Why Has Your Wall Cracked? and What Can You Do?

Roger explains why your brick wall may have cracked and looks at what can be done to prevent this from happening.
FURTHER READING
Helifix Crack Stitching
🔗 www.helifix.co.uk/products/re...
How Concerned You Should Be About Cracks in the Walls
🔗 www.bobvila.com/articles/crac...
6 Most Likely Reasons You’re Seeing Cracks in Your Walls
🔗 edensstructural.com/6-most-li...
How to Fix Cracked Walls Permanently
🔗 homeguides.sfgate.com/fix-cra...
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#Crack #CrackedWall #CrackedBricks
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[@Eurowefilms421]

From a retired builder ( Last 30 years in France) of over 60 years...good advise, nicely explained, well done..

[@dclark6632]

Thanks Roger that was the most comprehensive yet simple explanation of cracks I have ever watched and I now understand the reasons behind the cracks in my brick house alot better and how to deal with them. Cheers Darren in Australia.

[@paulaspinall919]

I wish I had seen such a thorough explanation of building cracks many years ago.Big thanks.👍

[@michaelmorgan9289]

Roger, Thank you for the informative & reassuring information. You are absolutely correct as I had a small crack on the side of my 120 year old house & a year or two later it had closed.

[@peep39]

good practical advice Roger. I complained to my father about something in my house's construction and he rightly pointed out it has already lasted 100 years that way

[@monty6632]

Great informative video. Cracks in buildings is owners worst nightmare, always best to get expert advice 👍

[@iulixxx]

Your explanations are excellent,I can't get enough about your videos.

[@grahameanderson6913]

Well done! One of the best videos I've watched to convey information about a simple yet frightening subject. My crack doesn't seem problematic to me after viewing this. Thanks.

[@dragan3290]

Exactly spot on! My father was a bricklayer /renderer from Yugoslavia. I never believed him that he used to biuld up render to 100mm. I came across a UK renderer and he told me he sacked a bloke because he couldn't render! He told him : you're a skimmer only. Then on site he tells me ; your dad is right mate! Same with those cracks: mortar joints only and it's fine! Top video and tutorial. Cheers from Australia 🙂👍👍👍

[@simonhodgetts6530]

Brilliant! I’d suspected that this might be the case with my 1916 built house. We’re on clay soil, and certainly over the past couple of summer/winter cycles, it’s definitely moved. I’ll now just fill the crack with a lime mortar to stop water ingress! Thanks for the very informative video.

[@simonhodgetts6530]

And, as predicted, now we’ve had some wet weather, the crack has closed up again!

[@knowitall3503]

My 1920s / 30s bungalow moves with the seasons (built on clay) . Nothing to worry about. Let it do it's thing.

[@tonygregg4991]

Brilliant information Roger, I love all your videos, you are very intuitive and easy to watch and understand, thanks Roger.

[@m2mark1]

Very informative video as usual. Been put off buying houses in the past because of them having cracks but you give a better understanding of this. You have to love the craic.

[@alexdokic5567]

Thanks for this video, it was very informative! People do worry when they see cracks in there houses, but understanding that the ground moves depending on the climate conditions may put peoples minds at ease!

[@fergus1948]

Fantastically informative! Great job Roger!

[@mattyboy8270]

Very informative video Roger. I see alot of cracks where loadbearing timber windows have been replaced with UPVC [generallly houses built 50s, 60s and 70s] and the cracks and deforming of brickwork above as a consequence. Helifix works well here to create a beam effect to prevent further movement and I have also seen Acrow props used to allow for inclusion of a metal angle to act as a lintel to the external brickwork. It would be good if you could do a video on this problem, as it seems to be in every town and village.

[@jamesbirch6522]

Is there a video on this. as this is the issue my home is having.

[@oldgreybeard2507]

@@jamesbirch6522 just dealt with a wooden lintel above a kitchen window. The outer area had rotted but the inner (I.e. inside the house) was sound. I cleaned up the outside timber getting rid of the worse of the rot. Then I sprayed three lots (it was a hot week) of rot and worm killer on the timber. I got a length of 30mm by 30mm by 4mm steel angle cut the exact length to go under the wooden lintel sitting on the supporting brickwork at either end of the lintel. Onto the steel angle I welded a 30mm by 4mm flat bar. This was hammered (it took a heavy hammer) in under the lintel with the 60mm under the lintel. The whole lot (front and under side) was then covered with expanded steel mesh. Formwork (made out of 3mm ply supported with timber) was placed under the lintel, angle and mesh. The formwork makes it easy to face up with render. Using a mortar gun I pumped a one to one mortar mix under the lintel on top of the ply, then rendered up the outer area with standard 3 to one mortar. This means that the timber will not bend it would have to crush (that will not happen) for the upper brickwork to slump. I may put some helical reinforcement in next year above the lintel but there is only one course of bricks before the upper pebble dashed area.

