Help with a reoccurring crack please

Discussion in 'Painters' Talk' started by pj123, Sep 28, 2016.

  1. pj123

    pj123 New Member

    hi everyone,
    Could you offer me some advice please, I keep getting reoccurring cracks above door frames, mainly when we have had a hot summer!
    There no more then a 1/2mm going from corner of the door frame to the ceiling!
    I've dug them out with a screwdriver, and filled but a year or two later there back!
    Any ideas? Would scrim tape be better or would it show up? Whole house was skimmed 11 years ago when I moved in!
    House is 1930's 3 bed so it's old, probably built on clay in north east London so it probably be moving about, other houses on street have the same issue, I can fill and paint it so that it doesn't show but a couple of years later it gradually opens again, any ideas guys?
    Thanks
     
  2. sospan

    sospan Screwfix Select

    Do you have a lot of trees outside your property ?
     
  3. Astramax

    Astramax Super Member

    4" wide wire mesh would be a lot stronger than scim tape.
     
    Last edited: Sep 28, 2016
  4. sospan

    sospan Screwfix Select

    Mesh stronger than a tree ?
     
  5. Astramax

    Astramax Super Member

    Would you prefer I posted in Braille? ;):p
     
  6. sospan

    sospan Screwfix Select

    I tried reading the mesh all I got was a lot of XXXXXXXXXXXX :D
     
  7. Jord86

    Jord86 Screwfix Select

    Is the wallcovering lath and plaster or plasterboard?
     
  8. pj123

    pj123 New Member

    Hi guys, yes a few trees on the road! Think the walls were old plaster but have been skimmed! Happening downstairs and bedroom above which was skimmed to! Ceilings are lath and plaster.
    What is wire mesh?
    Thx for the responses
     
  9. Jord86

    Jord86 Screwfix Select

    Right, cracks above a door usually happen after a while, either due to settlement or what I find more common is people slamming the door over time and it takes its toll. Irrelevant of the cause, skimming over cracks never works long term unless the crack has been properly prepared beforehand. I don't want to be the harbinger of doom but unless you are prepared to take the plaster right back bare and do again, I think you're going to be forever filling I'm afraid. You can try digging a strip of plaster out, applying pva and scrim tape, and filling over that, but I wouldn't guarantee long term. But then, filling every two years ain't so bad......
     
  10. pj123

    pj123 New Member

    Cheers, yeah not to bad just a pain buying different colour paint all the time especially as the Mrs picked paint from Laura bloody Ashley lol
     
  11. Astramax

    Astramax Super Member

    Mesh made from interlocking wire.:rolleyes:
    Buy Dulux Trade paints and cast aside Laura Trashly.:eek:
     
  12. sospan

    sospan Screwfix Select

    The reason the cracks appear in the summer is that with the London soil and climate the tree take out the water from the ground and it shrinks down causing the buildings to move. Come winter there is more moisture around and the trees need less so it swell back up - and the cycle continues.

    You may get away with taking a wide section of plaster out 100mm and cover with lath and then make good. Sometimes you can be lucky that it doesn't crack in the future
     
    tore81 and SWBUILDERS like this.
  13. Back On Site

    Back On Site New Member

    Have you tried filling with two-pack resin filler? For deep cracks I use a two-part filler called Decor Fill which dries solid as a rock. This will last better than polyfilla or tetrion, but as a previous poster said, if the crack is above a door every time that door is closed or slammed it will impact on the walls above.
     
  14. koolpc

    koolpc Super Member

    I heard that polyfilla is not all whats its cracked up to be!
     
  15. Astramax

    Astramax Super Member

    Is that why you post on here asking for advice!
     
  16. koolpc

    koolpc Super Member

    Cracking joke that astrafax
     
  17. Astramax

    Astramax Super Member

    That's good, you must be the reoccurring crack! ;):p
     
  18. koolpc

    koolpc Super Member

    You follow me around like a bad smell astrafax! lol o_O
     
  19. Astramax

    Astramax Super Member

    Yeah, bet you love all that free advice Buddy Boy!
     
  20. koolpc

    koolpc Super Member

    Awesome. Pity your advice is not always that good old buddy astrafax! :p:p:cool:
     

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