Fine plaster cracks and doors not shutting, is it always a MAJOR?

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Fine plaster cracks and doors not shutting, is it always a MAJOR?

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RunningMan

8956 posts

Uber Geek

#2481159 11-May-2020 13:35

TeaLeaf:

Do you think given that, running a sprinkler in dry conditions in the future is a good option?

No, you would only be using up valuable water. It should be conserved during a drought, not just dumped on the ground.

TeaLeaf:
Would it be best just to see how it behaves over the wet season given it had next to no rain during summer/autumn? (outside getting an Engineer etc to take a look). Cheers Handle.

I think this is a good course of action. It's reasonable and normal to expect some movement. If you think that the movement is getting beyond reasonable and normal then by all means get a pro in to look. At the very least it may put your mind at ease, and give you a reference frame for future movement about what is normal and what is abnormal.

TeaLeaf

6325 posts

Uber Geek

#2481201 11-May-2020 14:42

RunningMan:

No, you would only be using up valuable water. It should be conserved during a drought, not just dumped on the ground.

I think this is a good course of action. It's reasonable and normal to expect some movement.

Thanks RM.

She has 2x25k litre tanks and street water, but I do get your point.

Im not a plaster expert nor have I owned renovations with major subsidence (or IPs), so its definitely my weakest link, along with being use to Qldr pilings or steel frames.

The question is how much movement is reasonable I guess.

Given we know it was an extrodinarily dry year, would 12 cracks (with say 9 being vertical along the Gib joins) be reasonable?

The worst one I measured that is diagonal and has a vertical near it, the horizontal is 1mm the vertical is hair line as are all the other internal cracks from what I asked her to measure.

Strangely this expensive near new kitchen has dropped 7mm from the ceiling at its fronts but as it nears the walls the crack dissapears (within 1.5ft etc) and then 2-2.5m at the other wall (think L shaped) the drop from the ceiling is only 2mm. This is truely bizarre given it rest on pilings, lintel, floor, 19mm hardwood. To have such variance in such a small space is baffling.

And the internal door that wont close is actually jamming on hinge, not the latch side or the top, again, odd.

Questions:

1. Would it be reasonable to ring the building inspector to ask what he thinks and perhaps have him come take another look (we did our due diligence as best as possible not knowing the area via nocowboys, and he did go out of this way to provide after report information to clarify the report.

2. The prior owners wrote us a letter saying to contact them should we need to know anything. Given we know some of these cracks have been done before, would it be unfair to contact them to ask how often it occured for them, how many cracks a year, do the indoor latches close on the 2 problematic doors? (I had her measure them and they should like the doors are 5mm below where they need to be), just general stuff. They live overseas now.

TeaLeaf

6325 posts

Uber Geek

#2481390 11-May-2020 17:17

That should have read;

"Strangely this kitchen has dropped 2.5mm from the ceiling at its fronts but as it nears the walls the crack dissapears (within 1.5ft etc) and then 2-2.5m at the other wall (think L shaped) the drop from the ceiling is only 1mm.

Im pretty sure that was already there though looking at older photos, parts of the kitchen were reused etc. That top cabinet may have touched the roof when built but I think over time it has lowered into what doesnt look out of place now. So I wont be using that as a guide.

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