Vertical and Horizontal Cracks

[Pikeybkk]

Hi Guys,

I was hoping somebody could help me, we have been out house hunting for a new fixer upper and we came across the house we like. It is in a bad enough condition to get the price down but i have seen some cracks in the upper floor of the house which are of concern as i think they may be structural and warrant a much larger repair project than I really want as it is a load bearing wall.

There is a large vertical crack along with a horizontal crack which runs along the wall ceiling border, I am thinking this could be due to the foundations or a misaligned truss, could someone avise me on if this crack please. Image attached:

Thanks in advance.

[lopburi3]

Are you sure about load bearing wall? Normally they are not used in Thailand where construction is post and beam and walls just fill in the gaps. All walls can be removed and building still supports itself.

[Pikeybkk]

Are you sure about load bearing wall? Normally they are not used in Thailand where construction is post and beam and walls just fill in the gaps. All walls can be removed and building still supports itself.

hi,

Thanks for the reply, I can only assume that it is a load bearing wall as it is the central wall and build out of brick, but I am not a builder. It is an older house , 10 years old. Here is an image from the outside.,

[lopburi3]

Brick walls are normal but in almost all cases are not weight bearing - there will be beams around house about 3 meters or less from each other and also above walls that hold house and weight. Often these will protrude a bit from normal brick wall if single wall construction. But I can not make a judgement as not my field and probably best to have someone with knowledge of local construction check for you (should not cost that much - in view perhaps of them making repairs later).

[Pikeybkk]

Brick walls are normal but in almost all cases are not weight bearing - there will be beams around house about 3 meters or less from each other and also above walls that hold house and weight. Often these will protrude a bit from normal brick wall if single wall construction. But I can not make a judgement as not my field and probably best to have someone with knowledge of local construction check for you (should not cost that much - in view perhaps of them making repairs later).

excelent advice, thanks for your input and i will do so, thanks a lot

[Pib]

I fully expect walls for the house in the picture are "not" load bearing. All houses I've seen built in Thailand use load bearing concrete/rebar poles. All the walls will most likely be brick and constructed/laid after the foundation, poles and second story floor is laid. I expect the cracks are caused by uneven settlement of the foundation...one part is settling faster that the other...kinda like slowing pulling/tearing a piece of paper.

[keeniau96]

As Pib writes, from your photo is looks like typical Thai post and column construction, generally very strong but depends on the foundation base of the vertical columns. There could be settling of individual column foundations, which will be moderated by the horizontal concrete beams but still can have minor vertical movement. The wall partitions are typically single brick and are not load bearing but with light cement coat plastered over the bricks. My house is now about seven years old and no cracks at all but that's because the foundations are on solid granite on hillside, yoours is more typical and may settle a bit over time. Easy to tape over and paint if that is all there is then not much problem. If a new house with such cracks I would reject it.

[Bobotie]

The cracks are shrinkage cracks in the render...not cracks due to structural integrity problems...

Structural cracks would be far wider...

[Thorgal]

To OP : to analyse structural defects/cracks you need :

- interpretation of the full crack : in full length and check visibility from interior/exterior

- interpretation of rendering : thickness, material (plaster, cement,...) and last but not least placement : close to column/beam structure or not

- interpretation of other defects on the same wall, and/or building

- close to abundance of water/humidity which could result in structural weaknesses from inside the house and from soil due to heavy rainfalls.

Please provide additional pictures in order to help you better.

Note : there's no gutter, canopy over your balcony...

Edited January 31, 2016 by Thorgal

[cooked]

People worry about cracks. Don't.

[MaiChai]

From the first photo, looks like a vertical crack where the in filled block wall is cemented to the sow or concrete column used to build the house. As mentioned by other posters, most house construction in Thailand is based on these vertical columns, which have cross beams at the top, typically a steel box section beam, and a concrete beam at the base. Then that square box is filled in with a wall. Typically the concrete column is precast and are dropped inplace. Hence why you get these perfect vertical or horizontal crack lines.

The other way its done is the columns and horizontal beams are made from steel reinforced concrete. Once the basic structure is inplace the walls are then built into the square gaps. Its like building a wire frame (beams/columns); once you have the frame you can paper over the gaps (block walls).

The thing i don't like about Thai construction is you rarely see any lintels above doors or windows or any concrete beams below windows. Over time you may see the tops of doorways sag or cracks from the corners of windows. Hence why we have them in the uk!

Thus the walls are not load bearing and these cracks are probably ok, if a little unsightly!

[sirineou]

Like said by other the house is most likely constructed using the Column a beam method most commonly used in Thailand.

the video below was made for a friend while we were collaborating on a design.It demonstrates the column and beam construction,

This is basic knowledge for Thai construction , and since you dont know it it leads ask the question, what else you dont know?

With that in mind, I would suggest , if you are going to buy a house tht needs work , that you engage the help of some with more experience in the subject.

As you will nitice in the video the columns and beams support the structure, the walls in between are just fillers , The only thing that concerns me about the crack is that it is straight. The bricks are staggered and the crack should be stepped.

if the wall was constructed correctly (not always the case in Thailand) a straight crack would indicate settling of one of the foundation piers. PM me for further explanation if needed.

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