Hiya. Female seeking some advice.

[Okeroa]

After reading all the posts and rereading the reports from the architect and engineer and reading the fully itemised quote from the plasterer I am going to see if I can find a experienced builder to advise.

In reply to pjt - solid plaster on brick wall. It looks to me like the sparky groove cut into the blocks and then it was plastered over.

I have gone round the house and counted the cracks. Either side of the light switches are cracks. Total cracks running up from light switches are five presenting cracks on both sides of wall exactly where conduit would be running up wall from wood architraving to ceiling.

Two other cracks are a. below a window and another is where I have taken an image which shows the crack seems to be popping out as opposed to crack line. And the popping out crack is also on other side of light switch however as stated earlier it was thought by architect to have a full water tank in exactly same spot in roof space making load to heavy however tank is empty.

The engineer says the the house in is a clay area. The report also says the ground floor of the house is elevated by 5-6 courses (500mm approx) above the ground level. This is a typical construction of the Guildford area.

The plasterer advised that where there is some the cracking in the cornice (two) in the same region of the popping out in the family room is possibly due to a need to jack up ceiling & strutt underside hard up on to timber and restrap inside of ceiling with fiberglass strands.

The engineer advised to a. cut down two trees which are too close to house and ground out stumps - done and paid for.
b. Get all downpipes to be attached to pipes to run into a pit to be installed. - $8000 done and paid for. Trenches dug up all over yard for pipes, new pit installed and connection then made to newly installed storm water drains by council - just two months before.
c. Provide waterproof membrane around the building sloped away from the house into catch drains. The drains will be be near the footing, a provision of a sub-soil drain 1.2m deep and at 1.2-1.5m away from the house perimeter is also suggested. - Not done as yet.

What I am currently thinking is this. Do not complete c. as advised by engineer. Get plastering work done and have inside ceilings restrapped. Get builder (if I can find one in Perth with the time) to advise if this is all a good course of action.

I guess I am prepared to chance not doing c. as I guess the cracks aren't very bad or deep considering 46 years and trees have been dug out and also water run-off will now go from downpipes to stormwater with the idea of a few tanks to be installed at later stage.

Your thoughts

[Dengue]

I would still open a couple of the cracks to see if the bricks behind are cracked too.

Draw a line across each of the cracks, mark a point on either side of the crack, and measure the distance accurately between the points. Keep a weekly record over the next 12 months to see if there is any movement of the cracks, and have someone sign each reading as it is taken to verify the reading was done at that time. That will show up in summer and in winter if there is movement of the ground.

If there are significant changes, take the results back to the Engineer. It will show that his $8,000 advice did not work.

Then you can make a claim for recovery of costs incurred in following his advice.

[pjt]

Yep, I would have a look at what is going on behind/under the plaster as well, if u can, have a close look at the crack itself, Is it a crack that if brought together would just be a fine line? (just like the china plate you have just dropped then bring the 2 pieces back together and its nearly an invisible line)... indicates a recent occourance.

Are the edges of the crack a little bit rounded? little bits of the inside of the face of the brick break off each time the gap closes (there has to ground movement sufficient to cause the 2 crack faces to come back together with enough force) and moreso especially if one side has dropped which only has to be 1mm...indicates been happening a while.

Is there little bits collecting down the bottom of the crack which then start to act like a wedge which then wont allow the crack to come back together....a bit longer again.

Is it just a mass of cracks with little bits everywhere...run for the hillls nah shouldnt be that bad

This cracking may have been going on for the life of the house and the plaster just patched up every so often (just before the house is sold) it does sound like movement issues, solid masonary tends not to be as flexable as timber so when applied forces are greater than the masonary can withstand it cracks rather than bending, masonary will bend a tiny bit but only a beesdick then crack, so what this means is that being on a reactive soil (clay) the soil swells and heaves and moves as it absorbs/looses water (some soils highly reactive and can move 100mm), ideal is to have a constant soil moisture content under and surrounding the house, this reduces movement and consequently the sort of probs u r having, the advice u have recieved is all aimed at maintaining a constant moisure content in your soil.

Wether u do C, I cant say, but get a few more opinions, can't hurt, do a google type in house cracks or anything similiar something will come up, it's the net......

The restrapping of ceiling is probly an age of the house thing, not helped by movement tho, hard to say without getting up there and having a look.

Hope it all works out.

Pete