Why Has Your Wall Cracked? and What Can You Do? 

From a retired builder ( Last 30 years in France) of over 60 years...good advise, nicely explained, well done..

I wish I had seen such a thorough explanation of building cracks many years ago.Big thanks.👍

good practical advice Roger. I complained to my father about something in my house's construction and he rightly pointed out it has already lasted 100 years that way

Thanks Roger that was the most comprehensive yet simple explanation of cracks I have ever watched and I now understand the reasons behind the cracks in my brick house alot better and how to deal with them. Cheers Darren in Australia.

Roger, Thank you for the informative & reassuring information. You are absolutely correct as I had a small crack on the side of my 120 year old house & a year or two later it had closed.

Well done! One of the best videos I've watched to convey information about a simple yet frightening subject. My crack doesn't seem problematic to me after viewing this. Thanks.

Brilliant! I’d suspected that this might be the case with my 1916 built house. We’re on clay soil, and certainly over the past couple of summer/winter cycles, it’s definitely moved. I’ll now just fill the crack with a lime mortar to stop water ingress! Thanks for the very informative video.

Great informative video. Cracks in buildings is owners worst nightmare, always best to get expert advice 👍

Very informative video Roger. I see alot of cracks where loadbearing timber windows have been replaced with UPVC [generallly houses built 50s, 60s and 70s] and the cracks and deforming of brickwork above as a consequence. Helifix works well here to create a beam effect to prevent further movement and I have also seen Acrow props used to allow for inclusion of a metal angle to act as a lintel to the external brickwork. It would be good if you could do a video on this problem, as it seems to be in every town and village.

Honestly the most informative video I've watched on this subject, I have 2 besser brick dividing walls in my complex that have identical cracks to what you outline at the start of the video. We are built on floodplain so clay, you have put my mind at ease as these cracks have not changed since approx 2014.

Exactly spot on! My father was a bricklayer /renderer from Yugoslavia. I never believed him that he used to biuld up render to 100mm. I came across a UK renderer and he told me he sacked a bloke because he couldn't render! He told him : you're a skimmer only. Then on site he tells me ; your dad is right mate! Same with those cracks: mortar joints only and it's fine! Top video and tutorial. Cheers from Australia 🙂👍👍👍

Thanks for this video, it was very informative! People do worry when they see cracks in there houses, but understanding that the ground moves depending on the climate conditions may put peoples minds at ease!

Very informative video as usual. Been put off buying houses in the past because of them having cracks but you give a better understanding of this. You have to love the craic.

I dunno about the rest of you but these videos have been so informative. I've learnt so much from them - thank you! Currently have a Crack on my internal breeze block of my outhouse...

That was a good video. I'm a structural engineer and I'm a bit sceptical about structural engineering videos on youtube, because you find people just start pretending to know stuff. But that video was really informative and well explained, and didn't try to make generalised statements about solutions for a very complicated problem!

Your explanations are excellent,I can't get enough about your videos.

Never used them, but Geobear look the dogs bits for subsidence etc. Watch, if you can, the underpinning of a garage - amazing stuff. Thanks Roger, for yet another cracking episode.

Nice description without the scare mongering and other associated crap. The video is appreciated.

Not making matters worse, golden advice!

Brilliant, looked at the problem from both sides, didnt make you panic and very informative. We are also on clay soil and the conservatory looks as though its coming away, however now i think its due to the weather.

Cheers Roger. I've got a 200 year old cottage with a few external cracks which I'm having sorted by a great builder, your advice is seriously welcome as I now know twice as much as I knew yesterday about the various causes. Thanks mate!👍

Brilliant information Roger, I love all your videos, you are very intuitive and easy to watch and understand, thanks Roger.

Brilliant video Roger , so much information and common sense too and also what to avoid ! Great work , keep making 'em , they are gold dust !

Fantastically informative! Great job Roger!

God why cant I find a builder like you rodger!!!

