Is this a common fault in Victorian terraces?

[michael]

I live in a south coast seaside town which has a good range of period properties from early timber framed houses to later three story Victorian terraces. The Victorian terraces are all rendered and painted, I think with a mostly original render but the paint is most probably modern masonry paint. One thing I’ve noticed about these Victorian terraces is that a large proportion of them seem to have one common fault, single hairline cracks in the render which run in a crazy pattern down from the edges of the window seal to the top corners of the window reveal below. Is this perhaps a design fault as it’s very common to see? The buildings otherwise all seem quite stable.

 

[michael]

correction :- I think I should have said that the cracks run down from the edge of the window LEDGE and not window SEAL

 

[Penners]

You describe the cracks as having a "crazy pattern". Is this a roughly zig-zag pattern that could be caused by cracked mortar in the brickwork under the render?

Cracks from the corners of windows shouldn't be ignored - they indicate a movement of some kind in the building. If they run down to the lintel of a window below, it's possible this could indicate that the lintel doesn't have sufficient bearing area each side to support it firmly - but that's only one theory of many possible ones.

Have you noticed whether the houses with cracks have had replacement windows fitted? One other possibility is that careless window removal/replacement could have disturbed the brickwork.

The big question with any structural cracking is... when did it happen? If the cracks happened a long time ago and have now stabilised, there may not be too much to be concerned about. If they're recent and/or still active, that could be more worrying.

If you're considering buying one of these houses, I should get professional advice from a structural engineer.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

I live in a south coast seaside town which has a good range of period properties from early timber framed houses to later three story Victorian terraces. The Victorian terraces are all rendered and painted, I think with a mostly original render but the paint is most probably modern masonry paint. One thing I’ve noticed about these Victorian terraces is that a large proportion of them seem to have one common fault, single hairline cracks in the render which run in a crazy pattern down from the edges of the window seal to the top corners of the window reveal below. Is this perhaps a design fault as it’s very common to see? The buildings otherwise all seem quite stable.

Given the geographical location, there is the slight possibility that your house might be built of my all-time favourite building material:

http://www.ihbc.org.uk/context_archive/29/bungaroosh_dir/bungaroosh_s.htm

 

[MdB]

Given the geographical location, there is the slight possibility that your house might be built of my all-time favourite building material:

http://www.ihbc.org.uk/context_archive/29/bungaroosh_dir/bungaroosh_s.htm

Does every area have it own version of dodgy building practise that puts the fear into anyone trying to buy (or sell) a house? In cornwall its is Mundic block which is a type of concrete block made from mining waste. Its generally fine whilst dry but can expand and crumble into dust when wet. Its generally impossible to get a mortgage if mundic block is found.

 

[Penners]

Bungaroosh??

It's not April 1st is it?

 

[michael]

I’m not planning on buying one of these properties, just interested to Know why this is a common failure certainly in this area. I’ve had another look at two examples that I can see from my back window both are three story rendered terraces painted white situated about three properties away from one another. I have seen many other examples elsewhere however. I’m only looking at the back elevations on these two examples. The cracks seem to be in the upper part of the buildings i.e. from the outside edge of the 3rd floor window ledge to the top corner of the second floor window reveal .I’ve also noticed one similar terraced property further down the road where a crack runs from the top corner of the 3rd floor window reveal up to the roof, The cracks are not zig zag as if following the mortar line but more meandering. They do however seem to have a fixed start or finish point namely the junction points at the edges and corners of window ledges and reveals. I have seen instances where these cracks run in parallel to each other from each corner of the window ledge to each upper corner of the window reveal below. The cracks I think are all quite old. As these are quite high terraced houses and people tend to leave it longer than they perhaps should before erecting scaffold to decorate them. In the two examples I was looking at, one has replacement windows and the other seems to have original sashes.
I know about the “bungeroosh” and I’ve actually seen it in houses in Brighton. Wasn’t the bungeroosh more applicable to houses of the Regency period? I’m pretty sure the terraces that I’ve been describing are most certainly Victorian brick behind the render but I will endeavour to find out.