First Post....Need advice Please

[samwileman]

Evening all, might sound a little long winded but I need some advice.

I live in a council house and have started decorating (sp?) above the door way (non supporting upstairs wall) House is about 60yrs old, brick dividing walls, not plaster board.
I have some serious cracks both side of the door frame both in the bedroom and out, from the frame up to the celing about 5ml in width the door wont close in the frame, . My dad came round to look, says there is no lintil above the door and the cracks and door frame has bowed due to the weight because of this.

Council are coming to re-plaster seems the plaster fell off the walls with the wall paper. but I am concerned about the lintil. does the fact that it has no lintil against building Regs??? Can they just fill and plaster it and this be legal??


I have included some pictures

Thank you

Untitled

• samwileman
• 19 Jul 2011
• 1

Untitled

• samwileman
• 19 Jul 2011
• 1

Untitled

• samwileman
• 19 Jul 2011
• 1

 

[brk1]

It's not uncommon for houses this age not to have lintels as you describe them, what you'll probably find is they do have lintels but they are made of timber, they used to be above windows and all sorts in those days,as you said it's not a load bearing wall, unfortunately timber has natural movement and could be what's causing those cracks, sometimes repair is made by knocking off the offending plaster above the door frame and fixing EML (Expanding metal lath) right over the affected area then re-plastering that area again, going past the timber lintel either side to mask the crack point, got them all round my house but only had to lath one of them to date. Yours must be pretty loose to cause door problems though you'll probably find all the bricks above the door frame are now loose as well, that's why the door frame has dropped a bit.Your might not be the case though, the cracks are right at the door frame edges, if there are no timber lintels you had some right cowboys in your house, but you have to think. it's stood the test for 60 years, maybe you have the really thick door frame heads and you don't have lintels, with a new house they only guarantee them for 25 years or only 10 in some cases, sure we used to refer to the NHBC inspector as "10 year Ted"

 

[foxhole]

Looks like minor cracking, did the door ever fit the frame? a worn out or loose hinge can cause the door to bind.

 

[samwileman]

Thanks for the replys.

I have only been in the house just over a year, but in that time the door has never shut.

I tried to get hold of the councils building inspector today but didnt get very far, just got told the plasterer (sp?) will inspect it tomorrow.

I have always been a little wary of this house, yes its council, but in an really nice and popular estate...makes me wonder whats wrong with it not to have been bought like all the others in the area.

 

[foxhole]

Door may never had fitted, my parents had a council property from new which they eventually bought had a toilet door that never closed completely.They left it like that for over 40 years.