Why are the walls cracking in a brick house. Cracks in a brick house

What to do if a crack is found in the wall of your apartment or house? The first tip is to observe, but do not delay.

Drawing: Polina Vasilyeva

New building

It happens like this: I waited for the delivery of the house, received the keys to a brand new apartment, made repairs. A year has not passed, as expensive wallpaper, chosen with love, “led”: an ugly fold formed on the canvas, the pattern shifted. You decided to re-paste the unfortunate piece and found several cracks in the plaster under the wallpaper. Our advice - don't worry in advance.

The most common cause of such cracks in a new building is natural shrinkage of the soil which can last up to five years. If you remove the finishing layers, you will most likely see that the joints between the slabs have come apart, which is especially typical for prefabricated houses, the walls in which, according to experts, shake all their lives. Therefore, it is recommended not to make major repairs immediately after settling in. A fine mesh of cracks on the walls and ceiling can be remove with putty. To do this, it is necessary to clear the problem area to the slab, wipe and dry the surface well, then apply a primer, and putty the gaps between the joints of the plates, then attach a reinforcing mesh (it will give strength and prevent the walls and ceiling from deforming in the future), and then plaster with using plaster mix.

And what to do if it was found under the wallpaper serious crack? Then you first need to check if it diverges. To do this, a gypsum composition with a palm width is applied across the crack. If nothing happens to the mark within a month, then the crack is stable, it can be repaired in the way already described, having previously expanded and cleaned of construction debris and dust. But if the label is torn, then the crack is increasing. In this situation, it is better not to wait, but to contact management company for getting professional help . However, even in this case, you should not panic, because if the house is put into operation, the probability of really serious violations of construction technologies is extremely small. In any case, a special commission will inspect the object and develop recommendations for the developer on how to eliminate the shortcomings.

So, experts recommend to happy owners of apartments in new buildings to reinforce walls, floor screed, and also provide for expansion joints. Ceiling in new apartment make a stretch, paste over the walls and, most importantly, do not get carried away with expensive finishing materials because the costs may not justify themselves.

old house

Even in a reliable brick building with walls a meter thick, cracks sometimes form. The reasons can be very diverse: a change in the composition of the soil and its deformation, and as a result - a change in the load on the foundation, an increase in the level of groundwater, temperature changes, vibrations, digging pits and building new houses in the neighborhood, improper operation engineering systems and eventually wear and tear. In the latter case, it is necessary to achieve.

Even if the commission does not recognize the house as such, it is obliged to give full permission technical survey at home to determine the cause of what is happening. If the situation is not so serious, small cracks in the internal walls of the premises, provided that they do not diverge, can be repaired quite easily: the damaged area must be cleared, moistened with plenty of water and cement mortar.

However, we emphasize that deep cracks in the walls brick house – it's pretty serious, because most often the reason for such destruction lies in the unsatisfactory condition of the foundation, which has been soaked by groundwater for years, suffered due to pipe breaks and water in the basement. In this case, the house will have to go through a number of serious and expensive measures, including waterproofing the foundation and basements, drainage system, repair of pipelines, strengthening the foundation and eliminating the causes of soil subsidence. Naturally, one cannot do without the help of specialists here.

In prefabricated houses, cracks appear at the joints of the panels, so the seams between the panels must be qualitatively sealed. Previously, they were filled with rubber and cemented in the old fashioned way. Now more modern materials have appeared: polyurethane sealants, polyurethane foam, various mastics. However, it is worth remembering that each such material has its own recommendations and application technology. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you do not do repairs yourself, but entrust the work to the shoulders of professional craftsmen.

Alisa Orlova

A crack can appear on the wall of the house at any time, and the owners of the building immediately wonder how dangerous this phenomenon is. Experts distinguish between two types of cracks - passive and active. And if in the first case the defect in question can be “removed” with your own hands, then in the second you will have to involve professionals in the work. But first you need to understand what factors provoke the appearance of cracks.

Table of contents: - -

Causes of cracks in the house

It is believed that in the first five years after building a house, cracks appear on the walls in 90% of cases - experts call this natural shrinkage, which does not pose any danger. But it also happens - the house has been for many years, it is quite habitable, all structures are regularly repaired, but cracks still appear. What is the reason for this phenomenon?

