Best Filler

[Mike88]

One of the walls in my lounge has a vertical hairline crack around 8 foot long. At its widest it is about 3mm wide as a result of my channeling for around 2 ft. I fill it every couple of years but it keeps reappearing. During my last attempt at repairing the crack around 3 years ago I opened up the offending area and filled it. The crack has now come back.

I should add there is no question of subsidence; the outside brickwork shows no sign of cracking and the ground outside is solid. A few years ago a builder who was working on another part of the house also looked at it and said there was nothing structurally wrong. He shrugged his shoulders and said cracks like this always open up. The previous owner even papered over the crack but that eventually showed through.

However, since then better fillers may have come onto the market. Can anyone recommend a decent filler, maybe one that flexes, that will stop this crack appearing?

[richlist]

I have a similar crack in my dining room. I've been told it's due to expansion/ contraction of the wall. Long walls apparently should have an expansion joint to allow for this type of movement......my house wasn't built with one.

My guess is your crack is gonna return every year so cover it or live with it.

[Mike4]

One of the walls in my lounge has a vertical hairline crack around 8 foot long. At its widest it is about 3mm wide as a result of my channeling for around 2 ft. I fill it every couple of years but it keeps reappearing. During my last attempt at repairing the crack around 3 years ago I opened up the offending area and filled it. The crack has now come back.

I should add there is no question of subsidence; the outside brickwork shows no sign of cracking and the ground outside is solid. A few years ago a builder who was working on another part of the house also looked at it and said there was nothing structurally wrong. He shrugged his shoulders and said cracks like this always open up. The previous owner even papered over the crack but that eventually showed through.

However, since then better fillers may have come onto the market. Can anyone recommend a decent filler, maybe one that flexes, that will stop this crack appearing?

Sadly, no they can't.

But if you are up for putting some considerable time and money into it, the problem can probably be concealed. What is this cracking wall built from, exactly?

[Mike88]

One of the walls in my lounge has a vertical hairline crack around 8 foot long. At its widest it is about 3mm wide as a result of my channeling for around 2 ft. I fill it every couple of years but it keeps reappearing. During my last attempt at repairing the crack around 3 years ago I opened up the offending area and filled it. The crack has now come back.

I should add there is no question of subsidence; the outside brickwork shows no sign of cracking and the ground outside is solid. A few years ago a builder who was working on another part of the house also looked at it and said there was nothing structurally wrong. He shrugged his shoulders and said cracks like this always open up. The previous owner even papered over the crack but that eventually showed through.

However, since then better fillers may have come onto the market. Can anyone recommend a decent filler, maybe one that flexes, that will stop this crack appearing?

Sadly, no they can't.

But if you are up for putting some considerable time and money into it, the problem can probably be concealed. What is this cracking wall built from, exactly?

Exterior skin is brick. Internal skin is breeze block covered with plaster. I had hoped a flexible filler could be available but sadly not. The earlier reply indicating there should be an expansion joint could be right as the wall is 30 ft long and 10 ft high.

[AsleepInYorkshire]

One of the walls in my lounge has a vertical hairline crack around 8 foot long. At its widest it is about 3mm wide as a result of my channeling for around 2 ft. I fill it every couple of years but it keeps reappearing. During my last attempt at repairing the crack around 3 years ago I opened up the offending area and filled it. The crack has now come back.

I should add there is no question of subsidence; the outside brickwork shows no sign of cracking and the ground outside is solid. A few years ago a builder who was working on another part of the house also looked at it and said there was nothing structurally wrong. He shrugged his shoulders and said cracks like this always open up. The previous owner even papered over the crack but that eventually showed through.

However, since then better fillers may have come onto the market. Can anyone recommend a decent filler, maybe one that flexes, that will stop this crack appearing?

Are there any pipes or wires underneath the plaster where it is cracking?

AiY

[Mike88]

One of the walls in my lounge has a vertical hairline crack around 8 foot long. At its widest it is about 3mm wide as a result of my channeling for around 2 ft. I fill it every couple of years but it keeps reappearing. During my last attempt at repairing the crack around 3 years ago I opened up the offending area and filled it. The crack has now come back.

I should add there is no question of subsidence; the outside brickwork shows no sign of cracking and the ground outside is solid. A few years ago a builder who was working on another part of the house also looked at it and said there was nothing structurally wrong. He shrugged his shoulders and said cracks like this always open up. The previous owner even papered over the crack but that eventually showed through.

However, since then better fillers may have come onto the market. Can anyone recommend a decent filler, maybe one that flexes, that will stop this crack appearing?

Are there any pipes or wires underneath the plaster where it is cracking?

AiY

No.

