Cracks on outside wall

bri007

Hi,

I was in my sisters house this weekend and she was saying that there are numerous cracks on the walls outside her home that have got worse over the past year or two.

I have attached photos below, she’s very concerned about it. The plaster appears to be breaking away from the window areas and on the larger cracks.

Would anyone know off hand what the cause could be or if it’s anytbing to worry about before she looks to engage in a surveyor?

Thanks in advance

Four Phucs Ache

If it was me, I'd engage an engineer. I'm not an expert but they are following the mortar joints and have a step pattern matching the blocks

sydthebeat

theyre pretty severe cracks.

engage an engineer straight away to assess and measure.
that second pic is particularly worrying.

bri007

Thanks for the replies, yeah I thought it didn’t look right.

I haven’t been down to the house in a while, last time I was there she pointed them out to me and it appears to be getting worse from the last time I seen it.

Worst thing is, it’s all over the house not confined to one area

sydthebeat

Donegal or the North West by any chance?

OrlaFS2017

The diagonal crack over door frame pic is reminiscent of pyrite.
Any cracks inside? Doors sticking?

Www.pyriteboard.ie has some info

Metric Tensor

Cracks starting at corners of windows and doors can have many causes ranging from dangerous to minor.

However, that third picture with the parallel cracks at the corner is very unusual and reason enough on its own to get an engineer out.

As Syd asked - what location in the country are we talking about?

bri007

She is based in Donegal, yeah the cracks look a bit of a worry, I have sent some emails this evening to surveyors inquiring about having a look in the new year, I might ask the surveyor I am using to buy our own house but he is Dublin based so might not be feasible.

The house is around 7 years old she is under the impression there’s a building warranty on it like for structural defects etc but she can’t find the paperwork, I’m sure any cover when purchased new is long gone now after 7 years.

Gileadi

Have a read about the Mica issue that has materialised around the Donegal area.

Many of the cracks are similar to the typical cracks from defective blockwork due to excessive free muscovite mica as shown in I.S. 465 ( document is free at https://www.nsai.ie/images/uploads/standards/I.S_.465-2018_Web_Download_.pdf btw)

Metric Tensor

Might be worth getting an engineer/surveyor from the area OP as they will most likely have more experience with that specific issue.

P.S. - Many structural guarantees are for ten years but many insurance products for sale both in the past and currently don't actually cover what the general public understand them to cover.