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A record for monitoring cracks in walls over repeat visits. Record the visit, the days since the last reading and possible causes seen on site, then each crack: its reference, location, face, material and pattern, the width at the marked point and the previous width. The form works out the change and warns when a crack has widened. Record how it was measured, any tell-tale or reference mark reading, sticking doors, the BRE Digest 251 category if assessed and photos with a scale. An optional Walk Cam route films the wall, the crack with a ruler, the monitor and the matching crack inside. Every question is listed below, and you can fill the live form in on this page.
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BRE Digest 251, Assessment of damage in low-rise buildings, sorts cracks into six categories linked to their width and number and the repair needed. BRE says categories 0, 1 and 2, with widths up to 5 mm, can generally be regarded as aesthetic, needing only redecoration. Categories 3 and 4 are serviceability issues affecting weather-tightness and doors and windows, and category 5 is a stability issue likely to need structural intervention. Whether a crack is widening over time can change its category, which is what monitoring shows.
Last updated . Facts checked by the SiteSurvey team on 17 October 2026 against BRE: assessing cracks in houses (BRE Digest 251 categories) and Mid Suffolk District Council: cracks and structural issues fact sheet.
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Open the completed example to see fictional readings, notes, photos and calculations. Choose Blank form to try entering your own answers.
Want to see one filled in? See a completed crack monitoring report (PDF), made by SiteSurvey from a fictional site visit.
Walk Cam route · four guided clips
Film the same crack from the same places on every visit, with a scale beside it, so a reviewer can see whether it has changed.
Record the address, wall, date and who filmed. Start wide so the crack can be found again, then hold a ruler or gauge beside it and say the reading. The four AI-generated clips illustrate one route, not a real building.
Show the whole wall first, with a window, corner or other fixed feature in frame, so the crack can be found again.
A brick side wall is shown with a stepped crack running up from a window corner.
Move in to the widest point and hold a ruler or crack width gauge beside it. Say the width you read; the video only supports the reading.
A close view shows the stepped crack in the mortar with a steel rule held beside it.
If a tell-tale monitor is fixed across the crack, film its grid square on so the cursor position can be read and compared.
A plastic tell-tale crack monitor fixed across the crack is filmed square on.
Find the same position inside and film any matching crack, for example above a door or window head.
A diagonal plaster crack runs up from the corner of an internal door frame.
A fictional six-page example with the four points, twelve stills from the clips, observations, follow-up actions and the limits of a visual record.
View the visual evidence (PDF) ↗ · Download the full sample report
Video records where a crack is and what it looked like. It does not measure movement, find the cause or say whether a building is safe; BRE's guidance is that widening over time changes how damage is classified and significant damage needs a building professional. Example footage was generated in Google Flow and the observations are scripted; no real site is shown. Walk Cam works inside any form in the app. How Walk Cam works · All visual inspections
A crack monitoring record for walls: each crack with its location, pattern, width at a marked point against the last reading, how it was measured, photos with a scale, BRE Digest 251 category if assessed, and next steps. 3 sections and 60 questions. Follow-up questions and guidance appear only when an answer calls for them, so the person on site never sees the ones that do not apply.
This is a starting point, not a fixed form. Once it is in your SiteSurvey account you can reword any question, add or remove questions, sections and answer options, and add your own logo, so it fits the way your team works and the jobs you do.
Add this form to a project in SiteSurvey and it fills in what the project already knows, so nobody on site retypes it and every form on the job uses the same names. Anything filled in can still be changed.
Record estimated current conditions for this visit. Keep your observations, visibility and local site conditions in the existing field below.
From the first visit's record. Leave blank on the first visit.
Use a tape, or measure from a square-on photo with brick courses or an opening as the reference. Widths stay on the gauge or tell-tale: a photo cannot read fractions of a millimetre. Measuring from a photo gives an estimate.
Optional. Film the four guided points on the SiteSurvey app; each clip keeps its spoken note.
This is a monitoring record, not a structural survey, a subsidence diagnosis or an insurance decision.
Width at the marked point against the previous reading
Measure at the same marked point each visit, with the same method, and note the weather. Record what was read; leave the cause and category to the person assessing it.
Crack C1, side elevation from the kitchen window corner: 4 mm at monitor T1, previously 3 mm on 10 September. Kitchen door catching. Next reading 5 November.
Fictional example of record wording. Use the actual evidence and approved arrangements for your job; this is not a completed report or an instruction to carry out the work.
A completed crack monitoring report, made by SiteSurvey from a fictional site visit: every answer, the photos, the guidance that applied and the sign-off, ready to send as a PDF.
One reading shows the width today; repeat readings at the same marked point show whether it is moving. BRE says whether cracks are widening over time is one of the factors that affect how damage is classified.
It depends on the crack and the cause. Mid Suffolk District Council's housing fact sheet says monitoring is likely to be needed for wider cracks, often over several months. The form records each visit with the days since the last reading and the next reading date.
Mid Suffolk District Council lists settlement, seasonal thermal and moisture movement, and ground movement, which is most often caused by trees on clay soils, with defective drains or broken water pipes as other common causes. The form records possible causes seen on site, but it is not a diagnosis.
Yes. Choose how each crack was measured, including a ruler, a crack width gauge, a tell-tale monitor or fixed reference marks, and record the monitor or mark ID with the reading. Read the monitor the way its maker describes; the form only records the reading.
BRE says a building professional should be consulted where damage is significant, and category 5 is likely to need structural intervention. The form shows a red warning on any crack assessed as category 5 and lets you refer the case to an engineer or the insurer.
On the SiteSurvey app, the optional Walk Cam route films four points: the whole wall, the crack with a ruler beside it, the tell-tale square on and the matching crack inside. Each clip keeps your spoken note, and the width you read is still typed into the form.
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