×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Thermal Cracks in Plaster work on south facing wall of house

Thermal Cracks in Plaster work on south facing wall of house

Thermal Cracks in Plaster work on south facing wall of house

(OP)
I have a 1960 house built with an inner layer of Calcium bricks.

The back of the house is south facing.

When the sun shines the rear upstairs bedrooms get cracks that are diagonal from the top corners of the windows and some have vertical cracks from the bottom corners of the windows.

The cracks only appear when the sun shines and they appear in winter and summer though the expansion of the cracks is less in the winter.

The corner bedrooms (at each end of the house) only have cracks on the inner part of the window i.e. not on the window corner that is nearest to the outside pillar of the house where the two walls meet.

I have had an engineer advice saying it may be the calcium bricks expanding but then why are there no cracks in the downstairs rooms, he suggested it maybe because the expansion is moving up and out.

I also find it strange that the cracks appear in winter when the temperature is sometimes not much above 1 degree and also why dont the cracks appear as a result of the central heating.

I am trying to get a definite answer as to the reason for the cracks, is it the bricks, is it a roof problem or is it a lintel problem.

Any help/advise would be gratefully received.

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources