Anything and everything has to come to an end if not today then surely tomorrow. We hope against all odds that the masonry in our house shouldn’t need repair. But every brick shall age and hence need repairmen.
The house owner’s/keeper’s ability to predict damage in a certain area of the house or notice cracked walls at a time that they could be cured, is a blessing. Problems such as deterioration of mortar joints may also be visible.
The access the condition of a certain brick wall, your job is to notice if any sections of the brick wall are bulging outward or not. The most common places where a brick wall may bulge outward may be the bottom or the top of a wall. These structural faults are mainly caused by loose or failed mortar joints.
The apparent bulges in a certain building hardly affect or lower its importance. They should be shown to masonary professionals so they could be cured at the right time.
Now the question arises, what causes cracking? Well, it is mainly caused by the setting of the soil below the parameters of the well. The major cause could be of the land that was not appropriate enough for the construction of a building. Another cause could be of shifting of the soil beneath the building. The soil may then to shift due to ground water etc. Other causes of cracks within a wall could be contraction and expansion of the wall, or cycles of freezing and then thawing or rotten ledger over the window.
The poor wall is unable to withstand a lot of that, after which it gives up and shows signs of deterioration. Hence, the concerned house owner should consult an engineer or a masonry contractor to inspect the damaged areas. It is highly important to notice whether the crack has opened to an extreme or not. Or whether it is going through a series of openings and closings or has it stopped, revealing the source of the damage. You could find that out by applying a certain amount of plaster of Paris to the damaged area and the monitoring it for a while, namely a few weeks.
If there is no further erosion then your wall is safe. If your wall crack still continues to open, may it be a fraction of an inch; you need to immediately consult professional builders. However if you are sure after observing that the crack is neither opening nor shrinking, then you may want to fill it up with grout.