Vertical zigzag cracks on silicate facing bricks. Cracks in the house

A crack may appear on the wall of a house at any moment, and the owners of the building immediately wonder how dangerous this phenomenon is. Experts distinguish between two types of cracks – passive and active. And if in the first case the defect in question can be “removed” with your own hands, then in the second case you will have to involve professionals in the work. But first you need to understand what factors provoke the appearance of cracks.

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Causes of cracks in the house

It is believed that in the first five years after the construction of a house, cracks appear on the walls in 90% of cases - experts call this natural shrinkage, which does not pose any danger. But it also happens that the house is many years old, it is quite lived-in, all structures are regularly repaired, but cracks still appear. What is the reason for this phenomenon?

Firstly, cracks in the house may appear due to violations in the technology of constructing the walls themselves. For example, if the dressing of brickwork was carried out incorrectly.

Secondly, the phenomenon in question on the walls of the house may be caused by non-compliance with the sequence of construction work. For example, communication systems (water supply, sewerage) are often installed after the house has been built - the foundation has to be excavated, which negatively affects its quality characteristics.

Thirdly, settlement of the foundation often occurs - for example, due to compression of the foundation soil or too much pressure from the house on the foundation. This is possible if the construction of the foundation was carried out without preliminary calculations and design. The most common mistakes:

During the construction of the foundation, geodetic surveys were not carried out, the nature of the soil was not studied;
the ground resistance taken as a basis was erroneous and greatly overestimated;
geodetic surveys at the construction site were carried out in the summer - the elevation level was not calculated groundwater;
a mistake was made when choosing the type of foundation - for example, instead of a columnar one, a linear one was laid;
calculations of the depth of the foundation and its thickness were not made - usually data from past construction projects are taken as the basis for these parameters;
violations of the technology for laying a sand cushion under the foundation - for example, insufficient layer thickness or poor-quality sand compaction.

Note:cracks in the house old building may also arise due to structural changes in the building. Often, owners install a subfloor in a foundation that is not intended for this purpose, and the result will be displacement/shrinkage of the foundation base.

When even a small crack is detected, the main question arises: is it dangerous? Checking this is quite simple - you need to install a control beacon and observe the “behavior” of the crack long time. Professionals install special control beacons such as plate ones, which must be registered with the supervisory authorities. At home, with independent decision problems, you can use one of the following methods:

stick a strip of paper onto the crack indicating the installation date;
prepare a gypsum solution and place a strip of it on the crack.

And then all that remains is to wait and periodically check the status of the control beacon. It may take several months before any conclusions can be drawn - experts say that the crack needs to be monitored for 8-12 months.

How dangerous it is will be shown by a break in the control beacon - if there is such a phenomenon, then you will need to use complex technical solutions to eliminate the problem, if there is no break in the beacon, then you should not worry at all.

Methods for eliminating cracks in the house

Different cracks can be fixed in certain ways - you must first determine the level of the problem.

Note:if the control beacon shows a rapidly expanding crack, then no methods of eliminating cracks with your own hands will help - they will only have a short-term effect. Be sure to invite specialists to solve the problem, otherwise the consequences will be the most terrible - the collapse of the wall or the entire structure!

How to fix a crack in a house from the inside

If small cracks are found on the wall inside the house, then eliminating them is as easy as shelling pears. All you need is a primer and a special putty mesh. You need to act according to the instructions below:

we clean the surface of building materials and finishing - the wall should be perfectly clean;
use a primer deep penetration(with exactly this marking!) – cover the entire cleaned surface;
glue the putty mesh onto the entire prepared surface;

Note:a special mesh must be used to cover the entire area of damage on the wall - even small sections of cracks should not protrude beyond its boundaries.

Apply a small layer of putty to the mesh and leave until completely dry.

Only after the putty layer has completely dried can you begin to grout the surface and glue wallpaper or other finishing materials.