[@mroflynn7769]

Brilliant video Roger , so much information and common sense too and also what to avoid ! Great work , keep making 'em , they are gold dust !

[@r2g218]

Honestly the most informative video I've watched on this subject, I have 2 besser brick dividing walls in my complex that have identical cracks to what you outline at the start of the video. We are built on floodplain so clay, you have put my mind at ease as these cracks have not changed since approx 2014.

[@cavendish009]

Love your videos - I learn such a lot !!! Thank you for this informed talk on houses and cracks in walls.

[@dennishughes3250]

Never used them, but Geobear look the dogs bits for subsidence etc. Watch, if you can, the underpinning of a garage - amazing stuff. Thanks Roger, for yet another cracking episode.

[@RogerOverall]

Thank you very much for this video, Roger. Our house is built on clay and your superb explanation has put my mind at ease about the hairline fractures we have.

[@ahms8689]

Totally agree, I'm in London (Roger referencing London) and been in my 1880s build for 16 years and have cracks all over the place. They haven't been getting bigger in most of them. Thank God for KZbin!

[@slashingbison2503]

God why cant I find a builder like you rodger!!!

[@thrilled2bits]

I dunno about the rest of you but these videos have been so informative. I've learnt so much from them - thank you! Currently have a Crack on my internal breeze block of my outhouse...

[@johnwilson5359]

Your advice was very educational, I learned lots from it, looking forward to more of your videos.👍.

[@CundaliniWantsHisHandBack]

Nice description without the scare mongering and other associated crap. The video is appreciated.

[@Stelios.Posantzis]

This advice makes so much sense I can't help smiling throughout or even sniggering! It's just comic how sometimes people act when they don't know anything about a problem and try to address it by just treating the obvious symptoms without recourse to common sense. The fact that a simple act of stupidity can cost someone their house is material for tragi-comedies. The subtle causes that result into houses'/buildings' deterioration without the dwellers' noticing or caring about is food for thought and quite sobering. Nothing lasts for ever but if it was made to last forever, it certainly wasn't built cheap. In the latter case, perhaps it's something worth thinking about before taking an old, soundly made building down (or severely altering it) just because "we don't like it" or "we want something better".

[@Asim8023]

Thanks Roger for yet another great video. Your quality content and advice have got me through so many jobs! Thank you 👍

[@SkillBuilder]

Glad to hear it

[@kingfisher2381]

Brilliant, looked at the problem from both sides, didnt make you panic and very informative. We are also on clay soil and the conservatory looks as though its coming away, however now i think its due to the weather.

[@blazor907]

Not making matters worse, golden advice!

[@hugovandermeer6746]

Cheers Roger. I've got a 200 year old cottage with a few external cracks which I'm having sorted by a great builder, your advice is seriously welcome as I now know twice as much as I knew yesterday about the various causes. Thanks mate!👍

[@jamesnightingale9782]

Thanks Roger Excellent advice I’m just about to have my house repaired by the insurance company..a bit of movement caused by a tree in the road outside. Anyway tree has now gone and house seems stable after two years of monitoring..but I now know how those cracks outside should be repaired. Regards Jim.

[@Tom-Lahaye]

Good explanation about the behaviour of clay. Where I live there is silt, and at some depth into the ground it seems very hard and almost impermeable for water. The original house has been built with 70cm deep concrete foundations, and these reach well into this hard silt. But an add on has been built on foundations only 20-40cm deep, and the foundation has been built very unevenly in width and depth. This foundation didn't reach "under the weather" as we say, and is subject to freezing up and thawing, and also I found that the silt around and under this foundation was very saturated with water, which caused a lot of humidity under the wooden floor causing it to rot. And also small cracks were this add on joins the main building were apparent. So my thought went over and the best solution seemed to me to underpin this foundation to the same depth as that of the main building. 1. to keep water out by bringing the foundation down to a level were water doesn't penetrate easy, and also preventing rodents digging tunnels allowing more water in. 2. To prevent cracks to develop more by bringing balance in the amount of support the parts of the building get by have them resting on the same layer of soil, and at a depth where water ingress and frost play no role in causing movement. I also applied crack stitching, and this holds up very well over the last year since I did it. So Roger, what is your view about imbalance in the construction of foundations and going under the weather? And what role can play a high water table (ours is very deep at 8m)

[@markjoyner9480]

Roger, good advise, thanks, good to know people with knowledge & experience like you are willing to share information. I see so many so called experts in videos within my trade & I often have to shake my head..

