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.
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.