Good explanation about the behaviour of clay. Where I live there is silt, and at some depth into the ground it seems very hard and almost impermeable for water. The original house has been built with 70cm deep concrete foundations, and these reach well into this hard silt. But an add on has been built on foundations only 20-40cm deep, and the foundation has been built very unevenly in width and depth. This foundation didn't reach "under the weather" as we say, and is subject to freezing up and thawing, and also I found that the silt around and under this foundation was very saturated with water, which caused a lot of humidity under the wooden floor causing it to rot. And also small cracks were this add on joins the main building were apparent. So my thought went over and the best solution seemed to me to underpin this foundation to the same depth as that of the main building. 1. to keep water out by bringing the foundation down to a level were water doesn't penetrate easy, and also preventing rodents digging tunnels allowing more water in. 2. To prevent cracks to develop more by bringing balance in the amount of support the parts of the building get by have them resting on the same layer of soil, and at a depth where water ingress and frost play no role in causing movement. I also applied crack stitching, and this holds up very well over the last year since I did it. So Roger, what is your view about imbalance in the construction of foundations and going under the weather? And what role can play a high water table (ours is very deep at 8m)

This advice makes so much sense I can't help smiling throughout or even sniggering! It's just comic how sometimes people act when they don't know anything about a problem and try to address it by just treating the obvious symptoms without recourse to common sense. The fact that a simple act of stupidity can cost someone their house is material for tragi-comedies. The subtle causes that result into houses'/buildings' deterioration without the dwellers' noticing or caring about is food for thought and quite sobering. Nothing lasts for ever but if it was made to last forever, it certainly wasn't built cheap. In the latter case, perhaps it's something worth thinking about before taking an old, soundly made building down (or severely altering it) just because "we don't like it" or "we want something better".

Love your videos - I learn such a lot !!! Thank you for this informed talk on houses and cracks in walls.

Roger, good advise, thanks, good to know people with knowledge & experience like you are willing to share information. I see so many so called experts in videos within my trade & I often have to shake my head..

How do you deal with builders crack? I’ve tried tipping a dash of tea down it but it keeps reappearing.

Thanks Roger Excellent advice I’m just about to have my house repaired by the insurance company..a bit of movement caused by a tree in the road outside. Anyway tree has now gone and house seems stable after two years of monitoring..but I now know how those cracks outside should be repaired. Regards Jim.

I wish you was here when I was doing my building surveying degree in 1990. Very enjoyable and informative 👍

This took me 2 seconds to find and exactly what I wanted. Fantastic 👍👍

Thank you, I was literally staying up worrying 😂👍I've had several cracks appearing this year and it makes sense that it's my draining outside

Your advice was very educational, I learned lots from it, looking forward to more of your videos.👍.

Thank you very much for this video, Roger. Our house is built on clay and your superb explanation has put my mind at ease about the hairline fractures we have.

Actually it was very illuminating and very well explained! Thank you!

I moved into a flipped Edwardian house 20 odd years ago, I think the thud of the multitude of removal men caused a few cracks inside. My neighbour told us before we bought that it had been monitored, but hadn't moved. I'm finally repairing them, but none remaining have moved since. Probably why it was pebble dashed, but no outside movement in that time since. My brother was concerned about the gap of the stair stringer away from the wall. I managed to pull out a newspaper from the filled gap dating back to mid 60s, so not moved for about 60 years. The slag inside the brickwork is a bit of bitch when doing anything structurally, but it's still standing.

Great video Roger. Many thanks 👍👍

Great video Roger, good overview of the biggies. Some other cracks to consider: thermal, moisture, chemical reactions, badly detailed movement joints.

Great info Rodger. Now I need to go and clean out that cement I put in a sizable crack about 3 years ago.

Another excellent explanation video. Thanks Roger

Top man. Love your videos and straight practical explainations to common problems.

Heating expert and cracks, I’m impressed Rodger Shaun

Very precious info. You just relived my fear of my house collapsing. I just have to move further the septic tank from the house and make a drainage around the foundations

roger first class on this video you are spot on with your diagnosis im actually doing this on a property now

Thanks I learnt a lot! Keep going with the videos as they're brilliant.

As a building surveyor, I can't fault your content. Great stuff! Keep it coming.