[Mike4]

One of the walls in my lounge has a vertical hairline crack around 8 foot long. At its widest it is about 3mm wide as a result of my channeling for around 2 ft. I fill it every couple of years but it keeps reappearing. During my last attempt at repairing the crack around 3 years ago I opened up the offending area and filled it. The crack has now come back.

I should add there is no question of subsidence; the outside brickwork shows no sign of cracking and the ground outside is solid. A few years ago a builder who was working on another part of the house also looked at it and said there was nothing structurally wrong. He shrugged his shoulders and said cracks like this always open up. The previous owner even papered over the crack but that eventually showed through.

However, since then better fillers may have come onto the market. Can anyone recommend a decent filler, maybe one that flexes, that will stop this crack appearing?

Sadly, no they can't.

But if you are up for putting some considerable time and money into it, the problem can probably be concealed. What is this cracking wall built from, exactly?

Exterior skin is brick. Internal skin is breeze block covered with plaster. I had hoped a flexible filler could be available but sadly not. The earlier reply indicating there should be an expansion joint could be right as the wall is 30 ft long and 10 ft high.

Hmmmm that really is a big lump of wall to have no cracks. Are you sure you wouldn't like to put, say, a nice big door where the crack is?

[AsleepInYorkshire]

One of the walls in my lounge has a vertical hairline crack around 8 foot long. At its widest it is about 3mm wide as a result of my channeling for around 2 ft. I fill it every couple of years but it keeps reappearing. During my last attempt at repairing the crack around 3 years ago I opened up the offending area and filled it. The crack has now come back.

I should add there is no question of subsidence; the outside brickwork shows no sign of cracking and the ground outside is solid. A few years ago a builder who was working on another part of the house also looked at it and said there was nothing structurally wrong. He shrugged his shoulders and said cracks like this always open up. The previous owner even papered over the crack but that eventually showed through.

However, since then better fillers may have come onto the market. Can anyone recommend a decent filler, maybe one that flexes, that will stop this crack appearing?

Are there any pipes or wires underneath the plaster where it is cracking?

AiY

No.

Thank you. A vertical crack about 8ft long could be the joint between two plasterboards? If the plasterboard has been secured to the walls with bonding compound and there's not sufficient there may be some flex in the board. Noting that the amount of bonding used is dependant upon the thickness of the plasterboard and the locality of adjacent windows and doors etc. Could also possibly be the scrim tape tape/cloth was not used between boards?

Fine surface filler will probably fill the crack but if the underlying problem isn't sorted it will reappear.

AiY

[stewamax]

I ha a similar problem where a vertical crack would open in plaster every two or three years. The inner wall is breeze block and cutting back the plaster showed nothing untoward. However, the crack was immediately under the place where a RSJ supported a low roof.
I chased out 2cm wide and 0.5 cm deep across the crack for about 20 cm, force-fed epoxy resin into the chase-out track and the surrounding area (and across a block boundary) and inserted a thin piece of steel bar into the chase (I guess I could have used a Helibar). Then replastered.
That was ten years ago and the crack has not reappeared.
I assume that seasonal movements were shifting the blockwork very slightly and the weight of the roof above was amplifying this.

To OP's point, instead of looking for flexible filler to mask the problem, try injecting epoxy resin to prevent it (it is probably stronger than the blockwork!)

[Mike88]

To OP's point, instead of looking for flexible filler to mask the problem, try injecting epoxy resin to prevent it (it is probably stronger than the blockwork!)

Presumably after injecting the epoxy resin a filler will be required?

[Sobraon]

Mike 88, you might consider perhaps Toupret Fibacryl ( tool station stock it). I like the stuff.

[Mike4]

Thinking about this more carefully, a 3mm vertical gap that comes and goes indicates substantial and unusually large movement in a blockwork wall.

As someone else asked, what is the finish on this wall? Plasterboard or plaster? I'm inclined to think 3mm of movement does actually suggest some sort of seasonal structural movement. I think we need to establish whether the inner leaf of the wall itself also has this crack, or whether it is occurring in an applied plasterboard finish only.

[bungeejumper]

I did very well with Sikaflex EBT when I was filling an 8 foot crack in a concrete floor. My particular concern was that the crack might have breached the damp proof layer (if there was ever one there in the first place - there probably wasn't.....), but it handled everything very well, and the damp didn't come back. I'd gouged out the gap to 1 cm or so, so I could get it in very deep. It Went on like mastic, touch dry in a couple of hours, set properly hard in two days.

Warning, it's the stickiest substance you've ever seen. Well, this side of a blanket, anyway. https://www.sealantsandtoolsdirect.co.u ... 26599.html

BJ

[Mike88]

Thinking about this more carefully, a 3mm vertical gap that comes and goes indicates substantial and unusually large movement in a blockwork wall.

