Hi, I bought a victorian terraced house 2 years ago. It has bay windows on both floors. I have recently started stripping the walls and ceiling of woodchip in the bedroom. When I removed the woodchip from the ceiling of the bay window it revealed a crack about 1cm wide down the centre. This crack goes right through to the outside (I had the outside looked at as rain started dripping through) I am having the roof of the bay retorched and the gutter (which is damaged) replaced but am worried now about whether the bay is safe or will it collapse as it is cracked right through the middle. No idea how long the crack has even been there, could well have been there for years. Other concern is the pointing above the window has recently disintegrated and I noticed the window frame mode slightly when closing the window. Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thank you
Are you a tradesperson and able to answer this question?
I would check wether there are jacking kits in the bay pole posts or at least steel plates top and bottom to allow for load bearing. I have seen bays where there has been no support to the window and the head has moved
Alternatively it may be just where the windows have been fitted and settlement has happened
As the previous commenter has indicated, it's likely that it's movement from when windows were replaced - more often than not we find that they are measured undersized with no attention to load bearing, but I would advise you get someone to investigate further, a brick wall specialist will be able to advise if crack stitching bars or possibly wall ties can be fitted to arrest further movement and the repointing should be carried out as a matter of course to restore the structural integrity of the wall and to avoid damp due to the intrusion of water.
First port of call would be your property insurance company,they generally would have or point you in the direction of a structural engineer, any cracking/ movement, even joints opening up in brickwork could possibly be a sign of subsidence. Always better to have a professional look at it.
Answered10 July 2019
0
Anonymous user
It's good answers from previous comments, but u have to take into account how old ur house is, is this happening at ground floor level as well as top. I have seen 500 year old houses built on clat footings still standing strong but it depends on areas and exposure to land as well ..
Could be some thing quite regular in settled of windows being fitted but I offer a free survey if interested.
Kind regards .Matthew
