inside may need re doing due to dampness coming through.

The cracks on the inside really do not look wet to me, it looks darker due to the filler used. You could re fill and sand back to the wall and leave them before painting to see if it is just the plaster. This would be quick and better than painting everywhere and having to re do.

I think they're old cracks that have previously been filled/caulked (I have some in my house that I caulked years ago and they now look like this)

Think of the render as a plastic rain mac. Keeps the rain off your walls brilliantly but if water gets behind it (because of a crack or it gets loose from the walls - that's what 'lost its key' means) it keeps the water trapped against the wall because water can't evaporate out of the cement.

In a house of traditional construction which yours will be at 130 yo (though survey picked up mixed single and cavity walls, so maybe it's had later additions that are modern construction) cement render is a mixed blessing... only a good idea while it's perfect, once it starts letting water in the damp will slowly build up.

But if your cracks are on internal not external walls it's more likely (if there is moisture causing this, and it's not just old settlement cracks) to be a roof/chimney leak or plumbing.

Loads of houses have imperfect render, loads of people ignore it for years to no major detriment other than a damp house is harder to keep warm but if the damp is serious enough or left for long enough it can cause damage to structural materials like floor joists etc. If wooden parts are affected fungus can then be an issue... It isn't cheap to fix though so you wouldn't tackle it unless you could happily afford to or it was causing serious enough problems that you had to.