Firstly, cracks in the house may appear due to violations in the technology of erecting the walls themselves. For example, if the dressing of brickwork was carried out incorrectly.

Secondly, the phenomenon under consideration on the walls of the house may be caused by non-observance of the sequence of construction works. For example, they often carry out communication systems (water supply, sewerage) after the construction of the house - you have to dig the foundation, which negatively affects its quality characteristics.

Thirdly, foundation settlement often occurs - for example, due to compression of the foundation soils or too much pressure on the foundation of the house. This is possible if the construction of the foundation was carried out without preliminary calculations and design. Most Common Mistakes:

during the construction of the foundation, geodetic surveys were not carried out, the nature of the soil was not studied;
the soil resistance taken as a basis was erroneous, greatly overestimated;
geodetic surveys on construction site carried out in the summer - the level of groundwater rise was not calculated;
a mistake was made when choosing the type of foundation - for example, instead of a columnar one, a linear one was laid;
no calculations were made of the depth of the foundation base, its thickness - usually data on past construction sites are taken as the basis for these parameters;
violations of the technology of laying a sand cushion under the foundation - for example, insufficient layer thickness or poor-quality sand compaction.

Note:cracks in an old house can also occur due to structural changes in the building. Often, owners build a subfloor in a foundation that is not intended for this, and the result will be displacement / shrinkage of the foundation base.

When even a small crack is found, the main question arises - is it dangerous? Checking this is quite simple - you need to install a control beacon and observe the "behavior" of the crack for a long time. Professionals put special control beacons - lamellar, which must be registered in supervisory authorities. At home, with an independent solution to the problem, you can use one of the following methods:

stick a strip of paper on the crack indicating the date of installation;
prepare a gypsum mortar and put a strip of it on the crack.

And then it remains only to wait and periodically check the status of the control beacon. It may take several months before any conclusions can be drawn - experts say that it is necessary to control the crack for 8-12 months.

How dangerous it is will be shown by a break in the control beacon - if there is such a phenomenon, then complex technical solutions will need to be applied to fix the problem, if there is no break in the beacon, then you should not worry at all.

Methods for eliminating cracks in the house

Different cracks are eliminated in certain ways - you must first determine the level of the problem.

Note:if the control beacon showed a rapidly expanding crack, then no methods of repairing cracks with your own hands will help - they will only have a short-term effect. Be sure to invite specialists to solve the problem, otherwise the consequences will be the most terrible - the collapse of the wall or the entire structure!

How to fix a crack in the house from the inside

If small cracks are found on the wall inside the house, then fixing them is easy. All you need is a primer and a special putty mesh. You need to act according to the instructions below:

we clean the surface of building materials, finishes - the wall should turn out perfectly clean;
we use a deep penetration primer (with such a marking!) - we cover the entire cleaned surface;
glue the putty mesh on the entire prepared surface;

Note:it is necessary to cover the entire area of damage on the wall with a special mesh - even small sections of cracks should not protrude beyond it.

We apply a small layer of putty on the grid and leave it to dry completely.

Only after the putty layer has completely dried, you can start grouting the surface and gluing wallpaper or other finishing materials.

Elimination of a crack in the house from the outside of the wall

In the event of the appearance of small cracks outside the house, you should proceed according to the same principle as in the above option. Procedure:

the place of the crack is cleaned from plaster or debris;
we apply a layer of deep penetration primer and glue a putty mesh on it;
put putty on. But! In case of repairing a crack on the outer walls, it is advisable to use a special reinforced putty - it is resistant to the negative effects of atmospheric changes.

If the cracks on the outer side of the walls of the house went not only on the plaster, but also extend to brickwork, you will have to put in a lot more effort. And in this case, the algorithm of actions will be as follows:

Note:the metal mesh should cover the entire surface intended for applying a new layer of plaster. Thus, the new plaster will not blur, which will allow you to flawlessly apply finishing materials.

