How to fix large bulging crack on internal shared wall?

[jennywren]

 

 

We renovated our 1919 semi-detached double brick house about 4 years ago. Since then the section of the original shared wall (just next to where the renovated wall begins) has had some diagonal cracks appearing. I patched them a couple of years ago with just poly filla and that held up fine for a year or two. However recently the cracks have reappeared quite quickly and towards the ceiling the wall is now bulging out which seems to have happened over the last week. We contacted our builder and he noted that I might need base coat to bind it. Is that gyprock? And is that ok to try myself? Or should we get a professional in?! Cheers 

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @jennywren. It's brilliant to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about repairing a wall.

I'm not entirely sure what this surface is, perhaps render/plaster over brick, but by the looks of it, it's entirely delaminated from the bricks and pulling away from the wall. It's past the point of using fillers or basecoat, and that bulged section of render needs to be removed and the entire area filled. I'd recommend calling a professional to provide a quote for the work. Once they take a look and if there is no evidence of water ingress then you could potentially remove the delaminated render yourself and attempt a repair.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell
 

[jennywren]

Will do, many thanks for the prompt advice!