Timber Framed Cottage - Multiple Cracks throughout.

[scoobycrew2004]

Hi all, I have been following this site for a while but this is my first post so please bear with me

First, a bit of background. We bought a property in Essex back in February this year. The original cottage is a circa 1900 timber (pine) frame (unlisted). The property is bit of a patchwork quilt with multiple additions bolted on over the years, some of which are timber and some brick, none, however, are particularly well done but it was solid (according to the survey at least).The biggest issue that was highlighted during the survey was that the original timber frame had been entirely clad in concrete render on top of laths - which we all know , is bit of a no no. We took some advice at the time of purchase and understood that this issue would need to rectified in the short term and we took the plunge happy to take on a project.

Following 8 months of design, planning and research we are now ready to move forward with the works which, besides a double story side extension (modern brick built), also includes stripping back that concrete render, repairing any frame damage beneath, insulating with sheeps wool, then reboarding with Savolit board. Finally two coats of lime render (1 warmcote and 1 limecote).
On the inside there are some minor alterations in the old cottage but to be honest we wanted to leave that for time being - mainly to ease the pain on our wallet - but also because it actually does look presentable, even though the previous occupants did decide to use modern materials (plasterboard and render).

Now to get to the point. We have hairline cracks appearing everywhere. There was one or two here and there when we first moved in which were identified as being movement of the frame but now there are long cracks of some sort on every wall and ceiling in the old cottage, some of which run the entire length of the room. Again these are thin - no more than 1mm.width but there are so many of them it's causing us some concern. It seems that they have sprang up in a matter of a month or two.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this. If it is genuinely movement of the frame then that is one thing but given that these have sprang up in such a short time my concern is that there is some sort of structural failure at play.

Any feedback is appreciated.

Thx

 

[Cherryburn]

Pictures might help. Are we just talking about cracks you can see internally, or do they continue outside as well? If we're talking about a recently plasterboarded internal finish, then it's possible that it's related to seasonal expansion. Gypsum plaster isn't very flexible and doesn't deal with movement well, and can develop straight cracks which follow the edges of the plasterboard.

 

[Zebra]

Was the house left unoccupied and unheated for a while before you moved in? Are the internal finishes quite recently applied? Both of those factors could suggest reasons for expansion or contraction movement.
It could be more serious though, and if it were me, I would want to know. I would suggest perhaps revisiting your decision not to touch any of the internals in the short term, and perhaps choose an unobtrusive area where you could pull the internal render off and have a look at the frame. If it does reveal frame repairs that need to happen, that should probably go quite high on your list of priorities.
Removing internal wall finishes shouldn't be expensive. You can DIY it as these surface finishes aren't structural (or they shouldn't be!)
Here I had cement render inside and out, and there was extensive localised damage to the frame. It wasn't too difficult to repair, new pieces of timber simply had to be patched in, but it all needed to be done in the right sequence.

 

[scoobycrew2004]

Thanks for the responses. @Cherryburn The cracks don't seem to follow the edges of the plasterboard at all to be honest. They run in all directions and meander all over the place. I have attached a few pics (you might need to zoom in to see).

@Zebra The person we bought the house from only lived there from time to time, so yes it did spent periods of time unused but I believe it was left with low level heating on for most of the time. From what I know about the property I would say that the internal refurb was done in 2017 ish, so fairly recent. Nonetheless the cracks weren't there (or at least not in such numbers) when we moved in, they seemed to have sprung up with the return to winter.

To your point about stripping back the internal. So I was hoping to undertake this from the outside, so when the external concrete comes off (in small sections), investigate the frame and reclad (Savolit) as we go along. In your experience, would you advise against this? Is there any particular reason for not doing it in this way?

Many thanks for all your feedback.