The appearance of cracks on walls causes stress for property owners. How can they be repaired?
Narrow cracks in walls usually appear through shrinkage of the plaster mortar or stress in the walls (mainly found in partition walls). Very often they are surface damage causing the plaster to fall off locally. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to repair them as they are caused by unstable substrate. Filling such a crack gives only a short-term effect. To strengthen the wall, it is recommended to lay wallpaper with fiberglass or to harden the substrate with plasterboard.
If cracks appear on the wall on the exterior facade, they are evidence of moisture in the walls or inadequate ventilation of the building. In this situation, it is necessary to make surface repairs and dry the walls of the building.
About small cracks on the partition walls is not worth worrying. Especially in the situation when they do not enlarge or deepen. To check this, you need to make small squares of plaster on them. If no new cracks appear, then you can proceed to repair the wall.
If the cracks are small, then it is worth enlarging the hole with a knife (remove plaster or gypsum, which falls off on its own under pressure). Then you need to fill the crack with joint compound (you can use a ready-made one). When the smooth dries, it reduces its volume. After it hardens, the gypsum should be sanded with fine sandpaper, dusted off and painted.
If there are large cracks on the wall, you need to check whether this is not a signal of larger problems with the building. That’s why it’s a good idea to ask for an expert opinion from an experienced builder. Before the meeting, it is worth finding the architectural and construction project of the house. Thanks to this expert will have an easier assessment of the situation. If the cracks are not a threat to the inhabitants of the house, then it is worth thinking about repairing them. If they are large or located parallel or diagonally to the ceiling, then the repair alone can prove ineffective.
In the case of large cracks, repair with plaster alone may prove ineffective. Changes in temperature and humidity of the room cause the appearance of new cracks on the renovated wall. To avoid this, make transverse furrows along the entire length of the crack, in which steel rods (reinforced concrete rods with a diameter of 3-6 mm) will be placed. The size and depth of the grooves must be adapted to the size of the crack
For filling the furrows it is worth using plastobrete, because it is a material that is very strong not only in compression, but also in tension
Cracks on the wall by the windows are a symptom of lack of reinforcement of the facade by the windows and doors. This causes cracks at the corners of these openings. The main cause of these cracks is the uneven load and thus settlement of the supporting wall. The load from higher parts of the building is not distributed to the whole window, but to its sides
Cracks are usually one-time in nature. Once they are repaired, they do not reappear. However, if the building is old or the walls are unstable, the problem may reappear.
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