Are cracks on exterior walls serious and can I fix them theself

crackexteriorrepair

I recently noticed some mostly-vertical cracks present on some exterior walls.

In case it is relevant, this is a South Florida home built in the mid 50s. The downstairs walls are CBS (Concrete Block Structure) and the upstairs bedroom/bathroom walls are wood frame.

EDIT: Added images. Sorry for the quality (camera phone).

Downstairs:
East wall (front): Crack that starts about 3 feet from the ground and is about 6 feet long. The crack itself is about 1mm wide. I am not sure how deep is is. There are some spots where there's a little bit of the wall chipping off, but the chips are not deep and are maybe 2mm wide on either side of the main crack.

This part of the house was added on a while before we bought it as an expansion. The crack seems to have surfaced in close proximity to where the old wall would have ended.

East front
East (front)

East front (closer)
East (closer)

East wall (rear): Crack starting in the corner of a window and working its way down about 3 feet. Same thickness as east wall (front) crack. Nothing chipping off yet.

East rear
East rear - the white bracket is for hurricane panels

Rear wall: Crack same as East wall (front) description.

Rear wall
Rear wall

West wall: Tiny cracks… thinner than the others I mentioned and not even a foot long, but there are 3-4 of them joining together.

Upstairs:
Larger crack (between 1mm-2mm) starting at the corner of one window, going down about 3 feet and halfway across to the other window corner. The other window corner has its own crack starting there which works its way down about 3 feet as well, but doesn't join with the other crack.

My neighbor tells me that a few months before we bought the house, the upstairs window was actually a sliding glass door (yes, a sliding glass door to nowhere) and was replaced with a regular window. This crack has me most concerned.

Upstairs
Upstairs. The white bracket is for hurricane panels. Remember, this wall is not CBS - it's wood frame.

Those are the major cracks I've noticed. I'm hoping to find out two things:

  1. How serious is this? I mean, really, is my house falling apart?

  2. Is this something for which I can perform a quality repair job (if so, how) or should I seek a professional?

Best Answer

From the pictures it looks like the cracks may only be in the stucco, and the underlying structural wall may be unaffected. It's hard to tell without actually inspecting the wall, but my guess is that these cracks are only skin deep. However, you will want to treat them to prevent them from spreading.

Here is a good article about Cracks in stucco.

Here are some excerpts from the article.

All buildings are subjected to a variety of stresses in various forms and this stress is often transferred to the plaster stucco membrane.

Stucco is not and never was intended to be a structural material.

Cement stucco is a relatively thin, brittle shell over a framed structure and can crack if the stresses are transferred and overcome the strength of the plaster membrane.

SHRINKAGE STRESS

All Portland cement shrinks as it cures. Controlling and minimizing that shrinkage is critical to minimizing cracks

Shrinkage cracking tends to have a map-like cracking pattern.

OUTSIDE SOURCES

Structural loads, lateral force racking, thermal changes, wind, lumber shrinkage and seismic events are all examples of outside sources of stress.

HOW HARMFUL IS A HAIRLINE CRACK?

a hairline crack does not automatically mean the stucco is faulty, failing or will not function for the service life of the building.

MAKING REPAIRS

Once the decision is made to make repairs, there are several options.

Option 1: Treat the joint with the same finish material.

Option 2: Paint the wall or ceiling after treating the crack with an acrylic paint or paint designed for stucco.

Option 3: An elastomeric paint coating.

Option 4: Recoat the wall from architectural break to architectural break with the same finish material.

Option 5: A new basecoat and mesh over the wall area.

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