It's kind of cool that buildings move - we often don't see any cracks but there are tell tale signs. My loft conversion is almost finished. It's going great but I can see that parts of my house have shifted slightly because I have two doors that now need adjustment. They were a little close anyway to be honest but now they stick. No cracks though!

It would have been good to have also had a more directly vertical crack through mortar and brick (i.e. not just mortar) discussed, kind of like as pictured at 0:30 but where the brickwork is overlapping and the cracks gone straight down through the middle of the brick on alternate courses of bricks.

Absolutely fantastic explanation.

Thanks Roger for yet another great video. Your quality content and advice have got me through so many jobs! Thank you 👍

Very professional and informative Roger Thanks for sharing

Brilliant explanation, Roger 💯.

Fantastic video mate, great knowledge of how a building lives and breathes

Great vid .. Your knowledge of .. well, just about all aspect of building, is so reassuring .... I built / renewed my kitchen ( all of it ! ) with your input ... I feel your a good mate that comes 'round and say's no don't do that ..take your time an' do it this way ..... BTW my oll' Dad was was indeed a carpenter .. keep helping with these vids

What a great and informative video. I learned a lot, thank you very much.

Excellent information video as always. Thanks

God bless You! I live in Luxembourg and we have really simillar situations as in Englad - mud, clay and wet . This does help my and ma old house. :)

I said I was going to answer before watching I didn't think you was going into this depth Roger.

Cracking vid Roger, thanx for that 😎👍 interesting as always.

Great video . Clear explanation and common sense .

Thanks for the presentation and all the hard work and dedication you exhibit in each of your videos, I am particularly glad to inform you I have watched this video and I was asked the reason of cracking in walls and I was able to answer and explain the reasons behind it. Thanks once again for your invaluable work in improving construction standards.

Glad I watched this. Some things are best left alone.

Cracking video Roger!

Fascinating thank you for the lesson.

Great video. Structural engineer here and I learned a lot.

Brilliant update 👍🏽

Great summary of the situation thanks

Cracking advice, good video 🤞

Brilliant Roger, thank you sir.

Thank you Sir, this is very educational 👍

Absolutely brilliant talk as usual, explains the subject in simple terms for people to understand. Congratulations, wonderful speaker.

Fantastic! Thankyou for your explanation.

Great explanation Roger.

I just found and subscribed to your channel Mr Roger Bisby. I'm glad I found this informative channel

Thank you Roger! Greetings from Uruguay.

At last .. thank you for making it clear!!

Superb tutorial. Thank you.

2 thumbs up on this video. Love the way you explain things in simple terms. Thanks

Great video your experience is priceless thanks for the education 🤠👍

loaded with easy to understand info.

The first video I watched from you made me $13,000 regarding rising damp repair, Thankyou Godbless you. 🙏🏻❤❤🙏🏻

Superb information as always Roger - is this the best channel on youtube ?

I work on site as an installation plumber and the amount of cracks I see is alarming. Put's me off my breakfast most days :)

So glad you’ve done this video Roger. I have a couple of step cracks in the brickwork on my house. I was going to repair them by putting the helix rods in and repointing but I might not bother now!!

Thank You...great explanations, demonstrations

Great presentation ! I learned a lot. Thanks

absolutely wonderful video.... solves a back of the mind worry.. I will sleep well having watched it. cheers Rog... :)

Brilliant video, and very informative.

Wow! thank you for this video Sir!

Regarding the old wall restraints, my old man told me he saw it done just after the war they put the rods through with the X on the end against the outside wall then heated the bar so it expanded then tighten up the end and as the rod contracted it would pull the wall in repeat as necessary until the wall was where you want

Thank you. It was very informative.

Great video! Really changed my point of view on crack!

Thankyou so much for sharing your knowledge and for this chanel

Superb presentation and very informative - thanks 🙂👍

Brilliant video Roger, it's put me at ease with a couple of internal cracks I have.

wow, i appreciate your expertise and sharing this knowledge with everyone. :)

Thanks for the info! Great video!

Thanks Roger - you have put my anxieties at rest.