Look at these cracks wwyd?

[Deipara]

Hello lovely people,
Please see the picture attached. If you saw these cracks on a property you were thinking of purchasing what would you do?

Does anyone want to hazard a guess as to why these cracks have appeared? Do they like typical subsidence cracks?

Can't decide whether to get a RCIS level 2 survey or go straight to a structured engineer for their advice?

Your thoughts and advice is appreciated 🙏

Possibly due to old timber windows being replaced with upvc.

That's a step crack. I pulled out of a sale upon a survey spotting these.

House looks reasonably old, pre 1960s so it's not a settlement crack. Probably subsidence. Although it could indeed be the bay window dropping off to the left. Need a closer picture.

Thanks for your thoughts.

It's a victorian terrace. I am worried its subsidence....I can't decide on whether I should walk away now, get a surveyor or structural engineer to have a look...🤔😩

Definitely get a structural survey done.

We are talking about that 2 brick deep step crack to the right of the window arent we?

Should also add the house has undergone an extension. The ndn has an extension also. The ndn on the other side has a big tree close to the property.

In a Victorian house that's not that uncommon, but no way I'd buy without a survey. You could find it costs thousands to repair or next to nothing. If it's loads you may well be able to negotiate a discount.

Yes (tell me you've not identified more that I haven't 😫)

So what surgery would you get done please? Rcis level 2 or 3? Or go straight to a structural engineer?

Thanks

Survey not surgery lol

Could be that down pipe that is leaking and causing the issue. I would definitely have a RICS survey before making any decision.

No its just not the sharpest pic and the crack looks obvious there but may be worse when close up i.e. extend further. In short the direction of the crack indicates the brickwork to the left of the crack is falling away from the rest of the house. It could be the window isnt well supported. A basic report is worthless, a homebuyers report will reference the crack but offer no explanation. The full survey will be better but are there no houses that dont have big cracks in them?

At least the seller didn't hide it. They could easily have filed it with some mortar and you'd have been none the wiser.

I've looked online at Google you can see historical pictures of the property. That crack was there before the pipe, although the crack was smaller then.

The most extensive, the cost difference will be minimal in the greater scheme of buying a house and maintaining it for 20 years.

O wouldn’t panic but the cause needs to be found. The crack has gone along the mortar joints which makes me suggest it’s window related. Possibly no lintels or a wooden lintel that’s rotted at some point and everything moved a bit.

Thank you...that's reassuring to hear as I feeling somewhat panicked! Would that be an expensive job to fix do you think?

Thanks 😊

I would go straight to a structural engineer as the surveyor will probably recommend that. I nearly bought a house with a similar issue. That turned out to be the bressumer beam and was going to be 2-3k to replace with steel.

My guess it’s happened when they have taken the bay windows out and replaced them. There will be a timber lintel/s holding the brickwork up below the upstairs window. Probably something has moved/ not supported at the time of doing the windows ?

It may need new lintel/ rsj installing, depending whats up there ? You could insulate the bay roof properly too while the ceiling is down 👍

Old wooden windows were often installed without any support above them as they were strong enough to build on top of.

Or most likely thing is the wooden lintels holding the brickwork below the upstairs window has just sagged (deflected) over time causing the crack.

Thank you. Do you know @Diyextension if you're right about the lintels is that a big /expensive job?