What to do About Cracked Walls | Saga Home Insurance

Keeping your home up-to-date and well-maintained can be a struggle with a long to-do list, and some jobs are easier than others to tick off.

But what happens when you notice a crack in the wall? Can you fix cracked walls yourself, or do you need to call in some help?

What causes cracks in the walls of your house?

Most homes will have cracks in the walls at some point, regardless of when or how well they were built, but some cracks aren’t serious enough to affect the stability of the building.

There’s probably no need to worry if you’ve noticed some lines appearing on your walls, for example in your living room, as plaster does typically crack for a number of reasons. These can include:

Settlement

A new home may see some settlement cracks and experience some new plaster cracking as the house settles down into its foundations. The ground under the house might compact under the weight of the building, but this usually stabilises quite quickly.

Thermal movement

Buildings shrink and expand as temperature and humidity vary throughout the year. Small movements as the building responds can cause hairline cracks in walls and ceilings.

Moisture

Building materials in your home absorb excess moisture (from showers and baths, drying clothes or boiling kettles) causing them to expand. When they dry out, cracks can appear. Leaks can also cause cracks, but these will come with evidence of staining or water damage as well.

Shrinkage

When a house is first built, or if you’ve added an extension, the materials used (like plaster, wood and concrete) have a lot of water content that naturally dries out over several months, leading to cracks in plaster walls.

Cracks can also appear due to subsidence, heave or landslip, and these are the ones that are generally bad news. Thirsty trees and shrubs planted too close to the house, poor drainage and past mining activity can all be causes of subsidence, which you need to address sooner rather than later.

What types of cracks are there?

Internal wall cracks can take many shapes and sizes. Size and placement are often a good indication of what’s causing them.

Shrinkage – causes vertical or horizontal cracks in walls, often running along the wall near the ceiling or floor, and they’re usually a constant width of less than the width of a 10p coin.
Thermal movement – causes vertical cracks in walls, usually a constant width of less than the width of a 10p coin. These might open and close through the year as temperature, humidity and moisture levels change.
Moisture cracks – are usually vertical and less than the width of a 10p coin. They can open and close as the moisture levels change throughout the year.
Settlement cracks in walls – can be vertical, horizontal or diagonal, and aren’t necessarily straight. If these cracks are less than the width of a 10p coin they’re unlikely to affect structural stability.
Subsidence cracks – are quite distinctive compared to other cracks. They’re diagonal and are usually wider at the top than the bottom and are wider than the edge of a pound coin.

When is a crack in a wall serious?

In most cases you don’t need to worry about hairline cracks in plaster, but when the cracks are wider than the edge of a pound coin, you may be facing a more serious issue.

It’s unlikely that the cause is excessive settlement, subsidence or heave-related movement, but if you do notice certain signs then you might need to act. You should be wary if a crack is:

More than the about width of a pencil-top rubber at any point
Wider at one end than the other
Diagonal or stepped
Visible inside and outside your house

If you notice other issues such as windows and doors sticking in their frames, or if a crack has significantly grown since you first spotted it, you may need to seek expert help.

How can you avoid getting cracks in house walls?

Taking a few simple measures in your home can help to reduce the likelihood of small cracks appearing.

Keep an even temperature in your home, in all rooms even if you don’t often use them.
Keep your home well-ventilated so that any excess moisture can escape.
Make sure any trees and shrubs aren’t planted too close to your house, or are kept well-pruned to stop them taking too much water from the soil.

What should you do about cracked walls?

For smaller cracks that are mostly cosmetic, you may be able to fix them yourself if you know how, or you can search online for how to fix and repair hairline cracks in plaster walls to get hints and tips on simple wall crack repair. Using a suitable filler, grout or sealant the next time you redecorate your home will take care of most minor cracks.

But where the cracks might be a sign of other damage and especially of subsidence, you’ll need to act quickly and do more than just fixing cracks in walls. You should contact your insurer for help as soon as possible.

Your insurer will advise you on the next steps and will usually send a specialist like a structural engineer or a surveyor to examine the damage and find the cause of the potential subsidence.

If there’s only a small amount of damage and the cause is obvious, repairs can be made straightaway.
If the damage is severe and it still seems to be happening, your house might need to be monitored over time to work out the cause and the right long-term solution.
If the subsidence is very severe, your house may need to be underpinned, with the foundations strengthened to prevent any more damage.

If it’s found that the subsidence has been caused by coal mining, you’ll need to get help directly from the Coal Authority, although you should keep your insurance provider informed of any claim.

Does claiming for cracked walls affect your insurance?

If your property has been affected by subsidence before, you’ll need to provide all the details and evidence to show that the issues have been fixed.

The insurance quote you get will factor in previous issues; if eligible, your premium may be higher as a result. A copy of a surveyor's or structural engineer's report to confirm previous issues have been fully repaired may also be requested.

Does building insurance cover cracked walls?

Most buildings insurance policies will cover your property against subsidence if it hasn’t already been affected in the past. Saga Plus and Select home insurance policies cover subsidence, ground heave and landslip at the site on which the building stands.

But if your cracked walls are caused by settlement, or by general wear and tear, insurance companies (including Saga) are unlikely to pay out to repair them as it would be considered general maintenance.

Cracks can also be the result of poor workmanship or using faulty materials, which again won’t typically be covered by your buildings insurance.

You may however be able to claim for this elsewhere, for example against the original contractor that did the work or on the warranty that came with your new build home. Check your policy booklet to see exactly what you’re covered for.