Repairing a crack in a house from the outside of a wall

If small cracks appear on the outside of the house, you should proceed according to the same principle as in the above option. Procedure:

the crack site is cleared of plaster or debris;
apply a layer of deep penetration primer and glue the putty mesh onto it;
apply putty. But! In case of eliminating cracks on external walls, it is advisable to use a special reinforced putty - it is resistant to negative impact atmospheric changes.

If the cracks on the outside of the walls of the house are not only in the plaster, but also extend to the brickwork, then you will have to put in much more effort. And in this case, the algorithm of actions will be as follows:

Note:the metal mesh must cover the entire surface intended for applying a new layer of plaster. So blur new plaster will not be, which will allow you to flawlessly apply finishing materials.

This situation means only one thing - it is urgently necessary to take drastic measures to eliminate this problem. If you ignore all the recommendations of specialists and limit yourself only to the repair options described above, the result will be the collapse of the entire house. But even a beginner can cope with the work of eliminating such complex active cracks - the main thing is to strictly adhere to the following instructions:

All the plaster on the wall at the location of the crack is knocked off - be sure to maintain a distance of 50 cm on each side of the crack.
The crack is cleaned of mortar and dirt - this can be done with a metal spatula.
The cleaned crack is filled with polyurethane foam.
Fastening metal plates that will tighten the crack, preventing it from spreading further. The following points must be taken into account::

the plate must be selected from thick, high-quality metal;
to obtain an optimal result, you will need to tighten the crack with at least 3 plates, and if the crack is long, then you may need 4 or 5 metal plates;
The plates are fastened using self-tapping screws, but using dowels.

After applying the fastening metal plates, you can continue working according to the usual algorithm - priming/fixing the reinforcing mesh/applying new plaster.

But keep in mind that such measures serve as a temporary measure, since without a specific formation it will not be possible to determine the cause of the appearance of active cracks. Most often, in the future, it will be necessary to carry out corrective work on the foundation - it will either be strengthened/strengthened, or the walls/roof of the house will be raised and complete replacement grounds.

Preventing cracks in the house

To avoid having to deal with cracks in your home, you should familiarize yourself with the prevention of this phenomenon.

Firstly, if you are just designing a house, you need to take several points into account:

geodetic surveys must be carried out - this will help determine the type of soil, the location of aquifers, and the depth of groundwater;
Even at the design stage, it is necessary to provide for the possibility of building a subfloor/cellar under the house - this will entail serious design changes;
It is imperative to familiarize yourself with the depth of soil freezing - the depth of the foundation will depend on this.

Secondly, when buying an old house, pay attention to the existing walls, invite specialists to assess their condition - often small cracks hide serious problems in the stability/reliability of the entire structure. One more point - there should be a blind area around the entire house - this will prevent moisture from entering the foundation, and therefore will prevent its destruction.

One of the most popular materials for the construction of various objects is brick. However, this material is not ideal, and buildings made from it may experience defects and damage during use.

The most common defect is cracks in the wall. Correcting such a deficiency will not be difficult. To do this, you need to find out the cause of the crack and select the necessary technological method to eliminate it.

Peculiarities

The appearance of cracks on brick wall surfaces is a bad sign. However, with a properly laid foundation and correct execution cracks should not occur in the masonry.

Any visible flaw indicates non-compliance with construction or use standards and requires immediate correction of the cause of its appearance. The level of difficulty in sealing cracks in wall surfaces depends on their thickness and depth (sometimes you have to disassemble the required area brickwork).

You can repair the crack yourself if you follow our recommendations. We will help you eliminate any defects (for example, cracked surface load-bearing wall).

Causes of cracks

There are several reasons that create this unpleasant problem.

Absence or unsuitability of connections between blocks. It appears in the form of a vertical crack along the entire height of the wall (occurs when constructing an extension to an existing building or when the work is not carried out correctly). It is possible to get rid of the gap only if a preliminary screed is made with a reinforced belt.
Disadvantages when laying the foundation of a building: pouring the foundation to a shallow depth (less than the ground freezing level), using granular or mineral blocks, using concrete with poor strength and frost resistance. External manifestations: cracks in corner areas or rapidly increasing cracks in the upper parts of brick wall surfaces.

