Hello,
We had all wooden windows replaced over the past 6 years (oldest to most recent). We obviously had some extreme weather recently and it is only this year that we have noticed some cracks around windows in our house. The house was built 1996 on clay soil and is a cavity wall with brick face construction.
The three south facing ground floor windows have different levels of cracking horizontal and on the edges above the window (two layers - one vertical, one horizontal above lintel tray. There are a few hairline cracks below the window. There is nothing visible happening on the south side inside the house. The south window towards west has most cracks (see pictures). This is the most recent window installed two years ago. The patio door next to it has slight cracking in the same area, and that was installed more than 15 years ago. I have a feeling those cracks have been there the whole time.
North side it's the opposite corner of the house where there are some cracks above and below the window. There is a big tree in vicinity, although that has now been considerably cut down. Most rooms have a vertical weakness under the window sill where the plaster boards meet, and this year we noticed under this window and in the room above it the crack a bit more - it was about 1mm as opposed to hairline.
My question is: are these normal thermal expansion cracks or is there anything that we need to worry about/fix urgently? We are in East Anglia and see comparatively little rain.
Many thanks in advance for your advice.
We had all wooden windows replaced over the past 6 years (oldest to most recent). We obviously had some extreme weather recently and it is only this year that we have noticed some cracks around windows in our house. The house was built 1996 on clay soil and is a cavity wall with brick face construction.
The three south facing ground floor windows have different levels of cracking horizontal and on the edges above the window (two layers - one vertical, one horizontal above lintel tray. There are a few hairline cracks below the window. There is nothing visible happening on the south side inside the house. The south window towards west has most cracks (see pictures). This is the most recent window installed two years ago. The patio door next to it has slight cracking in the same area, and that was installed more than 15 years ago. I have a feeling those cracks have been there the whole time.
North side it's the opposite corner of the house where there are some cracks above and below the window. There is a big tree in vicinity, although that has now been considerably cut down. Most rooms have a vertical weakness under the window sill where the plaster boards meet, and this year we noticed under this window and in the room above it the crack a bit more - it was about 1mm as opposed to hairline.
My question is: are these normal thermal expansion cracks or is there anything that we need to worry about/fix urgently? We are in East Anglia and see comparatively little rain.
Many thanks in advance for your advice.
