my house has got many cracks in the walls

[Bday Prang]

41 minutes ago, Pouatchee said:

 

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...

 

 You were wasting your time to be honest,  you should really have used something like this, throughout the original filling process, but nobody ever does here, they just run a tractor over it a few times as they level it out.         even this beast has a compaction depth of only around 250mm when used on clay

The device you used is only suitable for granular fill materials like graded stone or sand and due to its light weight.    it  has an effective compaction depth of about 50mm.

But   It is pretty much  useless for compacting clay type materials  

The pilons (or piles as they are normally called) should have been driven into the ground until they reached the bedrock, they would then be acting as "end bearing piles",if that was not possible due to the depth of the rock they would be acting as "friction" piles"  relying on their contact with the surrounding ground to provide resistance to settlement. This would require a ground investigation survey  and some calculation to establish the required length

                   its not all about settlement when building on clay,    as the clay will swell and contract forever based on its moisture content, in the  dry season it will shrink. in  wet season it will swell.both scenarios will cause cracks to appear   

                    On the bright side,    I seriously doubt your house will ever fall down, but unfortunately  will always be subject to cracking, so you will continually playing catch up.   You could try filling the cracks with a flexible material like silicone which will be less likely to crack again,  filling them or covering them with mortar or fiberglass tape will only ever be temporary 

                    Any permanent remedial work like underpinning would be of limited effectiveness and prohibitively expensive

 

[brianthainess]

1 hour ago, sirineou said:

s 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

Agree but if you do one side of the 'corner' first then when its set, do the other side, that can work.. or just use silicon.

[Bday Prang]

Despite what anyone might tell you, you cannot expect to build a house on 2m of relatively uncompacted clay no matter how long it has been left to stand.  Sand fill would be a different matter as a few rainy seasons would provide a degree of "hydraulic compaction"  if managed correctly.

Anybody considering spending a large sum of money on building a house which will be founded on clay ground would be well advised to take some independent professional advice regarding the foundations, especially if intending to build more than a bungalow.  

If the foundations are under designed problems will inevitably arise in the future,  the average Thai house builder knows little about this and cares even less

[The Theory]

I build my one story raised (1m) house on 9 caps, 60sqm, each cap over 5 piles @ 6 meters each. A year after there are only 2 hair cracks that I know what the reason is (roof steel crown expansion). You need to fill cracks by some flexible paintable fillers, caulk could be a better choice rather than wall patch.  

[Bday Prang]

5 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

Agree but if you do one side of the 'corner' first then when its set, do the other side, that can work.. or just use silicon.

Silicon is the best solution, there are other industrial rubber based compounds available, but they will not be sold at homepro etc and will be expensive.

Flexibility is the way to go, but at the end of the day one is not curing the problem, merely temporarily hiding the symptoms

[Bday Prang]

1 minute ago, The Theory said:

I build my one story raised (1m) house on 9 caps, 60sqm, each cap over 5 piles @ 6 meters each. A year after there are only 2 hair cracks that I know what the reason is (roof steel crown expansion). You need to fill cracks by some flexible paintable fillers, caulk could be a better choice rather than wall patch.  

That sounds like the sort of foundations required,  proved by the lack of cracks you have reported,  some hairline cracks in rendering are always to be expected and occur due to the shrinkage that takes place as the rendering dries

[brianthainess]

1 minute ago, Bday Prang said:

Silicon is the best solution, there are other industrial rubber based compounds available, but they will not be sold at homepro etc and will be expensive.

Flexibility is the way to go, but at the end of the day one is not curing the problem, merely temporarily hiding the symptoms

It's unclear whether its just the render that's cracked or the blocks themselves, a portion of render would need to be removed to see that, say about an inch wide.

[The Theory]

2 hours ago, JimHuaHin said:

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

 

Don't let them to start building before compacting the soil. 

[sirineou]

15 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

Agree but if you do one side of the 'corner' first then when its set, do the other side, that can work.. or just use silicon.

Silicone caulking is good because it is flexible, which is why I suggest the  use of the fiberglass tape, to introduce flexibility to the plaster repair.  The problem with caulking  is that you will still be able to see where the cracks are .  Try one crack and see how well it works after you painted the area.

Make sure to use paintable latex caulking, have a wet kitchen sponge to wash out the excess caulking .

   Does your wall have texture? you might want to introduce a similar texture to the repair.

Perhaps blowing a little bit of  grit or fine sand on the wet caulking if your wall texture is sandy. 

But regardless of the medium you use, make sure to open the cracks a little bit, The  mistakes that many make is that they are afraid to make it worst by opening the cracks (understandably) and the repair does not have an anchor point and eventual falls out. 