This can be avoided by strengthening the perimeter of the foundation by creating a belt of concrete.

Erroneous determination of soil quality, due to which errors occur when taking into account the load. This also includes soil deformation as a result of vibrations, natural phenomena (for example, active groundwater), as well as work carried out in the vicinity of the object. All this leads to the appearance large cracks over the entire surface of the walls.
Subsidence of the structure during the first year of operation. This manifests itself in the form of small and shallow cracks, which do not subsequently increase in size. To eliminate them, you only need to make minor repairs.

necessary places

To repair a crack in the wall brick house, you should follow simple instructions:

carefully inspect the entire building, identify and eliminate sources of cracks;
periodically check the condition of wall surfaces;
if the slightest cracks are detected, you must immediately do everything possible to prevent the spread of defects;
when cracks form, it is necessary to clear the necessary internal area of the cracks, as well as to maximize interaction with finishing agents;
After checking the walls and treating the cracks, the discovered cavities should be covered and external insulation (or finishing) should be done.

Until the cause of the flaw is determined, there is no point in doing anything to correct it.

In addition, it is necessary to constantly check for the rate at which cracks are growing. To do this, the gap must be marked with markings made of putty or concrete mortar. The desired strip sizes are 100x40mm with a layer thickness of less than ten millimeters. There is also a simpler method using paper. Checking for tears should be done every day for five weeks. If problems arise, it is necessary major renovation foundations of the structure and professional assistance.

It is worth remembering that a crack width greater than twenty millimeters is critical. In such a situation, auxiliary reinforcement of crack edges and strengthening of brick structures is necessary. Areas susceptible to destruction need to be dismantled.

If after checking you note that the crack has not increased, then you can use simple method sealing a crack in a brick wall.

Methods for fixing cracks

It is worth remembering that the occurrence of vertical cracks with a width of ten millimeters is a harbinger of the destruction of the walls of the structure. Therefore, repair this crack cement mortar It won’t work without a strong metal tie. In this regard, there are several repair options.

Driving in special anchors made of metal into dowels mounted along the edges of the crack.
Installation of longitudinal metal brackets with bends at the edges into pre-drilled holes in wall surfaces (later they should be covered with cement mortar). This method is the easiest and most reliable when correcting through cracks with outside.

Strengthening brick masonry with inside special fastening compounds. When installing fasteners into the wall surface, they must be recessed to a great depth (more than half the entire thickness of the wall). It is entirely possible to alternate fasteners. In practice, sealing cracks in brick wall surfaces is done after installing fixing structures.
Using reinforcement mesh It is rational if you want to strengthen the entire area of the structure, because even a careful calculation of the foundation does not guarantee the absence of the risk of shrinkage. When choosing a method and material for repairing cracks, it is necessary to take into account the upcoming exterior finishing. All details from metal material are treated with anti-corrosion compounds and are masked by painting or covered with plaster.

How to seal cracks

Compositions for sealing cracks depend on the location of the flaws (inside, outside the house or even under a window). It is possible to close the crack indoors using a gypsum-based composition or a mixture of lime and cement. For external installation, it is better to choose the most moisture-resistant materials (otherwise, the finish will not last long).

For minor cracks(less than five millimeters wide) repair using cement mortar is suitable. In situations where microscopic shrinkage cracks do not exceed one millimeter, it is better to cover them with epoxy resin.
For defects between five and ten millimeters in length sealing can be done with a mixture of cement and sand in a ratio of 1: 2 or 1: 3. To achieve a plastic consistency, you need to add water.
For more problematic cracks in wall structures made of brick (as well as in structures with a layer of air) great solution will become foam for installation. Such material requires mandatory protection from sun rays, therefore, after hardening, excess foaming is removed.