[@ajb7]

Great video Roger, good overview of the biggies. Some other cracks to consider: thermal, moisture, chemical reactions, badly detailed movement joints.

[@Doug....]

Great video Roger. Many thanks 👍👍

[@template16]

Another excellent explanation video. Thanks Roger

[@chalisblur]

Wow, great lesson in brick cracks! Thank you!

[@grrinc]

How do you deal with builders crack? I’ve tried tipping a dash of tea down it but it keeps reappearing.

[@lambjf187]

Park your bike in it! 🤣

[@blanketyblank5022]

Gun a tube of silicone down the back next time it opens up

[@bevsartsandcrafts715]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@kieranthompson779]

I've tried painters caulk.....just be ready to run afterwards 😅

[@blanketyblank5022]

@@kieranthompson779 same. 2/3 of a tube in one stream, no nozzle on from the third storey right past the groundworkers bullseye. And yes…I did hide as he came charging up the stairs.

[@ginaiosef]

Actually it was very illuminating and very well explained! Thank you!

[@MartinSlucutt]

It would have been good to have also had a more directly vertical crack through mortar and brick (i.e. not just mortar) discussed, kind of like as pictured at 0:30 but where the brickwork is overlapping and the cracks gone straight down through the middle of the brick on alternate courses of bricks.

[@charlienicoli9940]

That was a good video. I'm a structural engineer and I'm a bit sceptical about structural engineering videos on youtube, because you find people just start pretending to know stuff. But that video was really informative and well explained, and didn't try to make generalised statements about solutions for a very complicated problem!

[@tamcarrigan8108]

Top man. Love your videos and straight practical explainations to common problems.

[@tinytonymaloney7832]

Cracking advice, good video 🤞

[@rri7534]

Lol 😁👍🏻

[@peterthebricky]

Regarding the old wall restraints, my old man told me he saw it done just after the war they put the rods through with the X on the end against the outside wall then heated the bar so it expanded then tighten up the end and as the rod contracted it would pull the wall in repeat as necessary until the wall was where you want

[@TheTraditionalGolfer]

Brilliant makes sense

[@Jules_Pew]

I moved into a flipped Edwardian house 20 odd years ago, I think the thud of the multitude of removal men caused a few cracks inside. My neighbour told us before we bought that it had been monitored, but hadn't moved. I'm finally repairing them, but none remaining have moved since. Probably why it was pebble dashed, but no outside movement in that time since. My brother was concerned about the gap of the stair stringer away from the wall. I managed to pull out a newspaper from the filled gap dating back to mid 60s, so not moved for about 60 years. The slag inside the brickwork is a bit of bitch when doing anything structurally, but it's still standing.

[@shaunmurray7398]

Heating expert and cracks, I’m impressed Rodger Shaun

[@coolkitty2075]

This took me 2 seconds to find and exactly what I wanted. Fantastic 👍👍

[@roysammons2445]

Great info Rodger. Now I need to go and clean out that cement I put in a sizable crack about 3 years ago.

[@cefnonn]

Thanks I learnt a lot! Keep going with the videos as they're brilliant.

[@smile768]

Absolutely fantastic explanation.

[@leehotspur9679]

Very professional and informative Roger Thanks for sharing

[@2785Luke]

So glad you’ve done this video Roger. I have a couple of step cracks in the brickwork on my house. I was going to repair them by putting the helix rods in and repointing but I might not bother now!!

[@SkillBuilder]

Try to work out why they are cracking. The helical ties is good for certain jobs but in heave and shrinkage of clay it is not the best thing.

[@2785Luke]

I had them looked at a few years back and I was told it was just settlement. They just don’t look great when we come to sell up and move!

[@Jaacck45]

Brilliant update 👍🏽

[@SailPink]

I wish you was here when I was doing my building surveying degree in 1990. Very enjoyable and informative 👍

[@user-yw2xx8jv3o]

Great explanation Roger.

[@Daz555Daz]

It's kind of cool that buildings move - we often don't see any cracks but there are tell tale signs. My loft conversion is almost finished. It's going great but I can see that parts of my house have shifted slightly because I have two doors that now need adjustment. They were a little close anyway to be honest but now they stick. No cracks though!

[@_s_p_a_r_k_e_s_7615]

Cracking video Roger!

[@engr810]

Thanks for the presentation and all the hard work and dedication you exhibit in each of your videos, I am particularly glad to inform you I have watched this video and I was asked the reason of cracking in walls and I was able to answer and explain the reasons behind it. Thanks once again for your invaluable work in improving construction standards.

