Cracks in walls - how to approach?

[lovelyhat]

Our mid-terrace 1900ish house (London; clay soil) has quite a lot of cracks in the walls which bother me - they’ve become more noticeable over the last few years. DH thinks I’m worrying unnecessarily and keeps saying if it hasn’t fallen down in the last 100 years it isn’t about to do so now - but he knows nothing about houses so I don’t find that reassuring!

Who do I need to take a look - structural engineer or just a builder? And where do I find someone who won’t fleece me?!

I declared the cracks on our house insurance last year so paid quite a lot more, and now the renewal premiums are hideous so I think I need to crack on (ha ha) with finding out whether there’s an issue.

You want a structural surveyor. They are almost certainly nothing to worry about though, unless they are getting worse.

Id probably ask the insurance company to take a look. They've increased your premiums anyway so you might as well get them to sort it out if it IS a problem

Our house is built on clay and has cracks all over it. Two structural surveyors have looked at it and confirmed that it is caused by seasonal movement and nothing to worry about.

My house has cracks everywhere and did when we bought it. I fill them in but they come back or different ones appear. I've lived here for 12 years and nothing untoward as occurred yet, so fingers crossed! I know what you mean about worrying but I've learned to live with them now. It's 100 year old house.

Our 1930 house is a bit like this. None are getting worse but do reappear in warm weather. A structural engineer is the way to go though.

Do you mean cracks in the walls (brickwork) or cracks in the plaster?

You need a surveyor.

Don't ask your insurance company to look initially! Even if it turns out to be nothing you can guarantee your premium will increase or you may even find it excluded from cover.

Of course if there is an issue your insurance policy will likely oblige you to disclose it else you void the policy. So that is the time to tell them.

Our house is built on a former quarry. A lot of the houses on the street (Victorian red brick terraces) show huge signs of movement with sloping lintels and doors. Ours is a 1930s semi with lots of internal cracks - some quite big! We had a structural engineer look at them and he said they were historic, although I can see they are growing in size. However, as that's what they told me, I have no choice but to believe them. Like your husband said, the house isn't going to fall down.

It will definitely be a surveyor. They will assess cracks between 2 time periods eg 6 months apart to assess if they are progressive/getting worse.

If internal only have you also tried filling them? If they appear again then that will give you an idea if they are getting worse. To fill them you need to dig them out to a v shape, apply filler and sand down. We had some historical settlement cracks in our kitchen from an extension which looked bad (mostly down from the corner of windows but one the full height of the room) but we've filled them and they've not come back yet!

OP has already declared the cracks and the insurance has raised the premiums already so doesn't seem they have much to lose there. Otherwise I'd agree with you

We have been through this recently. We called our insurance company. We had to get our own surveyor and pay him, but our insurance company said IF the surveyor says it IS subsidence and the report is passed to them, the cost of that will be taken out from the excess (the standard £1000 for subsidence claims).

In our case, it is subsidence and we are now 18 months down the tortuous process of attempting to get it sorted.

Amazed the insurance company didn't send someone when you first declared the cracks. As they've already raised the premium you might as well ring and say you're still concerned and ask them to do so. You'll pay £1000+ for a private engineer's but the initial insurance investigations should cost you nothing.

We only paid about £350 for a full structural survey so it might not be that pricey

Cracks are just a tick box on the form. In any case they are very rarely anything to worry about. Most of the older houses in my village have cracks to some degree or another, internal and external, and they have stood for a hundred years. Hundreds in some cases.

Structural engineer or surveyor - don't notify insurers until you think you have a problem with movement. Do you have any large trees around you?

Hi there, sorry to jump on this but was searching for advice on this very issue. How long did your surveys take? Our neighbours are in the process of having some cracks in a bay window monitored for subsidence and it’s affecting our ability to sell. Again, London clay and 1900s semi. Thanks so much for any advice - I’m panicking!

This is reassuring. We have new cracks, never had them before. Been here 7 years but the house was built in the 1800s. I did tell the insurance company. Our premium did not go up! They asked us to fill the cracks and keep them informed. I worry, but it seems many don't.

We had a private structural survey and a really detailed report - it was about £800 I think, as we had cracking and were going on the market. It was almost all caused by the dry summer in 2022 (although a victorian house on London clay so we've always had a bit) and the surveyor was able to e.g. identify that a crack had appeared where materials changed and give advice on nearby trees.

That's the point at which I would have told the insurers. Things don't seem to have got any worse since then so filling them and waiting and seeing could be useful.

But yes as you've declared to insurers I'd tell them to get it looked at. Some of the houses on our street have been underpinned, it's pretty common in London and long term wouldn't impact your ability to sell (better get a house where it's fixed than not).

We’re in a flat in a shared building. The bay window in one of the flats has significant cracks (I’d say 1.5cm wide) and it’s being monitored. The monitoring seems to be for a year although could be longer (praying it isn’t). When we tried to sell at the beginning of the process no estate agent would come near us. We’re hoping to get a report from the insurance company before the year is over and hopefully that will reassure lenders that it’s in hand. I had a huge panic about moving when it first started, but tbh the market is slow, the budget might change things and a year or so of monitoring goes quite quickly given how slow moving in general is at the moment. Also London, also on clay, probably caused by trees and seasonal impact. Boring and slow but will be over eventually x