This situation means only one thing - it is urgent to take drastic measures to eliminate such a problem. If you ignore all the recommendations of specialists, limit yourself only to the above repair options, then the result will be the collapse of the whole house. But a beginner can also cope with the work of eliminating such complex active cracks - the main thing is to strictly adhere to the following instructions:

All plaster from the wall at the location of the crack is knocked off - be sure to maintain a distance of 50 cm on each side of the crack.
The crack is cleaned of mortar and dirt - this can be done with a metal spatula.
The cleaned crack is filled with mounting foam.
Fastening metal plates that will tighten the crack, preventing it from spreading further. In doing so, the following points must be taken into account:

the plate must be chosen from a thick, high-quality metal;
to obtain an optimal result, you will need to tighten the crack with at least 3 plates, and if the crack is long, then 4 or 5 metal plates may be needed;
plates are fastened with self-tapping screws, but with the use of dowels.

After applying the fastening metal plates, you can continue to work according to the usual algorithm - priming / fixing the reinforcing mesh / applying new plaster.

But keep in mind that such measures serve as a temporary measure, since without a specific formation it will not be possible to determine the cause of the appearance of active cracks. Most often, in the future, it will be necessary to carry out corrective work on the foundation - it is either strengthened / strengthened, or the walls / roof of the house are raised and the base is completely replaced.

Prevention of cracks in the house

In order not to have to deal with cracks in the house, you should familiarize yourself with the prevention of such a phenomenon.

Firstly, if only a house is being designed, several points must be taken into account.:

conducting geodetic surveys should be mandatory - this will help determine the type of soil, the location of the aquifers, the depth of the groundwater;
even at the stage of drafting the project, it is necessary to provide for the possibility of building a subfloor / cellar under the house - this will entail serious structural changes;
be sure to familiarize yourself with the depth of freezing of the soil - the depth of the foundation will depend on this.

Secondly, when buying an old house, pay attention to the existing walls, invite specialists to assess their condition - often serious problems in the stability / reliability of the entire structure are hidden behind the insignificant size of the cracks. Another point - there should be a blind area around the whole house - this will prevent moisture from entering the foundation, and therefore, will serve as a prevention of its destruction.

“It seemed that an earthquake had begun,” people later admitted. It turned out that at the level of the 4th and 5th floors, the facing brick burst along the entire length of the wall.

Building defect?

This residential building was built in 2009, the base is a monolith, the cladding is brick. According to the townspeople, the outer surface began to crumble a long time ago: smeared cracks are visible throughout the building, several bricks are missing from one of the entrances in the wall.

Our house is not very good,” says local resident Irina Stepanova. - It constantly crackles somewhere, the pipes leak, the seams on the ceiling are flooded from heavy rains. And hearing is impossible! When the emergency happened on May 13, we were at home. They jumped up in fear. We looked out the window, and below people shouted: “Run out quickly, the house has cracked!”

Employees of various services arrived at the scene. They examined the wall and reported that there was no possibility of collapse.

Everyone was allowed to return to their apartments, but we continue to live in fear, - Irina shares her feelings.

The commission made a preliminary conclusion: the facing layer of the brick suffered from a hidden construction defect. Probably, a microcrack was left on the facade. Air accumulated in it, which led to the “shooting off” of the brick lining.

If this version is confirmed, construction company should be punished for poor quality work. True, representatives of the developer do not agree with this version and believe that the residents who made repairs in one of the apartments may be to blame for the collapse.
- Perhaps the fact that there is no expansion joint played a role, - said Alexei Gunin, a representative of the developer company. - Somewhere the overlap came out, and in that place the tension manifested itself. As for the cladding that does not rest on a monolith, an examination was passed on this decision. In the early 2000s, they did this to make it more beautiful. But the method was not very successful, and now it is not used.

Photo: AiF / Artem Kurtov

Save on everything

This is not the first time that facades have collapsed in relatively new skyscrapers. So, a year ago, in a house at 21 Solidarity Avenue, bldg. 3, collapsed part of the wall out facing brick. The reason was the repair work on the 13th floor. Tiles began to crumble in houses No. 2 and 6 along Nepokorennykh Avenue. Employees of the State Construction Supervision Service came to the conclusion that the developer used low-quality materials during construction.

Experts are sure: none of the new buildings is immune from such troubles. The quality lies entirely on the conscience of the developers. The latter, as a rule, save on materials. They use cheap hollow bricks for cladding, the floors are poured with concrete, which begins to crack, the most short-lived sewer and water pipes are bought. As a result, after 5-10 years, residents of new buildings face serious problems. And so it happened on Pulkovo Street.

