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Help! Cracks at the corners of my windows?? X pole related?
Hi guys! So I have a problem/concern regarding my house and XPole installation. My house is roughly 100 years old and in an area of heavily shifting soil. The house itself is pretty crooked and warped already….anyways…today I noticed these cracks at the corner of the window in my pole room…
I don’t think they were there before because the landlord had just painted the place before we moved in. We just had some rain and and the temperature ha sheen fluctuating a lot so in hoping its related to that. Also, the downstairs neighbor said the house had shifted so much her deadbolt wasn’t working and she had to use the back door…
Moral of the story….should I be concerned that my XPole is causing this? There are no signs of issues on the joist (no nail popping of the joist, no drywall cracking from the dome) but I’m worried that the tension is affecting the frame to where the windows are getting these cracks in them. I plan on just getting a permanent mount so that the pressure can be manipulated much more easily and the pope can be taken up and down vs leaving it up. Because I also wonder if having a really solid pole in a house that Is constantly shifting, may actually cause a problem.
Please ask any friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, etc that might be able to help with this problem/solution. I’m horrified right now that I might have caused some structural damage, if not directly just through the settling and shifting of the house around a tension pole…so basically wondering if that’s possible, what do these cracks look like they indicate, and how serious may it be?
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15 Replies
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One million thanks to any responses….
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I had cracks like this form around my old house too, but it happened before I had my pole up. Were you doing any renovations? Some of mine happened when we took up the old tile flooring as they had to use power tools. Others just formed in random places. I’m not 100% sure what causes them, but there hasn’t been any more/worsening since my pole has been up and mine is up pretty tight.
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Hmmm they did just recarpeted the place…maybe it’s related to that?
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Maybe. They were using a jack hammer in my house because the concrete under the tile was so stubborn. The windows had also been replaced a short while before this, so they could have been in too tight as well. I don’t think you should be too worried about it. Maybe just watch and see that they aren’t getting worse with use of your pole.
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I am not a structural engineer but do know the basics of construction and I would bet my next paycheck that was not from your pole. That kind of cracking comes from the house settling, or some major kind of force. If the neighbor is having trouble closing the door I would get the landlord on the phone and get a structural engineer over there ASAP. Do you live in Florida or someplace that has sinkholes or unstable ground? If you have gas I’d be watching for any smell that would indicate a leak from things shifting. Or better yet, personally I would move. Again, not an engineer but better safe than sorry.
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That’s such a relief to hear about the pole, not a relief about the natural gas. Hadn’t thought about that. Yeah the area we are in is notorious for shifting soil. When the locksmith came to adjust the locks he said that problem exists with all the houses in the area and that in the winter the house shifts back the other way o_O
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He said the house had shifted half an inch, and I found a similar crack in the living room door way, same side. Put a level to the window sill this is on. The bubble is basically maxed out lol (maybe shouldn’t be laughing cuz safety, but it is a little bit comical how crooked this house it o_O ) keeping an eye on the cracks to make sure they don’t get bigger
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You know I live in an old house too… And if you have plaster and lath walls then cracking is part of the territory….
Our house has a few of those here and there and has been inspected a few times in the last decade and everyone just said it was just fine. (The seller actually gave us a few inspection reports in addition to the one we had when we bought the house)
Not saying you shouldn’t investigate further but I’m sure it’s probably nothing. Plaster is temperamental. :/
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If I remember correctly our houses are about the same age too, so that’s comforting to hear 🙂
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Hmmm I don’t know. I’ve lived in super old houses too and see cracks like that. Not sure it would be the pole.
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Your X-Pole could not cause these issues as it shouldn’t be exerting any more than a hundred pounds of pressure on the structure of your home. Think of that in comparison the the weight of your house in general. It’s an infinitesimal force when compared to the force the rest of your house is exerting on its frame.
Your house is cracking due to foundational shift, humidity, plaster and other issues that are not uncommon in older homes.
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Agree with Webby, after looking at your photo, it’s foundational. We have owned 3 old homes and when that started getting worse we repaired and sold them. If you had fresh paint when you moved in, it’s very easy to hide with that by just putting a bead of something in the crack and smoothing it out. I learned that from a building inspector! LOL
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I’m a civil Engineer, water not structural, but I had a few structural classes including one in foundations. I also happen to own a 1925 home with similar cracking around some doors and windows. That looks like normal settling cracks to me. All foundations settle. If you live in an area with clay soils it can be worse as the soil really swells and contracts with water or lack thereof.
Foundations do most of their settling in the first 70 years if I remember correctly. And horizontal or vertical cracks are the most worrisome.
But yeah, not because of the pole. 🙂
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You guys are seriously the best. Words cannot describe. Thank you so much ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
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I’m not sure if our foundation is clay but it’s something shifty, cuz I mentioned to the neighbor that it had shifted and he said it was normal and in the winter it will just shift back the other direction. I was working with a client (who also happens to be a poler) and was lamenting on the struggle of having my pole in such a shifty house. I kid you not, in the 10,000 square mile area of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, she guessed the area I was in almost to the STREET. So yeah I guess it just is what it is especially if the area I’m in is that notorious 😉
Thank you to everyone who replied to this thread, you have no idea how much it means to me. It’s a topic I have no clue on and was so scared that i had somehow damaged this beautiful crooked old house 😉
Either way, I received my semi permanent mount yesterday and will be installing it (hopefully!) this weekend! Looking forward to easy ups and downs and the ability to shift the pole along with our seasonal house adjustments 😉 (double bonus that we won’t leave a dent in the new carpet, which the landlord was concerned about. Holes in the ceiling are much easier to fill than replacing carpet that’s been dented. Which also, truly, I started poling on carpet and left it up for months and it was never a problem. Just took a few days to even out, bud better safe than sorry! Hooray!
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