what is this above doorframe?

[andanetr]

Hi, im kind of clueless towards DIY and am trying to sort out my elderly mothers house.

The backdoor has a massive crack running accross the top of the frame. When I knock it, it sounds hollow and like its made out of wood/plasterboard where the crack starts and below it. The rest feels like brick/stone (i.e. above the crack and to the side). The room serves as a utility room and sometimes the tumble dryer extractor fan tube has fallen out leading to a lot of condensation, could this be the cause of the cracks?

She did have a clothes hanger installed so would a joiner maybe have done some work on the inside and that be what the plasterboard feeling stuff is?

Any help would be much appreciated, have included a photo for details. It feels like i could quite easily just pull where the crack is down and break it off, whatever the material is.

 

[foxhole]

Frame has moved causing cracks , not unusual but the window vent on the wall is.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

but the window vent on the wall is.

I thought that was the 'clothes hanger', otherwise known as one of those wall hung wind out washing lines.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

The backdoor has a massive crack running accross the top of the frame. When I knock it, it sounds hollow and like its made out of wood/plasterboard where the crack starts and below it. The rest feels like brick/stone (i.e. above the crack and to the side). The room serves as a utility room and sometimes the tumble dryer extractor fan tube has fallen out leading to a lot of condensation, could this be the cause of the cracks?

I would make a guess, that what ever that plasterboard was fixed to, it wasn't very well fixed. Your solution is to attempt work out what it was fixed to, and improve the fixing. It could be a concrete lintel, in which case you would have drill with SDS and fix with screws and plugs, a steel lintel, which you could detect with a metal detector, then drill and fix with self tappers. Finally, it might be timber, poking a small screwdriver through the plasterboard, you should be able to tell if it's wood - just screw suitable length of screws in, to pull it back into place. Use enough fixings to stabilise it, then open the crack out to a V, then fill.

 

[ree]

OP,
Can you post a photo showing the outside wall above the doorway?

 

[andanetr]

thanks for the answers so far

OP,
Can you post a photo showing the outside wall above the doorway?

yes ive included three. Now im noticing the crack on the outside and there is a protruding material shown in the top left corner of photo 1 which feels like cement or whatever its likely to be - is this anything worry about? there is a shadow on this part of the first picture (the cement like thing in the corner) that makes it look like it could be a crack between it and the wall, but its solid (i cant poke it through etc) Regarding the actual crack in the wall beside this - its been probably about 5 years since a paint and there is a lot of paint peeling so perhaps this crack is just in the paint on the outside but im not sure how to tell or when to consider that its something serious. They gutter above has a water outlet which you can see but is hard to make out in the picture.

 

[ree]

OP,
Thanks for the extra pics. I wouldn't worry about the cracks - perhaps watch and wait 12 months to see if they are progressing?
I dont see any water damage, & the lintel looks level.
Condensation has nothing to do with it.
The inside crack appears to be in plasterboard, & the outside is possibly sand & cement mortar render.
Have any alterations taken place to any loft timbers?
When was the Flag window frame installed?

 

[lloyda]

It's not a vent, it's the remains of a retractable drying line