[fondue zoo]

On 2/9/2024 at 12:29 PM, 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.

 

Could that apply to a three story walk-up too?

We have a new one a block over, cracks started appearing on every side, some the height of the entire building.

 

 

[BE88]

The crack on the corner of the door indicates that there is a dislocation of the foundations.

 

Fortunately you have built a house with only the ground floor and not with two levels, so the movement of the house is relatively light to cause serious damage to the structure.

 

It closes the cracks and is more of a make-up operation and it is certain that they will reproduce again

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bday Prang]

7 minutes ago, BE88 said:

The crack on the corner of the door indicates that there is a dislocation of the foundations.

 

Fortunately you have built a house with only the ground floor and not with two levels, so the movement of the house is relatively light to cause serious damage to the structure.

 

It closes the cracks and is more of a make-up operation and it is certain that they will reproduce again

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Indeed, the forces generated by distortion due to movement can be considerable, and cracking invariably occurs initially at the weak points, ie corners.   Thats why ships generally employ  round windows (port holes) to avoid this happening.  If movement continues over time cracks will also start to appear at the joints between concrete beams and columns. and where block walls connect to columns too

[Bday Prang]

23 minutes ago, fondue zoo said:

 

Could that apply to a three story walk-up too?

We have a new one a block over, cracks started appearing on every side, some the height of the entire building.

 

 

The higher the building the more likely it is that cracks will appear, due to the principle of leverage, a small movement at ground level is magnified many times due to the lengths of the structural members involved.  I have seen 2 and three storey houses built here on foundations that would be considered inadequate  for a phone box in the west.   Foundations are without doubt the most important part of any structure, get them right and there will be no problems, get them wrong and disaster, or at least major inconvenience  will inevitably ensue. 

                    One saving grace here is the absence of cold weather, if water were to get into a crack and behind the rendering  and then freeze due to frost o whole new world of hassle would be waiting

Edited February 10 by Bday Prang

[bunnydrops]

3 hours ago, Dante99 said:

Very unusual event.  Did you figure out the cause?

More common than you think. It happened during a cold spell. My guess is that the tile expanded faster than the concrete it was attached to due to it being warmer inside. Once a weak spot was found, the tile began shattering and peeling from the concrete. Quite a mess.

Edited February 10 by bunnydrops
addition

[Ben Zioner]

2 hours ago, Pouatchee said:

The worst crack is next to a beam

Saddly @LennyW is right...

[Bday Prang]

1 hour ago, The Theory said:

Don't let them to start building before compacting the soil. 

The "surveyors" he refers to are only there to mark out the "foot print" of the building ,  It is quite possible and even normal to build on uncompacted land if piles are to be used and the correct design has been calculated,    The filled ground however must be stable enough to support the heavy equipment which is required to install such piles

[WhatMeWorry]

I once bought a waterfront home on an island in Florida. The house was built in the 1950's and had a sea wall in front of the ocean. I noticed some cracking in the walls when I contemplated purchasing it but foolishly assumed that the settling had already occurred. After purchasing the home I had two sixteen foot Anderson maple slider glass doors installed on the ocean side of the home. Three months after installation I could no longer open the doors because of settling. I was devastated. After fifty years, the house was still settling.

[Yellowtail]

It looks to me like none of the walls are load bearing, so I would not be concerned about cracks in the walls, or between the walls and columns and or beams. Cracks in the actual beams and or columns, could be a concern. 

 

Wall filler is fine for holes, but for cracks, I like TOA 302 acrylic sealant for cracks.

อะคริลิกอุดโป๊ว TOA 302 1 กก. สีขาว (homepro.co.th)

 

The sealant is flexible, the putty is not, so when the wall moves, the putty cracks, but the sealant stretches, so the cracks do not come back. 

 

You likely tamped with your tamper, if you tampered with your tamper, it probably would not start. 

[The Theory]

41 minutes ago, WhatMeWorry said:

Three months after installation I could no longer open the doors because of settling. I was devastated. After fifty years, the house was still settling.

I'm afraid that was not called "settling", that was sinking. 

[The Theory]

2 hours ago, Bday Prang said:

Silicon is the best solution,

But not paintable I guess🤔

[Yellowtail]

23 minutes ago, The Theory said:

But not paintable I guess🤔

You can get paintable silicone but it is harder to find.

 

The acrylic sealant is cheaper and works as just well for cracks. 

[Pouatchee]

3 hours ago, Bday Prang said:

You were wasting your time to be honest,  you should really have used something like this, throughout the original filling process, but nobody ever does here, they just run a tractor over it a few times as they level it out. 

