ᐅ Cracks / Plaster Cracks in Exterior Walls After Two Years – Is This Normal?

Hello,

our house is now exactly 2 years old. In recent months, cracks have appeared at every corner of the house, extending from top to bottom. All four cracks are on the gable ends, each approximately 40cm (16 inches) away from the corner of the house. They do not form a single crack but rather have a frayed appearance.

The wall structure consists of 30cm (12 inches) Ytong blocks, with plaster applied on top.

Now my questions:

1. Is this normal, meaning acceptable, or is it a defect?

2. Are these plaster cracks only, or is there more serious damage?

3. Why do these cracks appear in a nearly identical way on all four corners?

It is a stress crack, which was considered impossible by all of us here. Nevertheless, the developer repaired it but made it worse.

Looks fine to me so far. What does your building partner say?

I will leave it alone as long as the majority here does not consider it a defect.

markus2703 schrieb:
I leave it alone as long as the majority here doesn’t believe it’s a defect.

Why? Asking is legitimate, after all. Our general contractor also passed this off to the plasterers. But again, you will always see repairs. The solution would be to plaster everything completely. Nobody does that. Have fun and walk through a new housing development. Cracks = houses from the developer, built and plastered quickly so money flows with completion. No cracks = houses where they took their time with plastering to allow the house to settle first. My father said that in the past, people waited 2-3 years before plastering.

HilfeHilfe schrieb:
You always see them being repaired

That’s exactly why I prefer not to do anything unless it’s a serious defect.

So far, they are hardly noticeable.

But yes, of course you’re right, our house was plastered immediately after the shell construction—like almost all nowadays.