my house has got many cracks in the walls

[Pouatchee]

first... i am surprised i cant find a DIY sub forum here...

my house was finished building a year ago. it is built on landfill and in some areas the landfill is as high as 2 metres. we filled the land over 4-5 years ago and let the weather do its thing before building. we have about 27 pilons as support. the house is 1 story 10x12 m. i did expect some cracking because i know the house has to settle.

1st... prolly could google, but offhand does anyone know bout how long i can expect the house to settle?

 

2nd... i bought some TOA crack filler... filled some cracks and painted over. the cracks came back. can anyone recommend some good crack filler that will actually work?

-->i am aware that maybe the cracks have come back due to the house not having finished settling.

 

the TOA and other brands are a lot like the stuff used on gypsum

 

any insight or helpful advice is welcomed

[CharlieH]

Its part of Real Estate forum, MOVED to DIY

[CharlieH]

This is the stuff I found to be the best, beat anything else hands down.

 

 

Bought it in Thaiwatsadu but probably available easily elsewhere

[soi3eddie]

Hairline cracks or gaping canyons? Settlement to be expected but depends on the degree.

 

[KhunLA]

Remember selling first house, which had 2 major add ons year or so after original build.  So did have slight cracks were they met.   Buyer came with his 'builder' to do inspection before buying.   Said "very good build, very few cracks" .. that gave me a chuckle. House about 8 yrs old then.

 

2nd build, different builder, no cracks after 10+ yrs.

 

Cracks after only 1 year, not good.  Next time use a different builder.

Edited February 9 by KhunLA

[LennyW]

Depends how the house was built as well.

Being a single story many builders dont put a top concrete beam on the posts, they just use the roof metal welded to the post rebar. The roof expands and contracts every day pushing the posts out - cracking will never be resolved.

[Crossy]

How big are these cracks and are they just in the non-structural walls or ...

 

Are your foundations driven-piles or concrete pads, if pads did the builder excavate down to undisturbed soil (below your fill).

 

Photos of the house and detail of the cracking would be useful.

 

[freeworld]

Are the cracks in the structural framework or in the non structural areas such as fill in masonry.

 

Structures on piles usually settle during the construction of the superstucture where most of the small settlement takes place. After the house is built there may be some evenly distributed settlement but very small over time but nothing that should cause big cracks.

 

What are the ground conditions and how deep are the piles (were they driven or cast insitu) is there a below ground water table rising and falling causing expansion and contraction of the soil?

 

Is the house supported on the structural elements ie. piles then on pad foundations with tie beams and the floor slab supported off those ground beams?

 

You need to determine the cause of the cracking and then it can be determined how they can be treated.

 

 

Edited February 9 by freeworld

[Muhendis]

My house, which is 2 stories, has no cracks. Pillar slabs depth of 2m. Landfill depth of 1m with 2 year settlement time.

Then I added the carport.

Cracks appeared, as anticipated,  between main house and carport due to different settlement rates.

I made sure the two weren't bonded together to allow for this movement.

Resulting cracks are entirely superficial and not a problem.

Stopping the water seeping between the house and carport was a bit of a challenge but all's well now.

Edited February 9 by Muhendis

[Dante99]

3 hours ago, LennyW said:

Being a single story many builders dont put a top concrete beam on the posts, they just use the roof metal welded to the post rebar. The roof expands and contracts every day pushing the posts out - cracking will never be resolved.

I have a couple of builds without top concrete beam but with a horizontal steel connecting all external posts.  The steel is where the concrete beam would be.  No problems with cracking.  15 and 20 years old now.

 

The amount of expansion and contraction is dependent on a number of factors.

[Pouatchee]

i will look on my computer where i uploaded the build photos and try yo post them here... thanks so far guys, mnay good questions i will try to answer

[Expat68]

I am not an expert on this but I have talked to my friends. Depends on how wide the cracks are wide or hairline in regards whether it is serious or not. It can take 12 years for house to completely settle 

[The Old Bull]

Any floor cracking?

[JimHuaHin]

Slightly off top.

 

There is a 23 rai block of sloping undulating land behind my house, with about a 3-metre drop from the highest to lowest point.  5 months ago trucks started arriving to deliver soil to fill in and level the block - a process that took 3 months.  There was no effort to compress the soil, just level the land.  This week surveyors arrived.  I had a brief chat with one of the "bosses" (he seemed to be running the show); construction work to begin before the end of this month.

 

TIT

 

[bunnydrops]

1 hour ago, The Old Bull said:

Any floor cracking?

Took 12 years before I saw any cracks in my exterior walls, and they were very small--- then my tile livingroom floor exploded. Sounded like a bomb. The center of the floor raised a good 10 inches.

[yankyoakum]

There was a group/forum "Cool Thai House" that had a whole lot of posts on about everything on construction and building.. Found a lot of really good info there about anything to do with building, electrical, plumbing etc...

[Dante99]

11 minutes ago, bunnydrops said:

Took 12 years before I saw any cracks in my exterior walls, and they were very small--- then my tile livingroom floor exploded. Sounded like a bomb. The center of the floor raised a good 10 inches.

Very unusual event.  Did you figure out the cause?

[sirineou]

Insufficient information .Post a picture of the cracks, 

There could be many reasons why you have cracks and some of them are normal. 

