Eliminating or repairing Drywall cracks

We plan on selling our current home in a year or so and upon doing inspections to find possible flaws or common problems that will need to be addressed to help sell the home I noticed a drywall crack extending from the top corner of a room opening to the edge of the second level floor in an open foyer (open from lower level to upper level). This crack is visible in the drywall and looks bad and I would like to get rid of it to keep it from being an issue with a home inspector or potential buyer. The home is about

4 to 5 years old.

Any ideas on how to eliminate this crack, most likely caused due to some settling, without causing some major problems to the drywall. The crack extends at about a 45 degree angle, upwards, and about for 18 inches.

Reply to
Gary KW4Z
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Scrape it out. I use a pointed beer can opener for this. Spackle, and re-paint. Hopefully, the house has settled as much as it is going to. This is not an uncommon problem. The issue is really a cosmetic one, unless there is a serious flaw in the house structure.

Reply to
professorpaul

You need something to hold things together- either open-mesh glass tape, or the traditional paper tape, work fine; the glass is thicker. Your technique can be a limiting factor in the mudding part.

What I'd do: sand the area lightly about 6" either side of crack (don't fuzz up the paper on the wallboard), removing whatever's loose in the crack. Then "tape" it like any other drywall joint, keeping layers as thin as possible. Scrape the area after each coat dries to remove any high spots, which should be few.

Prime & paint.

Just stuffing anything _into_ gap won't git-er-done.

J
Reply to
barry

PS to the below. If you don't want to buy a whole roll of tape for a 12" crack, a strip of paper from a paper grocery sack will work just fine.

Reply to
Glenn

Rather than rigid spackle, corners and fine cracks that result from movement can be patched with paintable caulk. Corners crack commonly from expansion, and that is most common problem area. Using rigid material just invites it to crack again; flexible material allows a little movement without cracking.

Reply to
Norminn

This is a common crack point. IIRC, it can be caused by lumber shrinkage due to the fact the drywall may have been attached around the opening to both horizontal (header) and vertical framing components. Since lumber shrinks at a greater rate against the grain vs with the grain, you get this type of cracking.

Or your house could be sinking :-)

The best way to fix this is by cleaning out the crack, and taping over it with either mesh or paper tape. Paper type is preferred by some because it trowels out thinner than mesh, but I like mesh because I think it will do a better job of not cracking again.

Some folks like to use paintable elsometric caulking but for a hairline crack, I think this is not a good solution because I don't see how you can get the caulk in the crack and it does not sand well if you get it on the sides of the crack.

Norm>Gary KW4Z wrote:

Spam goes well with eggs

Reply to
Pasta Nostra

+1 I've done that, with paint-able silicone, and it is the easiest and the best. Easily the least detectable repair, once painted.
Reply to
Eric in North TX

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