Large cracks around windows- What do you reckon ? ?

[Mandala72]

Hi

I have just been to visit a 1st floor flat which is for sale. The property seems run down but sound in most areas. The only visible issue is a major crack running round one of the double glazed windows which looks pretty bad on first glance. You can see the edge of what appears to be a verticle damp proof course inside the crack running down the crack.



Another window has a similar but smaller crack around it on another wall.

It looks like they were poorly fitted, but the bad crack is about finger width and runs along the side of the window and up around the top and down the other side (thinner that side).

Could this be an indicator of a much more serious problem.?
I can see no other cracks in the wall around the window internally or externally.

 

[Mw Roofline]

Wow, thats some crack! Can u take a picture of the outside showing the whole window?

 

[Mandala72]

Mr Roofline,
the outside has been rendered about a year ago i think, and there are no visible cracks from the outside.

The flat is diectly above a shop, which had work done on it last year, where new steel supports were fitted. I wonder if it is this work which has disturbed the window fitting?

 

[Mw Roofline]

Mr Roofline,
the outside has been rendered about a year ago i think, and there are no visible cracks from the outside.

The flat is diectly above a shop, which had work done on it last year, where new steel supports were fitted. I wonder if it is this work which has disturbed the window fitting?

Possibly. Its got to be re-plastered anyway so may be worth removing the plaster and seeing what the bricks are saying underneath. I don't know much about structural stuff though, sorry.

 

[ajstoneservices]

Could be from the previous work or too few wall ties but it's hard to tell from the one photo.

 

[r896neo]

The crack over the top of the reveal is a lot more worrying, The sides could be explained by badly returned reveals or some sort of faulty cavity closer but that certainly would not explain the crack above!

Is there any cracking above the window?

 

[Mandala72]

r896neo

No visible cracks anywhere else around the window

 

[r896neo]

I would say your options are to call out a structural surveyor or hack off the plaster all around the window reveals to see what is going on.

You of course will probably have to get someone in to look at it anyway if you hack the plaster off first but who knows? Maybe Shytalks will weigh in with his engineers spectacles.

 

[crank39]

I would say seeing as its to 3 sides its possibly where the fitters of the pvc window plastered up the damaged stuff and it hasn't bonded to the exsisting and shrunk to boot

 

[squowse]

i would be suspicious of them having rendered the outside after the structural work. is is normal for a few hairline cracks to appear after removing walls / installing support beams. but any crack resulting from this kind of work should be monitored over time (months/years) to see if is widening (actually what is important is whether the rate of widening is increasing or decreasing).
what can anyone tell you about the history of the crack? is the flat owned by the same owner who did the work downstairs? if so you might not get a straight answer.
you could ask to see building control certificates / engineer's design for the work downstairs, and their reaction to the request could give you a feel for their trustworthiness and how much they care about doing the work right.

short answer - unless you can be sure that this crack has nothing to do with the work, or that it has at least settled down, i would steer well clear. house purchase law starts with the phrase "caveat emptor" = "buyer beware".