DIYbanter - View Single Post

wrote:
Hi, my house is a five-year old newbuild, and has a 'cloakroom'
underneath the stairs. Recently I have noticed that gaps have been
appearing between the skirting on the stairs and the rest of the wall -
a few mm at the moment, but enough to worry me.

From the cloakroom, you can see what seems to be a large chunk of the
stairs skirting is plastered into the wall - this has started to crack,
and in fact when someone is walking up the stairs you can actually see
this move slightly.

Occasionally I've also heard a cracking noise whilst I have been in the
sitting room which might be caused by this (it could also be the metal
door exterior cooling down, but I am getting paranoid at times - my
missus is pregnant, etc)

Is this all normal? Is there danger of this getting worse ? Should I
get someone in under NHBC (which I note doesn't cover us for work under
=A3500)

I can't find info on this anywhere - all help appreciated.

2 or 3 mm cracks are normal in houses. Stairs are normally wood, and
wood bends a bit when stood on, so again there willb e cracking and
movement, causing creaks.

Tomorrows paper will probably carry an account of the staircase thatc
ollapssed, bringing the loft joists down and causing the roof to
collapse, killing the occupant. But Ive never heard of it happening
yet.

NT