The type of cracks would indicate the remedy . 

Cracks could be caused by settlement cracks, render cracks, cracks caused by the channels cut in your wall to run the electric. 

For long  cracks not to come back you need to tape them with a fiberglass mesh tape. 

in some of my walls I had straight line hairline cracks . I  noticed that they were at the same level as my electric outlets .  I first opened the crack (you have to do that, ) then I taped the crack, and then plastered.

5 years later the cracks did not come back

 

 

Edited February 10 by sirineou

[bbko]

Building on top of a landfill? You're screwed.

[Pouatchee]

photos

-- hard to see in picture 2, but we have footings on all of the pilons

-- pic 4 is of the retaining wall made using nano bricks which were then filled in with concrete and rods of rebar were put into them

-- we used 15 cm light bricks for most of the house, the traditional red bricks were used for the bathroom areas... don't know why. apparently has to do with humidity

-- we used sheet metal 1.5 inches with foam insulation for the roof. we chose the model that had metal on top and on the bottom

-- the interior walls were constructed with traditional red bricks

-- horizontal beams were laid at about 1.8 meters

 

For the roof structure I chose the regular steel, I am not sure if it is 1.2 or 1.5mm. 

 

I would say that most of the cracks are about .5mm, but a few are about 1mm... I didn't measure yet. It is hard to say if the cracks are deep or not. I took a tile grinding wheel and ground in some spots then put TOA crack filler in hoping it would work. I also used a drill bit and drilled at the beginning and end of the cracks in order to try to stop the cracks from expanding like it is done on plastic and car dashes. that seems to have helped. I think everything was done the right way. we used all the best materials we could afford. it is a small house 10 x12 so I don't think the weight is a very big factor. 

 

@The Old Bull I can't see any floor cracking the tiles seem intact. There is a bit of grout in one particular line of tiles that seems to have vanished...

 

I will keep reading your posts and I appreciate your advice. 

 

Edited February 10 by Pouatchee

[sirineou]

1 minute ago, bbko said:

Building on top of a landfill? You're screwed.

I don't think he meant landfill, but rather adding dirt to elevate the lot. 5 years is plenty of time for it to settle

[Pouatchee]

The worst crack is next to a beam

Picture 6

[Pouatchee]

12 minutes ago, sirineou said:

I don't think he meant landfill, but rather adding dirt to elevate the lot. 5 years is plenty of time for it to settle

 

Thanks, you're correct. First we added the typical dirt thais add, then we added a layer of rock about 20cm which I tampered with my tamper machine, and finally we added about 5 cm of fine rock.

The dirt has been there for about 5 years. I tampered (tried to compress it) with my tamper whenever I could. After rain so that it would help compress...

 

[sirineou]

8 minutes ago, Pouatchee said:

The worst crack is next to a beam

Picture 6

 does not look like settlement to, looks like separation,

Open the crack more, and then tape it. 

Unfortunately I have not been able to find the paper tape the sell in the west that you can fold in the middle to create a corner. all they have is that thin tape tat it is difficult to make a corner with 

Use the fiberglas tape I show in the picture (It is self adhesive) and the plaster, 

You will be fine.  Good luck

[Pouatchee]

Thanks a lot. I appreciate that.

                                                                               

[rwill]

Did you have any warranties from your builder?

 

But anyway general stuff like cracking is usually covered for just the first year.

[charleskerins]

On 2/9/2024 at 9:29 AM, LennyW said:

Depends how the house was built as well.

Being a single story many builders dont put a top concrete beam on the posts, they just use the roof metal welded to the post rebar. The roof expands and contracts every day pushing the posts out - cracking will never be resolved.

top concrete beam?   horizontal    please elaborate curious       used to  36" depth 8 inches of concrete then 4 courses of block then pressure treated joists     I realize it is much different here 

[sirineou]

53 minutes ago, Pouatchee said:

First we added the typical dirt thais add, then we added a layer of rock about 20cm which I tampered with my tamper machine, and finally we added about 5 cm of fine rock.

which is more than anyone would do. You did the right thing. 

[seajae]

around the top of internal walls where they meet the grprock/dry wall ceilings you will generally get cracks appear because the plaster mix they use to fill the gap between the wall and ceiling dries  hard so will naturally crack with heat expansion. Also as most of the ones that do the filling overlap down the wall a bit the cracks can be slightly lower than the actual corners in places, using an acrylic filler with these cracks is better as it can expand & contract where the hard plaster cannot, remove this overlap plaster by running  the edge of a blade in the corner all the way along the wall/ceiling join then fill with an acrylic filler.

[sirineou]

Get yourself one of these from lazada. I have also seen then at Home pro.

use the pointy back edge to open the cracks. The plaster will flow through the fiberglass tape fil the opened crack and anchor its's better.

 https://www.lazada.co.th/products/-i4417325915-s17648410056.html?from_gmc=1&exlaz=d_1:mm_150050845_51350205_2010350205::12:20836539076!!!!!c!!17648410056!239289034&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAt5euBhB9EiwAdkXWO32SNd8Vx6ZFaSIBYsDNagMGMhD1cUhJW2xPoe3c3s7-bZDYhoOUahoCYqkQAvD_BwE