Hi,

I'm looking at a house that has a crack on the outside wall. It starts from the corner of the basement window and goes up vertically.





I live in Canada, could this crack be caused by the change in temperature during the winter? Or should a look for another explanation?

The house was built in 1955.

Thanks. Your advice is greatly appreciated. :-)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ambrosia,

Corners of openings in walls are natural pints of concentration of stresses resulting from, among other things, temperature changes, and cracks frequently occur there.

We'd need a whole bunch more information to properly evaluate the crack, but my seat-of-the-pants reaction is that it isn't serious, and does not indicate anything like a structural problem.

Two thoughts come into mind.

The brick ledge is failing or the foundation in which support it has issues.

Check out web site www.bia.org they may also have some answers for you.

I suggest if you can get behind the wall in the basement to see if the crack is also in the foundation. If it is, most likely you had a failure of the footing within this area. If not its the brick ledge failure.