It happens that cracks appear in brick houses. And such a phenomenon is found not only in old, battered buildings that are over half a century old. Deformations can also form in a completely new, just erected house.

First of all, you should deal with the possible cause that provokes the appearance of a crack. Depending on where in the house there is a discrepancy in the masonry (above the windows, along the front wall or inside), most often an initial conclusion can be made. Problems causing masonry cracking:

Violation of the technology of building a brick house.
Illiterate pouring of the foundation.
Wrong laying.
Violation in the technology of laying the floor.
Shrinkage.
Reinforcement not completed during masonry.

Violation of technology for the construction of a brick house

The main problem leading to destruction may lie in the wrong technology when building a house, or factors that do not initially depend on a person. Such factors may be the soil on which the construction was made or groundwater.

Before starting construction, it is necessary to call in specialists (surveyors and laboratory assistants who determine the composition of the soil on land plot), who will make the necessary measurements to study the land and its suitability for construction, as far as it can support the weight of the house without subsidence. It is the friability of the soil, its heterogeneity, possible voids that can provoke the appearance of a crack in brick wall. Such voids are also sometimes formed due to a change in the direction of groundwater, they wash away the soil under the foundation of the house. Because of this, the entire building can simply tilt or shift, and sometimes even collapse. That is why, when a crack appears in the house, even the smallest one, it is necessary to contact specialists who will study it and help take additional measures.

Illiterate pouring of the foundation

The most common, dangerous and costly, in financial plan, the crack formed
due to improper pouring of the foundation. Shrinkage of the house, when it is deformed or destroyed, often occurs imperceptibly to the eye. And the result is already visible after the fact, when the crack formed. This is not just a thin scattering of small cobwebs that diverge in the masonry. There are very deep and wide gaps, visible even from the inside of the wall. And if their reason lies precisely in the wrong foundation of the entire building, then it will be necessary to carry out activities aimed at strengthening the foundation. This is a very time consuming process that still has to be done.

How to close up a crack that was formed as a result of improper laying of the foundation?

There are two popular methods. The first is that around the whole house, a trench is dug to the entire depth of the foundation (sometimes you have to go even deeper). After that, it is necessary to make a ringing concrete belt. It will strengthen the foundation of the house and protect it from destruction. In the second option, repairs are made using piles, they are installed at a slope, also around the entire perimeter. The piles bear part of the load that the soil puts on the foundation.

Incorrect masonry

A common cause of a crack in the wall of a brick house is improper masonry. During construction, it is important to observe the technology of ligation of bricks, and the bricklayer should not go astray and violate the installation order. Walls in which masonry was done somehow will definitely give cracks. The situation will worsen even more if moisture begins to enter the connector, because in winter, during frosts, the liquid expands.

Violation in the technology of laying the floor

Incorrect overlap is also often the cause of the destruction of the house. This occurs as a result of the load on the load-bearing walls, which occurs unevenly, the center of gravity shifts and the part of the wall on which the pressure is the most begins to sag, giving cracks above the windows and along the top of the walls.

Experienced builders who have seen many such problems have noticed that if the crack is narrower at the base, from below, and wider towards the top, then the reason for its appearance is precisely in the foundation, and expanding towards the bottom will be formed as a result of roof pressure.

Shrinkage

During the first year after construction, the house shrinks naturally. Architects do not recommend carrying out facade and interior work during this period in order to identify the problem in time. After all, if the outer cladding, which needs to be made with special mixtures, also cracks, then siding, wall paneling, various panels that are used to sheathe buildings during insulation or just for the external beauty of the house, will not let you see the destruction in time.

Reinforcement not completed during masonry

It often happens that a crack can occur above or below the windows. This occurs as a result of insufficient reinforcement of the floors above the openings. The reinforcing layer should be present not only in places such as windows or doorways, but also a metal mesh or reinforcement is periodically laid along the entire wall. This measure helps to make the wall monolithic and durable.

How to remove a crack?

