Not always. Hairline cracks in render or plaster are often just shrinkage. The ones worth getting looked at are cracks wider than a coin's edge, cracks that run diagonally from the corners of doors and windows, stepped cracks through the mortar, and anything that's getting bigger. If you're not sure, a photo is a good start.
The usual suspects are ground movement, a lintel that's started to fail, corroded wall ties, leaking drains washing out the ground, and water getting into the wall and freezing. Each one needs a different repair, which is why we work out the cause first.
Filling a structural crack with mortar or sealant hides it for a while, then it opens again. A proper repair ties the masonry back together, typically by bonding stainless steel bars into the bed joints across the crack, then repointing to match so it doesn't show.
That's spalling. Water has reached the steel inside the concrete, the steel has rusted and swollen, and it's pushing the surface off. The fix is to cut back to sound concrete, clean and treat the steel, then rebuild the section with a repair mortar.
Look above your doors and windows. Cracks running up from the corners, a dip in the brickwork, or a window or door that's started sticking are the common signs. Older concrete and timber lintels are the ones that tend to go.
Wall ties hold the two leaves of a cavity wall together. Older steel ties rust over time, and as they rust they can expand and crack the mortar joints, or stop holding the outer leaf at all. Horizontal cracks every few courses are the giveaway.
For a lot of repairs, no. Where movement may still be happening, where a mortgage lender or insurer asks for a report, or where a larger repair needs designing, an engineer's input comes first. We'll tell you which situation you're in.
We're based in Carlisle and work across Cumbria, including Penrith, Workington, Whitehaven, Cockermouth, Maryport, Kendal, Ulverston and Barrow-in-Furness.
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