For various types of defects will do cement composition with the addition of polymers from the M400 grade category. The compositions are passed through a fine grid with a medium-sized grain of sand or wood glue based on polyvinyl acetate and water. In such cases, PVA is added in excess (from one liter per bucket) and is added to the composition last.
For problem areas walls(from the inside or outside) you can use silicone-based sealant. The advantages of such a product include the plasticity and long service life of the material, tolerance to changes in temperature and humidity, ease of sealing cracks using mounting gun. Disadvantage this method are big financial expenses, therefore it is not suitable for large areas and volumes.
If it is necessary to eliminate defects on the outside and if there is an outdated mortar, mixtures with the addition of brick crumbs are used.

Upon completion of the repair, the condition of the brick surfaces must be carefully inspected within two months.

The reasons leading to the appearance of cracks on brick houses, a huge variety. This is both unexpected seismic activity and mechanical damage, and mistakes made during construction. For example, cracks can occur due to incorrect tying of brickwork load-bearing walls Houses. What to do if a crack in the wall of a brick house has already appeared? In any case, the house will need both superficial, cosmetic and thorough repairs to eliminate the causes of damage if they appeared due to violations of construction technology. If you do not strengthen the base and walls of the house in time, then one small gap can cause distortion load-bearing structure and irreversible deformation of the house.

Causes of wall damage

There are several main reasons why a gap may appear in the wall:

Regular natural settlement of the house for more than 1-2 years ( great importance has a choice of foundations permissible for construction on a specific type of soil) and natural shifts.
Subsidence and further cracking of the foundation due to regular erosion of groundwater or poor distributed load, giving a skew by one point.
Freezing of the foundation and further destruction after another change in temperature.
Heavy load on brickwork. Under such circumstances, cracks appear not only on the walls, but also on the pillars. Feature cracks that appeared due to excessive pressure - vertical direction and closedness.
Violation of pouring technology at the stage of constructing the foundation of a house, low-quality materials and their incomplete drying.

Appearance of cracks

Strengthening the foundation

Serious problems with structural integrity require a total rebuild of the foundation:

Strengthening the foundation of the house

The first step is to make a deep trench along the wall with a crack to the level of the base horizon. The width of the trench should not be greater than the thickness of the foundation base.
After this, the crack needs to be widened a little, cleaned of weakly reinforced stones and the cement that adheres them.
The expanded and cleaned area is drilled horizontally and vertically for reinforcement. It is necessary to intertwine reinforcing bars of suitable size with anchors and secure them by welding. The distance between the rods depends on how wide the crack needs to be repaired. This reinforcement is made as a further connection with the skeleton of the new reinforcing foundation.
Now you can make formwork and pour concrete into it. To prevent new cracks, all work on the base is carried out only after it has dried.. You can also spray it with water occasionally to help it cure evenly.

The solution will take a very long time to dry - at least a month, only after this time can the site be compacted and a blind area made.

These measures will stop the destruction of the walls and only after they have been carried out can we begin to directly eliminate the defects.

Elimination of defects

Reconstruction of a brick wall

After strengthening the foundation, cosmetic repair of cracks in brick walls . In order to make sure that new cracks are no longer expected, it is worth sticking pieces of paper in places of damage and monitoring their integrity. If the paper does not tear, you can begin their restoration.

Small, shallow cracks can be repaired with cement mortar, after first cleaning their edges and knocking off unstable pieces of material and adhesive mortar with a hammer. To make the adhesion to the new solution stronger, it is worth moistening the edges of the crack with water.. Middle cracks should be sealed with a mixture of sand and cement (ratio 3:1).

Repairing large cracks

Reinforcement with plates

In order to eliminate large (more than 1-2 centimeters wide) connectors, you need to do much more operations, which are discussed in more detail below.

First you need to completely disassemble the entire area with the crack, starting from the top rows. All unstable and crumbling bricks must be replaced with new ones. When laying new brickwork, they need to be additionally reinforced. If a rupture occurs in a brick wall unit, reinforcement can be done using a strip steel plate, bending its ends to the sides of the masonry and securing it with bolts.

