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Windows & Door fitting

Cracks in mortar since having new windows

Anonymous user 09/03/2024 - 3.09 PM

Hi, I recently had my windows changed from 30 year old wooden ones for new uPVC. I've just noticed cracks running through the mortar from the top of the downstairs lintel to the bottom of the top window. [picture](https://imgur.com/4diV9zq) A builder friend of mine says it's nothing to do with the windows but has been caused by the neighbour's leaking guttering 10metres away, which has eroded my foundation. Sounds far fetched to me and seems more likely to have occurred after my windows went in. There's no cracking beneath the new window anywhere near foundation level. (My. neighbour's gutters have now been cleaned) But, I was hoping for more advice. Does anyone think it's likely a structural problem with a big project to fix it, or do people think it's something more superficial caused by the new windows (as I hope and suspect)? The windows and doors are all supported by decorative lintels which appear to have steel underneath them so the old windows weren't supporting any weight. However, I imagine the action of taking the old windows away caused the fabric of the building to shift/ settle enough to cause a mortar crack. However, my big fear is that the house will be un-mortgageable in the future if surveyors think there's any structural movement evidenced by the mortar cracks.

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5 Answers

Regency conservatory roofs ltd

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Thornton Cleveleys

If there are lintels above the windows then it’s highly unlikely that replacing the windows would cause structural damage to the outside skin of brickwork in a way of a crack.. unless your window fitter measured a bit on the big size In height and had to force the window in...... still unlikely though

Answered17 May 2020

ADR Property Maintenance

Rating: 5 out of 5

Boston

could very well be a structural issue, in older houses the window frames where used as structural support for the brickwork above , unfortunately pvc windows do not have the same strength as wooden frames even although there may be a lintel in place the old window frame could very well have been supporting the lintel as well, your best bet for peace of mind is to get a structural engineer to check the cause if it was caused by eroding of the ground there is a good chance it would be movement from the ground up not in the middle of the building. good luck Alex

Answered17 May 2020

Crittall Window Refurbishments

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Brighton

Hi, the crack in your mortar joints is not a structural subsidence crack, these travel at a 45' angle starting roughly from where the foundation would have split, and growing bigger/wider as it travels higher up the building. Your's is a vertical crack and I suspect you have a cavity tray lintel, judging by the visible weep hole in the photo. My best guess is that your timber window was an original, built in-situ when the house was built, and that the lintel originally sat very slightly above the mortar bed on the window frame. When the old window was removed, the lintel dropped a millimetre or two back onto the wall, and slowly opened the crack above. It's an easy fix by way of re-pointing the cracked area, and helibars, (a wall stitching tie.) can be inserted horizontally into the mortar bed to stitch it together, if needed. With reference to your concerns about the house being un-mortgageable in the future, don't worry, no surveyor would imply that there is any structural subsidence or settlement movement by the mortar cracks, they would suspect what it is, slight lintel movement due to new windows.

Answered27 May 2020

Torquay builders ltd

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Torquay

Without seeing the job it would be hard to say but we have often found that old lintels pre 1950's have been sat on soft crumbly mortar without adequate or suitable packing material and the action of removing the old windows dislidging them allowing slight movement not enough to cause structual worries but sufficient to cause astetically displeasing cracks

Answered24 May 2020

Anonymous user

It's more likely the window fitter has seen the lintel and thought" well the brickwork won't drop and went Gung Ho at taking your windows out..it happens a lot ...

Answered27 May 2020