There are several ways to repair a wall if it has cracked. Of course, the first step is to identify and eliminate the root cause, but already obvious flaws should be eliminated so that they do not expand. A crack can cause damp walls, fungus and mold can appear on them due to the fact that water gets inside the ceiling. Cracks also contribute to heat leakage from the room and drafts. In the case when the connector is small, it is enough to seal it with cement mortar. But before starting such a procedure, it is necessary to conduct a test that will help determine the dynamics of crack expansion. To do this, you need to attach beacons. These can be paper strips or small cement markings. Their destruction or cracking will indicate that the underlying cause has not been eliminated. If everything is in order, then the repair must be carried out immediately, in order to avoid a deeper discrepancy in the wall.

Before you start repairing, you need to prepare the surface. To do this, it is cleaned of dirt, crumbled brick and mortar are knocked down, and the crack is moistened with water or a primer for better adhesion. So that the putty does not crumble, do not add a lot of sand to it.

Deeper damage can be blown out with mounting foam, after preparing the surface. However, the foam must be isolated from the effects external factors. Temperature fluctuations will lead to weathering, and it will crumble in a few years. After drying, you need to cut the foam to a shallow depth and close it with cement mortar.

Cracks that have a great depth and a strong divergence in breadth should definitely be fixed with metal brackets. Their edges are hammered into the wall, on both sides of the crack to the maximum possible depth. Such a measure helps to tighten the edges of the crack and prevents them from expanding. There are cases when the facade decoration of the walls does not allow for repair work. In this case, I will eliminate the crack from the inside, having previously knocked down the plaster to the very foundation. The bracket is fixed with dowels, they will securely fix the pins in the wall.

If cosmetic repairs do not help ...

If the cause of the crack is still improper masonry, it is best to disassemble it. This should be done on top of the wall. It is necessary to lay new bricks in compliance with all the rules and technologies, observing the sequence and constriction.

Repair work can be done with your own hands, if you have sufficient knowledge and skills, otherwise, it is better to turn to specialists, they will not only identify the true cause of the problem, but also eliminate it as efficiently as possible.

Are you familiar with this type of house? When one more residential building is "inserted" between houses for a long time. It is very convenient for builders: building materials are saved, communications are all at hand. Much less hassle with their connection. But the fact that technical problems may arise that can create a real danger to the people living in these houses, they apparently did not think about this when they made the decision to build.

This is exactly the problem that arose in one of the Togliatti houses located at Tsvetnoy Boulevard 3.

In the photo, the insert house is shown as an example.

But such an example has already been in Togliatti, along Voroshilov street 55, which cracked and the residents of the entrance had to be settled in other housing.

And this is a "new" house with problems Tsvetnoy Boulevard 3. 16th quarter,

Cracks were clearly visible not only in the apartments, but also throughout the entrance.

From the cracks the wind walks

One of the residents says: Three years ago we did repairs, and now you can see for yourself what is left of it. We still have a through gap in the corridor to the neighbors a couple of centimeters wide. We foam it periodically, but it's all useless.

Residents say that it is scary to live in such a house. However, the city authorities from the construction department argue that it is too early to draw conclusions, but it is necessary to make a construction and technical expertise. All this is wonderful, but questions arise: after all, someone gave permission for the construction of this insert, and what is most interesting, permission was given for a 9-story insert, and then the developer company somehow managed to almost double the height of the building. The question arises: on what basis? And if they received a positive statement of the examination, then it is necessary to bring to justice the experts who considered that the increase from 9 to 17 floors does not pose a danger to the neighboring house.

It was said that the residential insert was put into operation on December 31, 2015, that is, under the previous city administration. And the city authorities assure that they will solve the problem. "Maybe," answered the current mayor Sergei Antashev. "My position is to abandon the construction of inserts. Instructions have been given, we are sorting it out. There will be budgetary funds or non-budgetary ones, or we will attract a developer. We are looking for options."

Only after all, how many such "insert" houses in the city. But before you build them you need to calculate a lot. And do not chase short-term savings. After all, it is obvious that they can bring problems and dangerous problems.

The practice of so-called point construction leads to irreparable negative consequences, destruction of load-bearing and enclosing structures of adjacent houses as a result of soil settlement due to the heavy load of facilities under construction.

Do you have such "insert" houses in the city?! Did they have similar problems?