Analysis into Forms and Causes of Brick-Wood Buildings’ Wall Cracks

Abstract

Traditional folk houses in rural areas of north China are mostly Brick-Wood Building, for those houses draw on local resources, only need simple structures and cost less, which precisely fits the economic conditions in rural areas. However, due to all sorts of reasons, walls of those houses might easily crack, which will bring safety loopholes and panic inhabitants as well. With a village in North China as the study and research subject, first of all, the paper analyzes the locations and patterns of cracks appearing on walls and divided those cracks into eight types; then the causes of wall cracks are primarily explored, and after analysis the author comes to a conclusion that the freeze-thaw action of subsoil, disastrous weather, seismic action, natural ageing and construction quality etc. are directly related to wall cracks, while bearing capacity of foundation soil and ground settlement has no direct relationship with wall cracks.