As someone else asked, what is the finish on this wall? Plasterboard or plaster? I'm inclined to think 3mm of movement does actually suggest some sort of seasonal structural movement. I think we need to establish whether the inner leaf of the wall itself also has this crack, or whether it is occurring in an applied plasterboard finish only.

The house was built in 1971. It's large - 2600 sq ft. The walls are plastered finish. There is no plasterboard on the walls. As far as I know there is no cracking of the inner wall. I am inclined to agree with the earlier poster that the problem is caused by the absence of an expansion joint in the long wall where the crack appears.

[DrFfybes]

The house was built in 1971. It's large - 2600 sq ft. The walls are plastered finish. There is no plasterboard on the walls. As far as I know there is no cracking of the inner wall. I am inclined to agree with the earlier poster that the problem is caused by the absence of an expansion joint in the long wall where the crack appears.

I might be missing something here, but if there WAS an expansion joint in the inner skin that was then plastered over, wouldnt that cause the crack?

One thing I wouldn't do is use the crack cover paint. If you use it on 'seasonal' cracks them when they close up again you end up with a ridge that you can't sand out.

Paul

[Mike4]

The house was built in 1971. It's large - 2600 sq ft. The walls are plastered finish. There is no plasterboard on the walls. As far as I know there is no cracking of the inner wall. I am inclined to agree with the earlier poster that the problem is caused by the absence of an expansion joint in the long wall where the crack appears.

As you say the wall is solid plastered, I'm inclined to say the inner leaf of the wall MUST be moving. The only way you could get a crack in the plaster without the inner leaf of the wall being cracked too is if the bond between the plaster sheet and the inner leaf of the wall has failed. Your can hear this just by tapping the wall with your knuckles.

If the plaster sheet really is moving but the inner leaf of the wall it is supposedly attached to is not, then you have a bigger problem than a crack to fill.

[Mike88]

The house was built in 1971. It's large - 2600 sq ft. The walls are plastered finish. There is no plasterboard on the walls. As far as I know there is no cracking of the inner wall. I am inclined to agree with the earlier poster that the problem is caused by the absence of an expansion joint in the long wall where the crack appears.

As you say the wall is solid plastered, I'm inclined to say the inner leaf of the wall MUST be moving. The only way you could get a crack in the plaster without the inner leaf of the wall being cracked too is if the bond between the plaster sheet and the inner leaf of the wall has failed. Your can hear this just by tapping the wall with your knuckles.

If the plaster sheet really is moving but the inner leaf of the wall it is supposedly attached to is not, then you have a bigger problem than a crack to fill.

The plaster along the line of the crack is solid. The builder I mentioned in my original post did tap in the area and I've just done it again. It's fine. I have also walked underneath the house and there is no sign of cracking at ground level.

[Mike4]

As you say the wall is solid plastered, I'm inclined to say the inner leaf of the wall MUST be moving. The only way you could get a crack in the plaster without the inner leaf of the wall being cracked too is if the bond between the plaster sheet and the inner leaf of the wall has failed. Your can hear this just by tapping the wall with your knuckles.

If the plaster sheet really is moving but the inner leaf of the wall it is supposedly attached to is not, then you have a bigger problem than a crack to fill.

The plaster along the line of the crack is solid. The builder I mentioned in my original post did tap in the area and I've just done it again. It's fine. I have also walked underneath the house and there is no sign of cracking at ground level.

The plot thickens. Is your house constructed on stilts or something weird which allows you to walks underneath it? Why? Is it near a river or the sea and at risk of flooding? This might explain a lot!

[Mike88]

As you say the wall is solid plastered, I'm inclined to say the inner leaf of the wall MUST be moving. The only way you could get a crack in the plaster without the inner leaf of the wall being cracked too is if the bond between the plaster sheet and the inner leaf of the wall has failed. Your can hear this just by tapping the wall with your knuckles.

If the plaster sheet really is moving but the inner leaf of the wall it is supposedly attached to is not, then you have a bigger problem than a crack to fill.

The plaster along the line of the crack is solid. The builder I mentioned in my original post did tap in the area and I've just done it again. It's fine. I have also walked underneath the house and there is no sign of cracking at ground level.

The plot thickens. Is your house constructed on stilts or something weird which allows you to walks underneath it? Why? Is it near a river or the sea and at risk of flooding? This might explain a lot!

It's overlooking the sea built into the side of a hill. It's not on stilts. The construction is commonplace around here as most houses in sea side resorts in Devon are built on hillsides. meaning the house is higher at the back than the front.

[richlist]

[/quote]

I might be missing something here, but if there WAS an expansion joint in the inner skin that was then plastered over, wouldnt that cause the crack?

Paul[/quote]

The expansion joint isn't usually plastered over for that very reason The expansion gap is filled with flexible mastic and is either positioned at a natural break such as a doorway or dividing wall &/or is capped.