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#1
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reappearing drywall crack
Hello,
In my kitchen, there is a crack on the wall that was there when we bought the house 18 months ago. When doing the walk-through before making an offer, I noticed this and checked it out. A poor spackle job had been done on it to get the house ready to sell, but it was obvious that the crack had reopened after being patched. The crack is on the wall just below the ceiling, where the ceiling opens up from a normal 9' ceiling in the kitchen into the vaulted (2-story open) ceiling in the dining room. It extends from the ceiling down behind one of the kitchen cabinets. I don't know how long the whole crack is, as it does not emerge from behind the cabinet anywhere. There wasn't any problem with the foundation or framing that I could see in the unfinished basement, and the home inspector said it seemed like normal settling at this stress point on the fairly new house (built 2000). Seemed a simple enough job to patch it up, but I watched it for 12 months to see if it got worse before I tackled it. If it were settling, I thought, it would get worse in that time and I would end up having to fix it again, or be a red flag for something much worse than drywall. In March, I hadn't noticed that the crack was any worse, so I scraped out all of the spackle to see what I was up against. The crack is right at the joint of two sheets of drywall, and with the joint compound removed, it was almost 1/4" wide, and a perfect vertical line that follows the joint. So, the drywall wasn't cracked at all, it was just a gap between the sheets. I didn't see any joint tape at all, but maybe it was there originally and the previous homeowner cut it out when patching it up. One of the sheets (on the vaulted ceiling side of the joint) is anchored to the stud. The other sheet was not. I put in 2 or 3 drywall screws to snug it down, and patched up the joint but did not paint it, figuring I would let it sit a few more months to see if the fix would be permenant or if it would reappear. This week, I climbed up there again to check it out. Now it looks like the crack is reappearing slightly, but instead of a crack forming because the two sides are separating, the spackle is bulging up just enough to be loosened and fall out if rubbed across with a finger. My questions a 1. Is the spackle bulging now only because I did a ****-poor job, or maybe because the sheets are actually moving together now? (Perhaps because of hot summer temperatures?) 2. Was my fix adequate? Should I have put joint tape on, or something more drastic? 3. What would you do now? (Short of unloading the house-- the wife is attached now.) Any thoughts or comments would be most welcome. -Travis |
#2
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reappearing drywall crack
My questions a
1. Is the spackle bulging now only because I did a ****-poor job, or maybe because the sheets are actually moving together now? (Perhaps because of hot summer temperatures?) Probably a combination of both. 2. Was my fix adequate? Should I have put joint tape on, or something more drastic? You need joint tape on joints. That's why they do it in the first place on proper butt joints. Yours is 1/4 inch, where it's even more important. 3. What would you do now? (Short of unloading the house-- the wife is attached now.) If it's bad enough that you want to fix it, then clean all the loose material out. Fill the gap with joint compound. Then put down the mesh type of tape over it, followed by more joint compound. It will take 3 applications, each feathered out wider to do it right. But, there are some joints and situations where it may very well crack again due to settling, contraction expansion, etc. More so in homes where the temp/humidity is allowed to range a lot. Any thoughts or comments would be most welcome. -Travis |
#3
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reappearing drywall crack
In article ,
"Travis Hayes" wrote: 1. Is the spackle bulging now only because I did a ****-poor job, or maybe because the sheets are actually moving together now? (Perhaps because of hot summer temperatures?) 2. Was my fix adequate? Should I have put joint tape on, or something more drastic? 3. What would you do now? (Short of unloading the house-- the wife is attached now.) Joint tape is essential. If it wasn't, nobody would bother with it. In your case, you may want to go one better and put some drywall screen in the joint. That works like tape, but is much wider and tougher. It will keep most cracks from coming back, as long as the house isn't moving. -john- -- ================================================== ==================== John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708 Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com ================================================== ==================== |
#4
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reappearing drywall crack
"Travis Hayes" wrote in message
.com... My questions a 1. Is the spackle bulging now only because I did a ****-poor job, or maybe because the sheets are actually moving together now? (Perhaps because of hot summer temperatures?) 2. Was my fix adequate? Should I have put joint tape on, or something more drastic? 3. What would you do now? (Short of unloading the house-- the wife is attached now.) Thanks everyone for your comments. Since it's in an inconspicuous place, I think I will let it go as is through the winter and see what happens. Come spring, if it isn't any worse, I guess I'll take down the kitchen cabinet that is hiding who knows how much of the crack, get some mesh tape, and do it right this time. -Thanks, Travis |
#5
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reappearing drywall crack
Travis Hayes wrote:
"Travis Hayes" wrote in message .com... My questions a 1. Is the spackle bulging now only because I did a ****-poor job, or maybe because the sheets are actually moving together now? (Perhaps because of hot summer temperatures?) 2. Was my fix adequate? Should I have put joint tape on, or something more drastic? 3. What would you do now? (Short of unloading the house-- the wife is attached now.) Thanks everyone for your comments. Since it's in an inconspicuous place, I think I will let it go as is through the winter and see what happens. Come spring, if it isn't any worse, I guess I'll take down the kitchen cabinet that is hiding who knows how much of the crack, get some mesh tape, and do it right this time. -Thanks, Travis If you use mesh, you'll need to use the powdered setting type (fast hardening) compound like Durabond 90 - otherwise it'll crack. |
#6
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reappearing drywall crack
Bob (but not THAT Bob) wrote: If you use mesh, you'll need to use the powdered setting type (fast hardening) compound like Durabond 90 - otherwise it'll crack. Why is that? I've used regular all purpose joint compound with the mesh type tape with no cracking problems. |
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