Crack Repairs

What causes cracking?

Cracking is a common occurrence in brick homes.

It can be caused by a variety of factors including:

Settlement and subsidence of building foundations
Climate / seasonal changes causing expansion and contraction of building materials
Design faults or construction complications
Water damages
Roots from large Trees moving under the foundations
Maintenance problems

Cracks can occur in buildings of all ages, whether it be a brand new home or 100 years old.

New homes frequently experience cracking from settlement after construction.

How do we repair cracks?

To repair cracks, we use the the Thor Helical crack stitching system.

The Thor Helical crack stitching bars are made of 316 grade twisted stainless steel and come in varying lengths and sizes that can be used to repair a variety of cracks.

The Thor Helical bars are installed by cutting horizontal joints across vertical cracks, installing the bars and then inserting the Thor Helical grout which all helps bind the two sides of the crack back together and stop any further movement from occurring.

Once the Thor Helical system has been installed, we can re-point mortar joints that were removed or repair any plastering / rendering affected by the installation.

The benefits of this system include:

A better repair compared to simply filling the crack itself
Repairs the wall’s integrity by binding the two sides of the crack back together
An efficient system to repair the cracks especially in interiors as two sides of a wall can have bars installed

Take a look at some examples of our crack repairs

Kellerberrin Catholic Church

Our biggest crack repair project to date, this 106 year old (as of 2022) stone and brick church had extensive cracking throughout as a result of settlement and other concerns.

Over 250 of the Thor Helical 6mm x 1m bars were installed throughout and secured in place with the accompanying Thor Helical grout.

After the bars were put in their places, the cracked and drummy render areas were re-plastered to conceal the areas and left ready for painting.

To learn more about this project and the history of the church, you can visit our page dedicated to this project here.