Cracks in walls, beams or slabs: what to do
Not every crack is serious, but every crack that grows needs to be studied.
Photo: Michael Bader / Unsplash
A crack can come from concrete shrinkage, soil settlement, overload or steel corrosion. A structural assessment identifies the cause, measures whether it is active and says whether the structure is at risk. DDES does assessments with inspection, crack monitoring and, if needed, the repair design.
- Service
- Assessment and retrofit
- Deliverable
- Assessment report
- For
- Owners and condominiums
What to have at hand
- Photos of each crack with a ruler or coin beside it for scale.
- Since when you have seen it and whether it has grown.
- Whether there were works, heavy rain, an earthquake or a change of use around that date.
- The building's drawings, if you have them.
How we solve it
- Inspection: pattern, width, length and location of each crack.
- Monitoring with tell-tales to find out whether the crack is active.
- Diagnosis of the cause: soil, loads, shrinkage or corrosion.
- Report with the level of risk and the recommended repair or retrofit.
When is a crack serious?
The worrying ones are cracks that grow, diagonal cracks in walls and beams, cracks in columns, cracks that come with sticking doors or sinking floors, and cracks that show rusted steel. A fine, stable crack in plaster is usually cosmetic, but the inspection confirms it.
And on the coast?
Near the sea, salt air corrodes the steel; rust takes up more volume than steel and cracks the concrete from inside. In clay soils, changes in moisture swell and shrink the ground and crack walls and slabs.
Technical notes
When is a crack dangerous?
How to tell a cosmetic crack from one that needs an engineer: width, direction, where it appears and whether it grows.
Chlorides and reinforcement: the concrete cover that actually protects
Why the sea breeze corrodes concrete from the inside, and what to specify to prevent it.
Expansive clays in southwest Barranquilla
Foundations for soils that swell in the rainy season and shrink in the dry season.
Frequently asked questions
What is a "peritaje estructural" (forensic structural assessment)?
It is a technical evaluation of the structure by an engineer, with a report on what damage there is, why it appeared and what must be done.
Can the report support a claim?
The report documents the damage and its technical cause, and can support a claim to the builder, the insurer or the building management.
Is filling the crack enough?
If the cause is still active, the crack opens again. First you need to know why it appeared.
Other situations
- Adding a second floorBefore adding a floor you need to know whether the house can carry it.
- Home structural retrofitSo an older structure resists what today's code requires.
- Warehouse designFrames, roof, floor slab and foundation, designed together.
- Retaining wallsFor basements, level changes and sloping lots.
- Tanks and poolsStructures that must not only stand but also not leak.
- Steel mezzanineMore usable floor area inside the same warehouse or store.
- Building permitWhich structural documents the curaduría asks for and who signs them.
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Contact
Worried about a crack?
Send us photos on WhatsApp. A DDES engineer tells you whether an inspection is worthwhile.
Our team works in Spanish. You can write to us in English and we will get back to you.
Photo: Julia Taubitz / Unsplash