teresa12

Hello, I am new to this forum and so glad I found it. We are in the process of purchasing a true fixer-upper and wil be doing most of the work ourselves. This is an old house built in 1945. It has a crawl space, not conventional foundation. My concern is sort of large cracks on the bedroom walls that are random patterned. One wall seems to buckle a little. The walls are stucco or plaster. My question is this typical for stucco walls and does this indicate foundation problems? Most homes in this area are 60-70 years old and the walls are made of stucco. Any advice would do!

glennjanie

Welcome Teresa:
Random cracks sounds like the walls might be stone or concrete blocks. In that case the cracks would be characteristic of the masonry work; it just can't flex with temperature extremes and movement.
If there are foundation problems that are causing the cracks you will also have some seriously un-level floors. You may want to check the floors with a 4' level or a shorter level on a straight 2 X 4.
Stucco is very difficult to patch up and match to the existing, therefore, I would use caulking compound to fill and seal the cracks.
Glenn

teresa12

Thanks for the reply. The floors seem level just walking through them but we will use a level and see. Is the caulking process difficult or expensive? We're on a limited budget. You are right, the walls are probalby stone, I am almost sure of it. Any particular problems associated with stone walls that you know of?

RonnySanders

Your home requires certain maintenance items to be completed to ensure that the stucco will perform properly. Repairing a crack in stucco is often done with various caulks or cement. Thanks!