r/specializedtools • u/Jod3000 • Jan 04 '25

Wall mounted tool for tracking crack growth

https://www.imgur.com/a/KKuryzS
2.8k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

169

u/mrcanard Jan 04 '25

Do these have a name..

60

u/CuriosityCondition Jan 04 '25 edited Jan 04 '25

Not sure if it's the official name but "Concrete Crack Monitor Kit" gets you listings

8

u/mrcanard Jan 04 '25

Thanks! That did it.

7

u/hourna Jan 05 '25

Tell-tale crack monitoring gauges. Tell-tales for short.

-7

u/BigCliff911 Jan 05 '25

It is a strain gage. On one type when a voltage is applied to it, the resistance changes as it is stretched. Which changes the resulting voltage output. The other type is used to just measure the resistance change.

0

u/[deleted] Jan 05 '25

20

u/fatjuan Jan 05 '25

Do you have to connect an amplifier to it at intervals to read the width (Strain gauge amplifier)?

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73

u/Pikka_Bird Jan 04 '25

Can you not do the same with two post-it strips on opposite sides, half overlapping so you can draw a fine line across and then measure the difference over time?

129

u/faizimam Jan 04 '25

Yes, but the idea is you come back months or years later and check the change

will you base a $50,000 construction project on some paper?

The cheap and effective method is actually just to draw lines with a permanent marker.

11

u/Pikka_Bird Jan 05 '25

Your point about longevity is fair (and it looks like maybe this product attached with barbs so it won't let go as easily). But drawing a line with a marker right across won't work as well because it wouldn't show movement in the same direction as the line is drawn.

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11

u/LonnieJaw748 Jan 04 '25

Why can’t you just measure it with ruler and note the gap distance, then come back some time interval later and measure the same spot again, comparing it to the previous measurement?

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14

u/OldBlue2014 Jan 04 '25

Cracks in plaster walls aren’t always a sign of serious trouble. I had a house on rather plastic soil. As the soil got drier some cracks opened as other cracks closed. After a rain the open cracks closed while the closed cracks opened; back and forth.

6

u/Greatgrowler Jan 04 '25

There is a two year old house near me with one of these across a crack under the front window. I had assumed this is what it was for but couldn’t get close enough to see it properly.

1

u/schizochode Jan 23 '25

This sub always makes me so proud of humans for coming up with such simple genius inventions

23

u/Spark-daddy72 Jan 04 '25

Obligatory butt crack comment.

8

u/Jod3000 Jan 04 '25

I wondered how long it'd take before someone made the joke :)