 

I bought the machine after i had about a meter of dirt. then i started compacting/tampering. every time i added a load of dirt after that i would then quickly compact before the other load came. when i ordered the rock i compacted it very well. some of the rocks were 10-18 cm in size and the tamper pretty much crushed much of the rock and compacted it into the dirt. I did have one of the big roller compacter (sorry dont remember name of that machine) like the one in your picture but it was not with the teeth like you showed. it was the smooth one. He drove around for about 20 minutes also using the shaking mode. I was lucky because one was working nearby and I tipped him to come over on my land.

 

3 hours ago, Bday Prang said:

you cannot expect to build a house on 2m of relatively uncompacted clay no matter how long it has been left to stand

 

I did not use clay to sill the land. It was the typical dirt that thais use to fill the land. there was a very tiny amount of clay in it but only a few clumps here and there. It has a granular texture and is more like sand than clay.

3 hours ago, sirineou said:

Does your wall have texture? you might want to introduce a similar texture to the repair.

 

Indeed there is a bit of texture... and as I mentioned previously I use one of those tile cutting wheels with a 4 inch grinder and grind about 5mm into the crack widening it a bit. It also give me an idea of the depth of the crack.

 

2 hours ago, BE88 said:

The crack on the corner of the door indicates that there is a dislocation of the foundations.

 

I will have to double check and make sure the crack does not go to the other side of the wall... 😞

1 hour ago, WhatMeWorry said:

Three months after installation I could no longer open the doors because of settling. I was devastated. After fifty years, the house was still settling.

 

damn... poor guy. that really sucks. hope that isn't in the cards for me.

 

1 hour ago, Yellowtail said:

You likely tamped with your tamper, if you tampered with your tamper, it probably would not start. 

 

hahaha good one... sounds like a new tongue twister to me!

[JeffersLos]

The floor tiles popping were likely an issue of too little space between. Thai tilers often only leave 1 mm. 

 

 

Those cracks look like exterior render cracks, the wall likely isn't cracked, only the rendering. The interior crack would be the most concerning.

 

How is drainage? Full guttering into a soakaway 5 meters from the dwelling?

 

Thailand goes through big swings in temperature, which effects the rendering, and wet and dry seasons, which effects the ground and foundations.

 

Make sure your drainage system is well set up for the rainy season.

 

Measure the cracks with a pencil and ruler. Draw a straight 50mm line with the crack around the center point. Document the date and length, You can then go back to measure each line is still exactly 50mm. 

 

Worst case scenario is needing to get the house underpinned. Around 150,000THB for 4 underpins.

 

Make sure the drainage cannot be an issue, fill in the cracks, and monitor and measure over the next few wet and dry seasons. 

 

 

[JeffersLos]

 

You will likely get a crack from the top corner of the window to the column at a 45 degree angle next, and the vertical crack will go from the top to the bottom of the wall. 

 

The size of the cracks aren't concerning at this stage.

[Yellowtail]

I live in a thirty-year-old shop house, with original tile on the fifth floor. About six months ago, two rows of tile popped out, almost front to back. 

 

Not another loose tile in the building. 

[Pouatchee]

55 minutes ago, JeffersLos said:

You will likely get a crack from the top corner of the window to the column at a 45 degree angle next, and the vertical crack will go from the top to the bottom of the wall. 

 

that's not a window, but a door. I will keep an eye out for that. The column with the crack is on the left. At 1.3 m on the right there is another beam with no cracks. The beam with the crack is only cracked on the one side

[Yellowtail]

2 minutes ago, Pouatchee said:

 

that's not a window, but a door. I will keep an eye out for that. The column with the crack is on the left. At 1.3 m on the right there is another beam with no cracks. The beam with the crack is only cracked on the one side

The beam is not cracked. The rendering is cracked. Is it cracked on the opposite side of the wall in the same line? 

[Pouatchee]

1 hour ago, JeffersLos said:

How is drainage? Full guttering into a soakaway 5 meters from the dwelling?

 

I didn't put in any drainage. But when it rains hard, there is no accumulation of water. the worst was behind the house. I drilled hole just under the horizontal support beam and the bricks and put in pvc pipes for the run off. After i installed a gutter at the back of the house there literally is no accumulation of water at all.

[Pouatchee]

3 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

Is it cracked on the opposite side of the wall in the same line? 

 

It seems to be. I filled in the crack maybe 8 months ago and the crack has not shown itself from under the TOA crack filler

[JeffersLos]

2 minutes ago, Pouatchee said:

I didn't put in any drainage. But when it rains hard, there is no accumulation of water.

 

That's because it is accumulating under the ground, where the foundations are. 

 

Put in guttering and a drain to a soakaway 5 meters away from the building before the rainy season. 

 

Prevention is better than cure.