I've just noticed a crack in the lintel over the front door. It extends up through the render above, and presumably the brickwork behind that. No idea how long it's been there for - don't often use the front door and it's dark for most of the day now so won't often see it anyway. I would guess it's been there/visible for less than 6 months, but not certain.
It's a 1900 end terrace bungalow with, I think, cavity walls on that front external aspect. All of the houses around here have the same lintel design/layout around the doors and windows, and almost all of them have fine 45 degree cracks radiating outwards/upwards through the lintels from the upper corners of windows and door frames. I've not noticed a vertical crack through the lintel like this on other houses, so a little bit concerned, especially as it's going up through the wall.
We get a lot of vibration from double decker buses outside on a rough road surface, enough to make some light fittings slightly shake, and you can feel it through your backside sitting on a wooden chair on a solid floor, but this would presumably effect more than just this house.
I'm not panicking yet as upon closer inspection there a couple of other are places further along the same wall where small vertical cracks through the render (immediately below the gutter) have occurred before and been painted over by previous owners in not quite matching paint, and they've not broken throught the paint again. However, they're not above a lintel...
This one does also look like it's been repainted on the render similar to the other areas I just mentioned, but it's broken through that paint again. And the lintel.
What should I do? Does is it need immediate attention and panic? On-going monitoring? If work needs doing, what would it involve and any estimates of how much it would cost? I'm assuming removing damaged render, remove lintel, make good the brickwork, new lintel, replace render. Would that sound about right?
It's a 1900 end terrace bungalow with, I think, cavity walls on that front external aspect. All of the houses around here have the same lintel design/layout around the doors and windows, and almost all of them have fine 45 degree cracks radiating outwards/upwards through the lintels from the upper corners of windows and door frames. I've not noticed a vertical crack through the lintel like this on other houses, so a little bit concerned, especially as it's going up through the wall.
We get a lot of vibration from double decker buses outside on a rough road surface, enough to make some light fittings slightly shake, and you can feel it through your backside sitting on a wooden chair on a solid floor, but this would presumably effect more than just this house.
I'm not panicking yet as upon closer inspection there a couple of other are places further along the same wall where small vertical cracks through the render (immediately below the gutter) have occurred before and been painted over by previous owners in not quite matching paint, and they've not broken throught the paint again. However, they're not above a lintel...
This one does also look like it's been repainted on the render similar to the other areas I just mentioned, but it's broken through that paint again. And the lintel.
What should I do? Does is it need immediate attention and panic? On-going monitoring? If work needs doing, what would it involve and any estimates of how much it would cost? I'm assuming removing damaged render, remove lintel, make good the brickwork, new lintel, replace render. Would that sound about right?
