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Cracks in the house: don’t panic

Discovering a crack in the house is always worrying. Doubts arise: is it serious? Is the structure damaged? Fears that haunt us, even when it is a newly built home. What should we do?

The first piece of advice we would like to give is a call for calm. Not all cracks in our walls and ceilings are necessarily serious. The second recommendation is to call in a professional because, on occasions, a simple panoramic view is enough to make an initial diagnosis.

It seems logical to think that the finer the cracks, the less important they will be. In fact, it is even normal for new homes to show some fine cracks in the walls caused, as is commonly said, because the house is settling into the ground. If we were to be more rigorous with the language, we would say that the slab has sagged slightly.

It is quite a different matter if, instead of being fine, we can introduce a pencil or our finger into the crack. In fact, from a thickness of 0.5 millimetres onwards, we stop talking about a crack and start referring to a crack. There are legal limits for ‘settlement of the building’ and it would be necessary to check whether this is really the cause or not. An architect will be able to tell us if the problem lies in differences in settlement levels, which can be a serious problem.

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Causes

The causes of this bad news, whether due to the aesthetic impact or, even worse, the safety impact, are very diverse. Among them, we could highlight:

  • Poor execution of the plastering: This is the one that, assuming that cracks appear, we all want to have, because it does not entail either large repair cost overruns or safety risks. Poor plastering can be due to poor application or too much plaster, for example.
  • Overloads: This is the other side of the coin, one of the most serious, because it means that the house is poorly designed from the start and the weight of the house is greater than what the foundations are actually capable of supporting.
  • Hygrothermal stress: Changes in temperature and humidity have an effect on building materials, which expand or contract and thus cause cracks that should not cause us too much concern.
  • Poor quality materials: Sometimes the poor quality of the elements with which they have been built can cause this type of damage and, therefore, the criteria of a professional should be the one to determine whether, in addition to being an aesthetic problem, it also entails a risk to our safety.

Differences between walls

Another important element when assessing the seriousness of a crack is the wall in which it appears. In this sense, we will distinguish between a simple partition wall that separates one room from another or a load-bearing wall, and a concrete wall. In the case of the former, the causes of the crack may range from poor quality bonding materials or the plaster itself, which has not been applied correctly.

However, if the crack is in a load-bearing wall, then it is essential to find out if it is due to structural problems. In the same way, we will not only look at the walls, but also at other structural elements such as a column or a beam, for example.

At the same time, cracks in the masonry and in the roof should set off the alarm bells for an urgent professional inspection.

Repair

Once the cracks have been identified, it is time to repair them, and at this point we must also differentiate between two types of cracks. If they are live cracks, that is, cracks that continue to grow, it is not advisable to repair them because they will prevent us from correctly diagnosing their origin and, furthermore, we will be doing our job in vain because they will reappear. It is important to monitor how and at what speed live cracks grow.

If the cracks are stable over time and are superficial, the solution is simple: just prepare the surface, fill it with putty and apply a new coat of paint.

For more serious cracks, it will be necessary to have an expert assess whether it is necessary to apply corrective measures at the structural level before giving our walls and ceiling a facelift.

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