If it is not possible to dismantle the wall, sealing cracks in brick walls is done by throwing crushed stone with cement mortar into large crevices and strengthening them with a metal strip secured with anchors.

a – installation of a brick castle; b – brick castle with an anchor; reinforcement with plates with tension bolts (in – flat wall; g – wall corner); d – repair of a through crack using steel staples; e – repair at the point where the floor slab rests; g – strengthening of the cracked wall. 1- brick wall; 2- crack; 3 – brick castle; 4 – cement mortar; 5 – coupling bolt; 6 – channel (anchor); 7 – steel plate; 8 – staples (installation step 50 cm); 9 – floor slab; 10 – brick wall; 11 – corner; 12 – finishing layer.

If the cracks that appear threaten the integrity of the building, it is necessary to thoroughly strengthen the wall. Steel rods are installed along the perimeter of the house on the outside and inside. The result is a kind of powerful steel belt covering the entire building.

a, b – steel rods along the outer (a) and inner (b) sides of the wall; c – installation of non-tensioned channel bars; 1 – steel rod; 2 - corner; 3 – steel support plate; 4 – channel.

If the crack is too deep, you can also use the cement injection method: for this, inch holes are drilled along the entire length of the crack at a distance of 15-20 cm from each other. A tube filled with cement mortar is placed inside the hole, and using a sealant or a special construction syringe, the solution is injected into the crack, filling it with itself.

Injection method

In addition, some developers use polyurethane foam . To do this, it is blown deep into the crack, dries and is fixed on the outside with cement.

Sometimes the cracks and breaks are so catastrophic that the wall cracks right through. In such cases, it is also necessary to strengthen the wall from the inside. To do this, you need to deeply moisten the gap, fill the resulting gap with cement and crushed stone and install metal overlays secured with anchors. After the solution has dried, you can begin finishing the inside of the cracked wall.

So, repairing cracks in brick walls is important and challenging task, requiring large physical and material costs. However, if such defects are not repaired in time, the house will soon simply become warped or deformed irrevocably.

If your yellow brick is cracked, the facing one, Don’t fall into paralysis, the jamb was planning.

Why facing brick is it cracking? There may be several reasons for this - it could be shedding from the inside, due to improper external insulation of the walls of the house. There are known cases when the wall was completely rebuilt after one or two heating seasons. But, of course, other factors contribute to this.

Frequent sudden changes in temperature destroy the crystal lattice at the microscopic level, which leads to crumbling of the brick and loss of its density. The upper layers press on the lower ones, and as a result, cracks appear. Add to this the wonderful moments when the foundation leads, or the masonry leads by itself, and you get a magnificent vertical Grand Canyon on the front surface of your home. To avoid this ridiculous misunderstanding, avoid extra expenses and loss of time, it is necessary to take into account the basic instructions for insulation and cladding.

Firstly, you need to make a small indentation so that between insulation material and the masonry left an air gap. This gap should be provided by small partitions separating the insulation from the cladding, or it should be fixed with a chain link. The ventilation properties of the air gap can be supplemented with the help of small drainage tubes. But the need for their use depends on the humidity of the area. It must be said that modern perforated drainage tube- This is also a product of the evolution of the construction industry. Behind last years plastic successfully replaced asbestos cement and ceramics, which were used previously.

Definitely, high-quality building materials play a major role in this event. Hyperpressed brick TM Litos has long established itself in the market building materials, and today this company continues to delight its customers with constant additions to its range.

Perhaps someone may have the idea that it would be reasonable to place insulation inside the house. Overall, this is a futile undertaking. You will have to tinker with creating a vapor barrier layer so that the insulation does not ultimately lose its main heat-saving characteristics. In general, this is sometimes practiced, but not systematically, because it has a destructive effect on the very structure of the house. After all, the entire structure will be located in a zone of alternating temperatures. And this affects the crystal lattice at the microscopic level, as we know, very destructively.

So it's best to use correct schemes for home insulation, using high-quality building materials, purchasing well-established brands.

Vertical zigzag cracks on silicate facing bricks. Cracks in the house - causes, methods of elimination