3 year old house, crack on the outer brick wall

My house is 3 year old. I bought a year ago without doing building inspection, now there is a crack on the outer brick wall, I don't know what to do..., any advise is highly appreciated.

I wish to upload photo, I am not sure how to add photo.

Thanks
APK
 
Its not unusual for cracks to appear.
Houses not only 'move' but they also have to settle.
This can takes years.
The crack may be as a result of the house settling, or it could be more serious.
It could point to a problem with the foundation or the slab.

How big is the crack, where is it located and is it getting bigger ?

If you are really worried get a building inspector in the do an investigation and a report for you.

kp
 
My house is 3 year old. I bought a year ago without doing building inspection, now there is a crack on the outer brick wall, I don't know what to do..., any advise is highly appreciated.

I wish to upload photo, I am not sure how to add photo.

Thanks
APK

Your home should be be covered by Home Owner Warranty Insurance. This should have been provided in your contract of sale. Ring your solicitor and advise of the problem. HOW insurance should cover structural defects to the building for at least 6 yrs. Hope it's not too serious for you. :)
 
I wish to upload photo, I am not sure how to add photo.

Thanks
APK

When you post a reply scroll down this page and click on "manage attachments".
A window will appear where you can browse your computer for the photo. Then click "upload" and it will bring it into the post. The jpeg file needs to be less than 100kb so you will need to reduce it on your computer before uploading it.
 
Have you added/removed any trees near the house in the last 3 years.
By near I mean the distance of the trunk of the tree to the house is less than the height of the tree.

Have you put in anything that would change the ability of water to soak into the ground around the house, eg replaced a lawn with a path or roadway.

Has the climate been significantly different.

Do you have a leaking tap near the wall?

Look for things that create a change in the moisture content of the soil.

Is your area known for having reactive soils, i.e. soils that expand and contract significantly with changes of moisture.

Just some things you would want to think about.
 
Thanks for all your inputs.

Its fairly new suburb, there is no chance of tree removal in the last 3 years.
No leaking tap. I am not sure about the soil type.

The cracked wall is facing the main road and road work is going on for the past six months or so where lot of heavy road laying vehicles are on use, I think that could be one of the reason. But the wall is about 40 to 50 meters away from the road work area.

I managed to attach couple of photos.

Once again I appreciate all your time taken to give a reply.
 

Attachments

  • CIMG2089_1.JPG
    CIMG2089_1.JPG
    82.8 KB · Views: 309
  • CIMG2094_1.JPG
    CIMG2094_1.JPG
    93.2 KB · Views: 276
Neat isn't it?
I mean its not really a crack but a seperation between the bricks along the mortar line.

What does it look like inside? Is the plaster cracked, or is it gyprock lined and hence no crack visible?

Either way, it doesn't look right. Something going on there.
Could be due to a whole host of things, some of which have been mentioned above.
I would fill the gap in for now and then monitor it to see if it opens more or closes in the next few months.

kp
 
Our PPoR has quite a few cracks in the brickwork as well (full brick, about 45 years old) because we're on clay and there's a fair bit of ground movement. The crack in the photos looks very minor to me, if that's as wide as it gets.

We had an engineer look at ours, and his recommendation was not to fill them, as all it does is shift the stress, possibly causing another crack somewhere else. For internal cracks in the cement render walls, he said just try hiding them, although I have filled them once or twice with a soft plaster.

So, without knowing the details of your foundations, I'd probably also just monitor it to see if it gets any worse.

GP
 
As a comparison...

On an old IP we had a crack which went straight up the brick wall - this was on a 2 story place.

Then the wall started to lean out on a slight angle - but I mean where the wall was pushing on the gate and you couldnt open or close the gate. As the inside was gyprocked you could only see it from the outside.

So we sold it as I didnt want the future headache to see if we would have to get the corner of the house underpinned and so on (I 'kinda' think we got lucky that it didnt get picked up on the build and pest)

From the pics I dont think you're in that stage but agree w/GP in getting an engineer to check it - if you go to sell the place and it gets picked up on the building and pest you'll need the report anyway to show that it doesnt have any ill effect on the property.
 
Last edited:
I'd suggest what you are looking at is a combination of motar shrinkage and perhaps thermal expansion.

Is the wall facing the severe sun? If so, as the bricks and motar heat up they expand and different rates and can cause horizontal cracks as the wall expands.

The metal in pipes for the hot water service will cause more strinkage of the mortar. If shrinkage of the mortar is the issue, you would have expected to see the issue arise within the first 28 days of construction and getting worse till the house was about 2 years old, at which point it would only get worse due to the thermal expansion. Shrinkage of the motar is also more likely if the builder has added extra water to the motar mix or if layed in hotter conditions.

If it was movement of the foundations you would expect to see a similar crack on the other side of the door/window going in the opposite direction (i.e. Up and to the left) than showed in you images (down and to right)

I did study masonary structures at uni but have never applied the knowledge professionally. So take the info with a grain of salt. :confused:
 
Last edited:
roadworks generally involves compaction which re-settles the sand/clay in the surrounding area(s).

if it's just along the mortar joints then i wouldn't worry too much - it can be patched and i don't imagine it's structural.
 
Thanks for all your reply, I appreciate.

I think this is because of house settling, also noticed a three year old gum tree on the other side of the fence, which is 1.5 metres away from the wall. I am not sure whether the tree will be a potential danger breaking the concrete slab in the future. :confused:

Once again thanks for all your advise.
 
Get rid off tree now...

Ah, we have heard the opposite advice - that getting rid of a tree once a house has been built will cause it to crack because it changes the dynamics of the soil after construction!

Most Adelaide homes have cracks, you just learn to live with them.
 
On Skab or piers

I have had similar problems on a lot of properties. Though not ones that are only a couple of yrs old. I live south of Sydney where most of the soil is very much clay. Clay is very reactive to moisture.I the drought the soil dried up completely/ Even if you bored a hole 2 metres deep it would be bone dry.

This dryness causes the soil to shrink. Thus whatever is above moves downward with the shrinkage. This can then cause major cracks along bricks. Especially if expansion joints have not been built into the brick wall. Expansion joints are usually just a gap in the wall every couple of metres that are lined with a foam or rubber jointing membrane. If the slap or piers sink or rise the gap takes up the stress and stops bricks either cracking under compaction or mortar spreading under expansion.

If the tree is in your yard get rid of it. It will be sucking every drop of water out of a area right around the footings and causing the area to drop.

I had a similar problem. The bricks cracked right along to the window edges and door frame edges.

We got rid of a couple of gums within 5 metres of the walls. Then drilled heaps of holes in the ground and flooded every day with water. After a couple of months the clay soil below swelled and pushed the gaps closed.
Interesting to note that some project builders will issue with a CSIRO form regarding soil expansion & contraction / keeping moisture levels right around the perimeter of the home the same. As well as gardening do's & don'ts. You have to sign to say you have received it on settlement and will do as such is recommended.

Hope this helps

Gee Cee
Greg:confused:
 
also noticed a three year old gum tree on the other side of the fence, which is 1.5 metres away from the wall. I am not sure whether the tree will be a potential danger breaking the concrete slab in the future. :confused:

Once again thanks for all your advise.

a 3 year old tree will be relatively tiny...remove it before it becomes even more of an issue. Trees that are very very big and have developed complex root systems under your slab are, in some cases, best to leave, but in the majority of cases, trees should be removed.....
 
Back
Top