[@danielhodgkinson7937]

Fantastic video mate, great knowledge of how a building lives and breathes

[@AcheForWake]

A cracking video Roger!

[@agentsaperture]

What a great and informative video. I learned a lot, thank you very much.

[@mrdougals1]

Excellent information video as always. Thanks

[@LlewynDaviesTheThird]

Great summary of the situation thanks

[@daleywhaley]

Fascinating thank you for the lesson.

[@lukemoxham2869]

As a building surveyor, I can't fault your content. Great stuff! Keep it coming.

[@SkillBuilder]

Thanks, will do!

[@felzebub1762]

Thank you Sir, this is very educational 👍

[@Saint696Anger]

Thank you, I was literally staying up worrying 😂👍I've had several cracks appearing this year and it makes sense that it's my draining outside

[@andyman1032]

roger first class on this video you are spot on with your diagnosis im actually doing this on a property now

[@skyhawaii5446]

2 thumbs up on this video. Love the way you explain things in simple terms. Thanks

[@SkillBuilder]

I appreciate that!

[@Augustuss1]

Great video! Really changed my point of view on crack!

[@supareelsmusic9415]

Great vid .. Your knowledge of .. well, just about all aspect of building, is so reassuring .... I built / renewed my kitchen ( all of it ! ) with your input ... I feel your a good mate that comes 'round and say's no don't do that ..take your time an' do it this way ..... BTW my oll' Dad was was indeed a carpenter .. keep helping with these vids

[@davidrussell8689]

Great video . Clear explanation and common sense .

[@davidllewellyn5168]

Absolutely brilliant talk as usual, explains the subject in simple terms for people to understand. Congratulations, wonderful speaker.

[@allantommy139]

The first video I watched from you made me $13,000 regarding rising damp repair, Thankyou Godbless you. 🙏🏻❤❤🙏🏻

[@masilelasino7516]

Excellent explanation

[@RobindeJongh]

Brilliant explanation, Roger 💯.

[@tonylee-UK]

Superb tutorial. Thank you.

[@Improveng1]

Brilliant Roger, thank you sir.

[@Crushwokery]

Cracking vid Roger, thanx for that 😎👍 interesting as always.

[@noneofyourbizness]

loaded with easy to understand info.

[@bonzo9303204406]

Very precious info. You just relived my fear of my house collapsing. I just have to move further the septic tank from the house and make a drainage around the foundations

[@user-tv2sd7eo7m]

Great video. Structural engineer here and I learned a lot.

[@ThePudge1976]

Superb info !

[@MrSTUPIDBRICK]

I work on site as an installation plumber and the amount of cracks I see is alarming. Put's me off my breakfast most days :)

[@profiterdupresent4322]

Fantastic! Thankyou for your explanation.

[@mercyln6646]

I just found and subscribed to your channel Mr Roger Bisby. I'm glad I found this informative channel

[@GK-qc5ry]

Glad I watched this. Some things are best left alone.

[@nickfanthorpe8500]

Fantastic, informative tks roger

[@richardhintonracing]

Superb information as always Roger - is this the best channel on youtube ?

[@redf7209]

Most of the detached garages in my street have cracks in the front end of the sidewalls. A lot of neighbours blame tree roots but they are built on concrete rafts. The problem seems to be that the big garage doorways have steel lintels above them. These expand and contract forcing the side walls out creating the cracks

[@gleff3345]

Might also be due to rust

[@welingkartr416]

Great advice, Sir!

[@David-vy1sf]

Awesome video, thanks. 👍🏻

[@MrRawMonkey]

My 1990 built house, built by Tarmac Homes, was built using calcium silicate bricks with no frogs. When using that type of brick the mortar should contain lime due to heat movements on the sunny side of the home. Most of my housing estate suffers from cracks in the mortar.on the sunny side of the homes. I only found out the reason when matching bricks for a house extension. This was after my next door neighbour went to their insurance company who fitted helifix bars set into the mortar.

[@ajmaloleary3553]

Another great video!

[@hallmanager4911]

Great presentation ! I learned a lot. Thanks

[@happyfrenchbuddha21stsanct74]

At last .. thank you for making it clear!!

[@stephanygates6491]

Excellent!

[@simi2785]

Brilliant video, and very informative.

[@ThinkermanQuindo]

Thanks Roger - you have put my anxieties at rest.

[@tykellerman6384]

Great video your experience is priceless thanks for the education 🤠👍

[@danmcgeough962]

Brilliant explanation